Flights from Canada- Advice please!?

[flinkerfrosch]

Hi there,

Need some help/advice from all you Canadians that have flown from Toronto to Hawaii.

What airline did you prefer and why? How far in advance did you book your flights, and any websites that you can recommend for deals?

We will be flying from Toronto to Maui (staying 10 days) and then from Maui to Honolulu (Heading to Aulani for 11 days) and then Honolulu home to Toronto.

From what I've seen in my research is that their are flights with 1 stop and some with 2 stops. Most flights leave late at night on departure day home to Toronto ie: 9:30pm or later...

Also, how was the Jet leg once you returned home, and if you did an overnight flight, was that difficult?

Thanks a bunch!

 

[keaster]

We are going next month! We booked our flights not long after we booked the room (we are DVC members so we booked at 7 months). We have RBC avion reward points, so had enough points to cover two of the three round trip tickets. If we had paid for all three I think it was about 800-900 each return.

Air Canada has direct flights Toronto to Honolulu, but with Air Canada Rouge only. We refuse to take that long of a flight on Rouge.

We have booked Westjet for this trip. We are flying into Calgary the night before (meeting up with friends that are travelling with us.) The next day we leave Calgary, then change planes in Vancouver. The Calgary flight leaves I think around 8:30 Calgary time and we get into Honolulu 2:30pm Hawaii time. Our return flight we leave Honolulu around 10:30pm Hawaii time, then land in Vancouver early in the morning. We have rented a day room at the hotel airport as our flight for Toronto doesn't leave until around 6pm.

in 2015 We flew United and flew direct from Chicago to Honolulu. The flight back was Honolulu-Los Angeles-Toronto.

The jet lag is a bit of a killer coming back home, not going to lie! I didn't mind the overnight flight as I tried to sleep for the majority of it.

For best pricing I would recommend Kayak or Expedia!

 

[flinkerfrosch]

We are going next month! We booked our flights not long after we booked the room (we are DVC members so we booked at 7 months). We have RBC avion reward points, so had enough points to cover two of the three round trip tickets. If we had paid for all three I think it was about 800-900 each return.

Air Canada has direct flights Toronto to Honolulu, but with Air Canada Rouge only. We refuse to take that long of a flight on Rouge.

We have booked Westjet for this trip. We are flying into Calgary the night before (meeting up with friends that are travelling with us.) The next day we leave Calgary, then change planes in Vancouver. The Calgary flight leaves I think around 8:30 Calgary time and we get into Honolulu 2:30pm Hawaii time. Our return flight we leave Honolulu around 10:30pm Hawaii time, then land in Vancouver early in the morning. We have rented a day room at the hotel airport as our flight for Toronto doesn't leave until around 6pm.

in 2015 We flew United and flew direct from Chicago to Honolulu. The flight back was Honolulu-Los Angeles-Toronto.

The jet lag is a bit of a killer coming back home, not going to lie! I didn't mind the overnight flight as I tried to sleep for the majority of it.

For best pricing I would recommend Kayak or Expedia!

Wow! Next month, nice!!

I didn't realize that Air Canada Rouge flew direct, thanks for that tip

I like West Jest, I've flown them many times. I like Air Canada as well and Air Canada Rouge. Always had great experiences.

I've even consider flying out of Buffalo, so I'm exploring that option as well.

How did you like United? I'm finding United to be cheaper, but have heard a lot of bad things about the airline.

I'm a bit concerned about the Jetleg, but not much I can do about it lol

Thanks for the help!

 

[keaster]

We had no problem with United, both going and return flights were on time with no issues. Also when we flew United, the return flight from LAX to Toronto was an Air Canada code share.

I'm glad to hear you've had good experience on Rouge, everyone I know who has flown with them has not had good things to say! I think the limited leg room would kill me on such a long direct flight (and I'm not tall at all!)

 

[flinkerfrosch]

We had no problem with United, both going and return flights were on time with no issues. Also when we flew United, the return flight from LAX to Toronto was an Air Canada code share.

I'm glad to hear you've had good experience on Rouge, everyone I know who has flown with them has not had good things to say! I think the limited leg room would kill me on such a long direct flight (and I'm not tall at all!)

