How far out to book flight from Toronto?

[ExcitedForWDW]

Hey everyone
I’ve book us in for a December (1-10)2024 stay at Disney world! I’m wondering when the best time would be to book flights to Orlando from Toronto. Currently air Canada has. 20% off sale ending today. Prices are about 2k for four of us. Google flight’s indicates august is the cheapest time to book but leaving it that long makes me nervous lol.
Any thoughts/suggestions are appreciated
Thanks

 

[ottawamom]

If you want to get the lowest prices you will be waiting until Black Friday. Given that there are 4 of you travelling and you likely want a mid day arrival book as soon a you see a price you are comfortable with.

Flying direct from Ottawa to MCO a week ago I paid around $400 each on a Black Friday sale last year. Your $500 for 4 people sounds pretty good as prices have gone up considerably in the recent weeks.

 

[ExcitedForWDW]

If you want to get the lowest prices you will be waiting until Black Friday. Given that there are 4 of you travelling and you likely want a mid day arrival book as soon a you see a price you are comfortable with.

Flying direct from Ottawa to MCO a week ago I paid around $400 each on a Black Friday sale last year. Your $500 for 4 people sounds pretty good as prices have gone up considerably in the recent weeks.

Thanks! I’ll book tonight. Regarding mid day, it’s $300 cheaper to land in Orlando at 7:30 pm as opposed to the ideal 1:30 pm arrival time. I’d like to get there earlier in case we need to switch room locations, as there will likely be more availability closer to 3 pm, but I like the idea of saving $300 ….

 

[Becca43]

Thanks! I’ll book tonight. Regarding mid day, it’s $300 cheaper to land in Orlando at 7:30 pm as opposed to the ideal 1:30 pm arrival time. I’d like to get there earlier in case we need to switch room locations, as there will likely be more availability closer to 3 pm, but I like the idea of saving $300 ….

Just a friendly reminder that you will still have to get your luggage from baggage claim and then travel to the hotel from the airport too. So factor that in when making your decision! Not at all saying don’t do it to save some money as only you can know what the best option is for you and your party, but as someone who did the same in January and also ended up with flight delays too, I really wish I’d thought it through ahead of time to factor that into my decision making and, at the very least, set my expectations appropriately

 

[ExcitedForWDW]

Just a friendly reminder that you will still have to get your luggage from baggage claim and then travel to the hotel from the airport too. So factor that in when making your decision! Not at all saying don’t do it to save some money as only you can know what the best option is for you and your party, but as someone who did the same in January and also ended up with flight delays too, I really wish I’d thought it through ahead of time to factor that into my decision making and, at the very least, set my expectations appropriately

this is true! We were delayed 3 hours for our departing flight in March. Fortunately that was a morning flight so we still ended up arriving mid afternoon. For the sake of a little bit of extra I think we’ll get the earlier flight and rest easy knowing any delays won’t likely get us in late at night. Besides, this way we get to spend a bit more time at the resort
Thanks for the feed back

 

[badiggio]

you're still paying for the whole day wherever you're staying, so imo,I'd pay the extra 300 and get there with most of the day still ahead.

 

[yowcruiser]

Airlines in Canada have had interesting pricing as of late... The current sale is not bad... but I do know that load factors tend to be on the low side right now for late Summer and Fall. Airlines in the US are starting to have to lower prices in the mid-distant future as they are just too high, and Canadian airlines will have to do the same. I used to book somewhat early, but now book a few months out

 

[ExcitedForWDW]

Airlines in Canada have had interesting pricing as of late... The current sale is not bad... but I do know that load factors tend to be on the low side right now for late Summer and Fall. Airlines in the US are starting to have to lower prices in the mid-distant future as they are just too high, and Canadian airlines will have to do the same. I used to book somewhat early, but now book a few months out

Prices do seem high across the board and Google flights seems to confirm this. I ended up booking with the sale price and then 2 hours later it went down another $100 lol, thankfully I was able to rebook at the lower price 15 min before the sale ended

 

[ottawamom]

@yowcruiser do you have any good tips on YOW-MCO mid November this year. I just decided to do another trip this year (well if I get the go ahead from the two we are taking with us). Right now I'm thinking Porter both ways as I dislike having to do connections in Toronto. I wouldn't be adverse to driving to Montreal for flights.