I'm also glad you've had a good experience with United because I've read so many neg stories
Yes, we actually prefer AC Rouge. We've flown it multiple times, and never had an issue.
My boys love the IPads they rent you for $10 because they have great movies and games on them lol. The flight attendants have actually given them to my boys for free many times.
One time when flying from Montego Bay to Toronto (last Nov) their was a slight leak coming from the ceiling that dripped on me while taking off. It was from the AC. It stopped once in the air...the flight attendant gave my boys and I free food and 3 free IPads. I thought it was very generous.

Flying 4.5 hrs with my 2 boys alone can be challenging (they get bored) I can only imagine 8+ hrs...eekkkkkk

 

[alohamom]

We have flown Toronto to Hawaii many, many times and we have also done it from Buffalo. Right now, with the way the dollar is you are probably not going to get anything reasonable out of Buffalo. I always check ITA Matrix for pricing. It is the engine that google flights uses. You cannot book on this site, only use it for pricing information and then go to the airline website to book. Over the last few years there have been some amazing prices from Toronto and Vancouver. We paid about $550/CND round trip per person last summer (I forget the exact price) and I booked it on Black Friday 2015 for travel the next summer in August 2016. That was Air Canada. My nephew and his new wife booked roundtrip from yyz to hnl $620 on West Jet. Just to give you some pricing ideas. If you sign up for Airfare alerts from WestJet and AirCanada you will be able to get a feel for the "sales" they have once in a while.

When are you going and for how long? I just took a look at this coming summer and you can fly for approx $650/Canadian/per person/roundtrip/taxes in on WestJet with a stop in Vancouver. That was if you were going to book right now, today.But it totally depends on when you go. I also see 21 days leaving Jan 23 2108, again on WestJet for approx $550/RT/CND/PP. Air Canada tends to match the price with sales and sometime Delta and United will too.

We have flown United, Delta, AA, Air Canada and Hawaiian Airlines from different departure points to Hawaii over the years. All have had their pros and cons but nothing that was absurdly wrong. Two years ago united was "beta testing" bringing your own device and giving free wifi however they 1)had no mention of this in any of the communications to us regarding our flight or on the website and 2)the wifi wouldnt work on the tarmac so no one was able to use it. This was from Denver to Hawaii-7 hours with no entertainment (first world problems, right?) Thank goodness my hubby had his laptop with some movies on it. I had a couple of books but there were lots of miserable people all around us on the plane. I complained in an email and got a credit but still, if I had known ahead of time I would have brought more things to do with us. Now a lot of airlines are doing the same "bring your own".

This past summer was my first time flying ACRouge and I honestly really liked it. We flew regular AC to YVR and had some very cranky flight attendants for some reason. Then we stopped over in YVR and reboarded the Rouge plane to HNL. In contrast the aircraft was newer, the attendants were younger and MUCH nicer. I knew to bring our own entertainment (wasnt having that happen again LOL) so we were prepared. I would fly Rouge to Hawaii again.

The layovers are good for us. I like to stretch my legs, grab something to eat and then start again. I find 10+ hours in one seat is too long for me. I have done it and I go a little stir crazy after a while. I do like the late departures coming home, they make for a good solid full last day in Hawaii.

 

[MODA]

We leave next week from YYZ to HNL. Flying WestJet via Calgary, staying overnight in Calgary. On return, we leave mid afternoon, fly to Vancouver, stay overnight and then fly home to Toronto in the morning. We have little kids so stopovers work better, and an overnight stopover ensures we all get at least a little bit of sleep. I think it helps with jetlag a bit too. I agree that at least right now you won't be saving much money by flying via Buffalo, especially if you can get a good seat sale on Air Canada or WestJet.

 

[flinkerfrosch]

We leave next week from YYZ to HNL. Flying WestJet via Calgary, staying overnight in Calgary. On return, we leave mid afternoon, fly to Vancouver, stay overnight and then fly home to Toronto in the morning. We have little kids so stopovers work better, and an overnight stopover ensures we all get at least a little bit of sleep. I think it helps with jetlag a bit too. I agree that at least right now you won't be saving much money by flying via Buffalo, especially if you can get a good seat sale on Air Canada or WestJet.

I never actually thought about staying overnight coming back. That might be something I would consider doing to help with the Jetleg and lack of sleep from a very long travel day(s).
I agree as well, Buffalo isn't likely unless their is some kind of sale that I would still be saving even with the exchange rate. I've flown out of Bufffalo many times (to Florida) and got some amazing deals! But to Hawaii looks unlikely.
Thanks for your help and have an amazing trip. We go away in a week as well, but not to Hawaii At least we're still going somewhere hot lol

Have fun in the sun!

 

[flinkerfrosch]

We have flown Toronto to Hawaii many, many times and we have also done it from Buffalo. Right now, with the way the dollar is you are probably not going to get anything reasonable out of Buffalo. I always check ITA Matrix for pricing. It is the engine that google flights uses. You cannot book on this site, only use it for pricing information and then go to the airline website to book. Over the last few years there have been some amazing prices from Toronto and Vancouver. We paid about $550/CND round trip per person last summer (I forget the exact price) and I booked it on Black Friday 2015 for travel the next summer in August 2016. That was Air Canada. My nephew and his new wife booked roundtrip from yyz to hnl $620 on West Jet. Just to give you some pricing ideas. If you sign up for Airfare alerts from WestJet and AirCanada you will be able to get a feel for the "sales" they have once in a while.

When are you going and for how long? I just took a look at this coming summer and you can fly for approx $650/Canadian/per person/roundtrip/taxes in on WestJet with a stop in Vancouver. That was if you were going to book right now, today.But it totally depends on when you go. I also see 21 days leaving Jan 23 2108, again on WestJet for approx $550/RT/CND/PP. Air Canada tends to match the price with sales and sometime Delta and United will too.

We have flown United, Delta, AA, Air Canada and Hawaiian Airlines from different departure points to Hawaii over the years. All have had their pros and cons but nothing that was absurdly wrong. Two years ago united was "beta testing" bringing your own device and giving free wifi however they 1)had no mention of this in any of the communications to us regarding our flight or on the website and 2)the wifi wouldnt work on the tarmac so no one was able to use it. This was from Denver to Hawaii-7 hours with no entertainment (first world problems, right?) Thank goodness my hubby had his laptop with some movies on it. I had a couple of books but there were lots of miserable people all around us on the plane. I complained in an email and got a credit but still, if I had known ahead of time I would have brought more things to do with us. Now a lot of airlines are doing the same "bring your own".

This past summer was my first time flying ACRouge and I honestly really liked it. We flew regular AC to YVR and had some very cranky flight attendants for some reason. Then we stopped over in YVR and reboarded the Rouge plane to HNL. In contrast the aircraft was newer, the attendants were younger and MUCH nicer. I knew to bring our own entertainment (wasnt having that happen again LOL) so we were prepared. I would fly Rouge to Hawaii again.

The layovers are good for us. I like to stretch my legs, grab something to eat and then start again. I find 10+ hours in one seat is too long for me. I have done it and I go a little stir crazy after a while. I do like the late departures coming home, they make for a good solid full last day in Hawaii.

Thank you so much for all the tips!

This will be our first trip to Hawaii, so I'm making it a big one in case we don't get back. I really hope we do!!

Lucky you being able to experience Hawaii so many times. I've been waiting years for the DH to finally agree to go! We're big Disney lovers so we've been doing a lot of Disneyworld, and Disney Cruises over the years. I'm so excited to switch it up, and go somewhere new

We leave Nov 17th of this year to Maui and then come home Dec 7th leaving from Honolulu.

$550-$650 Canadian- round trip per person would be awesome! I keep looking everyday, and comparing prices with different airlines.

I'm happy to hear you haven't had a bad experience with the airlines you mentioned. I've never flown Delta before, but have read and heard really good things about it.

I prefer 1 stop as well for such a long flight. I don't know how my kids would handle such a long flight without a stopover. We always prefer non stop when we travel, but this would be the longest flight my boys have ever had to experience, so getting off the plane to stretch and eat etc isn't such a bad thing.

I agree as well that the day we leave, we get a full day because the flights leave so late at night

We too will be very prepared with our electronics. Thanks for the reminder!! I will make sure we stock up on movies for the IPad and games for my boys to keep them busy, and my husband and I...just in case...never hurts to be prepared. If we don't need them, great! I actually love watching movies on planes. It's when I 'catch up' on some of the new releases haha

Thanks again for your help

 

[alohamom]

We leave Nov 17th of this year to Maui and then come home Dec 7th leaving from Honolulu.