 

[yowcruiser]

@yowcruiser do you have any good tips on YOW-MCO mid November this year. I just decided to do another trip this year (well if I get the go ahead from the two we are taking with us). Right now I'm thinking Porter both ways as I dislike having to do connections in Toronto. I wouldn't be adverse to driving to Montreal for flights.

I know that for the summer season, Porter has published some unreasonably low fares, especially in PorterReserve (their Premium Economy equivalent) - when I was looking two weeks ago. The challenge with Porter right now is that they have a ton of planes parked at Pearson, and do need to get more pilots trained - so cancellations are possible... but they are definitely an option. Montreal used to be our alternate, especially during Ontario Spring break, when there would be a noticeable price difference, but this has not been as much the case as of late (with sometimes the connecting flight out of YOW to YUL and then MCO cheaper than YUL-MCO). Now, depending on the day that you are leaving, AirCanada is showing some direct flights to Orlando... but you basically get an AirCanada Rouge Economy (Flex) fare for the price of a PorterReserve ticket (with current 30% off sale)... I am a huge AirCanada fan (Million Miler status)... but if it wouldn't be for the "free" flights I get on points, I would genuinely consider Porter...

 

[badiggio]

In my experiences going to MCO from YOW,for the "most" part,nobody had better prices,flights, or flight times than United.I found it much easier and far less stressful, to do customs in Ottawa,and either fly direct or make a connection in the U.SSame thing coming back;much easier and less stressful doing customs in ottawa instead of the numbers in YYZ or YUL..Sometimes you can book with a codeshare for the actual same planes but different prices.ie.,United using AC or Delta using WJ

 

[yowcruiser]

In my experiences going to MCO from YOW,for the "most" part,nobody had better prices,flights, or flight times than United.I found it much easier and far less stressful, to do customs in Ottawa,and either fly direct or make a connection in the U.SSame thing coming back;much easier and less stressful doing customs in ottawa instead of the numbers in YYZ or YUL..Sometimes you can book with a codeshare for the actual same planes but different prices.ie.,United using AC or Delta using WJ

This definitely used to be true... but not so much lately with the limited UA service from YOW. They have been as expensive, if not more expensive than AC in the last 6 months or so to MCO

 

[badiggio]

This definitely used to be true... but not so much lately with the limited UA service from YOW. They have been as expensive, if not more expensive than AC in the last 6 months or so to MCO

That very well may be the case lately ,as i haven't checked lately;my last yow/mco ,mco/yow was september 2022.

 

[Starwind]

I know that for the summer season, Porter has published some unreasonably low fares, especially in PorterReserve (their Premium Economy equivalent) - when I was looking two weeks ago. The challenge with Porter right now is that they have a ton of planes parked at Pearson, and do need to get more pilots trained - so cancellations are possible... but they are definitely an option. Montreal used to be our alternate, especially during Ontario Spring break, when there would be a noticeable price difference, but this has not been as much the case as of late (with sometimes the connecting flight out of YOW to YUL and then MCO cheaper than YUL-MCO). Now, depending on the day that you are leaving, AirCanada is showing some direct flights to Orlando... but you basically get an AirCanada Rouge Economy (Flex) fare for the price of a PorterReserve ticket (with current 30% off sale)... I am a huge AirCanada fan (Million Miler status)... but if it wouldn't be for the "free" flights I get on points, I would genuinely consider Porter...

I flew Porter Reserve recently. Loved the seats, loved the service, everything was great. EXCEPT: the washroom was the smallest airplane washroom I have ever been in; I found it so small it was difficult to properly and hygienically do one's business. I will never fly with them again unless they are the ONLY option, no matter the price difference. YMMV.

 

[peacefrogdog]

Our travel dates were a bit different that the OP's, but for our trip Nov 8-12, 2023 I thought I had snagged a good deal when booking the end of July ($400 pp return on Air Canada). A couple of weeks later in early August (so three months before our travel), the prices dropped to $310 pp return (YYZ-MCO-YYZ).

For our Jan 25-29, 2024 trip, prices were $250 pp round trip late July-Early Aug (6 months prior to travel), went up to $300 pp return in early Sept 9 (~ 5 months prior) and then was $250 pp return on Black Friday (2 months prior to travel).