If I see anything for these dates I will post it for you here. I am on all kinds of travel alert sites LOL!

One thing I would be sure to do is get your inter-island flights booked as soon as your Toronto to HNL flights are booked because you are going to be moving islands smack dab in the middle of American Thanksgiving (Nov 23rd) so flights a day or two before and after are going to be busy. I think you are going to skim right past it with the amount of time you are in Maui but I would keep it in mind for planning. I think you are on the right track with checking prices on a regular basis.

One thing we try to do for jet lag, if possible, is book flights that leave later from HNL and arrive mid to late afternoon in Toronto. Then we stay up till as close to bedtime as possible that night. 7 or 8 is usually as long as we can go but it really helps to get a good solid sleep in. My hubby always books an extra day or two off of work to help him adjust at home before having to hit the grind again.

A couple of times we have flown to LA, headed over to Hawaii and then hit Disneyland on the way back to help adjust back to the time but you still get a little jet lag doing this, it is hard but worth it. You will be fine, good luck with the flights!

 

[JCornell]

We're in western NY and Toronto was, by far, our best deal for a flight this August. We're flying Delta for $484 USD round trip with one stop in Minneapolis each way. This is to HNL. I can't speak to your specific situation with Maui but have to assume it's similar.
My go to was always Kayak but lately I really prefer Google flights. It does a great job of showing you several dates at once and when the best deals are. It's also easy to save a link to go back and re-look at our flights.
Buffalo has great rates for LA and for Orlando, but Toronto is way better for many international and anything off of the mainland.

 

[flinkerfrosch]

If I see anything for these dates I will post it for you here. I am on all kinds of travel alert sites LOL!

One thing I would be sure to do is get your inter-island flights booked as soon as your Toronto to HNL flights are booked because you are going to be moving islands smack dab in the middle of American Thanksgiving (Nov 23rd) so flights a day or two before and after are going to be busy. I think you are going to skim right past it with the amount of time you are in Maui but I would keep it in mind for planning. I think you are on the right track with checking prices on a regular basis.

One thing we try to do for jet lag, if possible, is book flights that leave later from HNL and arrive mid to late afternoon in Toronto. Then we stay up till as close to bedtime as possible that night. 7 or 8 is usually as long as we can go but it really helps to get a good solid sleep in. My hubby always books an extra day or two off of work to help him adjust at home before having to hit the grind again.

A couple of times we have flown to LA, headed over to Hawaii and then hit Disneyland on the way back to help adjust back to the time but you still get a little jet lag doing this, it is hard but worth it. You will be fine, good luck with the flights!

That would be awesome if you see anything and let me know, thanks so much!!!!

Yes, we fly from Maui to Honolulu on Nov 26th. I actually didn't even clue in about the airport possibly being busy because of the US Thanksgiving. Being Canadian, ours is in Oct, so thanks for making me aware of the possible airport situation.

As soon as I have my flights booked, I will book the inter-island flight for sure!

I think I'm going to try and book a later flight home to Toronto so we can hopefully sleep a bit on the way back, and do exactly what you stated your family does, and go to bed the next evening early and get a solid sleep.

We fly home on Thursday evening, so would arrive in TO on the Friday afternoon sometime, and then have all of Sat and Sun to adjust. I actually planned it this way so we all had time to adjust before going back to work/school etc...

If Hawaii was only a 4 or 5 hr flight we would have been staying in Hawaii until the Sunday lol..but because I knew of the time change/Jet lag etc...I thought it would be best to have a few days home to re adjust.

Thanks again for all your help and advice!! Much appreciated

 

[flinkerfrosch]

We're in western NY and Toronto was, by far, our best deal for a flight this August. We're flying Delta for $484 USD round trip with one stop in Minneapolis each way. This is to HNL. I can't speak to your specific situation with Maui but have to assume it's similar.
My go to was always Kayak but lately I really prefer Google flights. It does a great job of showing you several dates at once and when the best deals are. It's also easy to save a link to go back and re-look at our flights.
Buffalo has great rates for LA and for Orlando, but Toronto is way better for many international and anything off of the mainland.

$484 isn't a bad price at all, even being US. I've heard really good things about Delta.
If you're looking to stay in a hotel the night before, the ALT is cheap, clean and very convenient to the airport. It's a very modern hotel and fairly new.
We've flown from Buffalo to Florida many times for $99 one way. The drive to Buffalo isn't bad, so $99 US is SO worth it! I actually prefer the Buffalo airport over the Toronto airport.
I will most definitely check out those sites, thank you!
I really appreciate the help and advice! Thank you

 

[olliesmom]

We are flying Toronto to Maui in March!

We are flying Air Canada on the way there with one layover in Vancouver, and United on the way home with one layover in San Francisco. I was looking at some slightly cheaper itineraries (we paid $720CAD/flight and saw some as low as $520) but with two layovers each way, so we splurged on the single stop. We booked in November, so about 5 months out. I've been keeping an eye on prices and it looks like they've stayed pretty steady since then!

 

[flinkerfrosch]

We are flying Toronto to Maui in March!

We are flying Air Canada on the way there with one layover in Vancouver, and United on the way home with one layover in San Francisco. I was looking at some slightly cheaper itineraries (we paid $720CAD/flight and saw some as low as $520) but with two layovers each way, so we splurged on the single stop. We booked in November, so about 5 months out. I've been keeping an eye on prices and it looks like they've stayed pretty steady since then!

I would prefer 1 layover as well, but would consider 2 stops if the price was right!
I figure appx 6 months out is when I really should start focusing on watching the prices on flights. I've had some amazing deals to other places booking appx 60 days out, but I don't really feel too comfortable waiting till then to book our Hawaii flights.

Have an awesome trip!!!!

 

[TinkLoverSam]

I used hopper to check flight prices, set alerts on our flights and used their tool to determine if flights were likely to go up or down in price

 

[olliesmom]

I would prefer 1 layover as well, but would consider 2 stops if the price was right!
I figure appx 6 months out is when I really should start focusing on watching the prices on flights. I've had some amazing deals to other places booking appx 60 days out, but I don't really feel too comfortable waiting till then to book our Hawaii flights.

Have an awesome trip!!!!

The two stops on the way there wasn't so bad, it was more the two stops on the red eye flight on the way home that deterred us! Overall, we had expected flights to be much more expensive and were relieved when we saw the prices were fairly reasonable!

We also wanted to have our flights reserved fairly well in advance, because we were booking a condo through VRBO that required payment in full. Overall, even in Canadian dollars, we've stretched our budget further than we expected and the trip to Maui wasn't much more than a lot of the nicer all-inclusives we were looking at in the Dominican Republic and Mexico! We started off looking at last-minute deals to Cuba and things escalated quickly! LOL

 

[JCornell]

$484 isn't a bad price at all, even being US. I've heard really good things about Delta.
If you're looking to stay in a hotel the night before, the ALT is cheap, clean and very convenient to the airport. It's a very modern hotel and fairly new.
We've flown from Buffalo to Florida many times for $99 one way. The drive to Buffalo isn't bad, so $99 US is SO worth it! I actually prefer the Buffalo airport over the Toronto airport.
I will most definitely check out those sites, thank you!
I really appreciate the help and advice! Thank you

Thanks. We have an early flight so we are staying over but we already booked Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton Toronto Airport. We have Hilton points and it's very close by. Got it for $110 USD.
We used to do Rochester to/from Orlando when Airtran was the better deal. Now it's usually JetBlue or Southwest out of Buffalo. Buffalo now has a JetBlue direct to LAX which is also really great.
I've been to Toronto airport but never flew from it. I do like Rochester and Buffalo airports. Small, quick TSA etc.
We're probably going to use this as our excuse to finally get Nexus. It's only $50 per person (for 5 years), gives you TSA pre-check and expedited customs, not to mention streamlined border crossings.

 

[flinkerfrosch]

I used hopper to check flight prices, set alerts on our flights and used their tool to determine if flights were likely to go up or down in price

Thanks! I will look into this

 

[TinkLoverSam]

Thanks! I will look into this

http://www.hopper.com/