How to get cheap airfare Canada / MCO

[schoonersky]

I'm curious if anyone has any tips for getting good deals on airfare from Canada to Orlando? I would fly from Halifax, and have been watching expedia every day and checking the air canada website (all while I plan my alternative option of driving).

I would appreciate any tips you may have so I don't miss out on a sale opportunity!

Thanks!

 

[fan1080]

I've never been able to find decent prices through Air Canada out of Halifax.

We've flown 3 times on Canjet. You can book them through www.transatholidays.com. It's a no frills flight, but it's non-stop, direct, and we've never had any problems with them. Most we've paid with Canjet is $616/person, best price we've paid was $420/person.

There are also some other US airlines, but I've never flown with them. The limited research I've done with any of them was not very favorable. I could not find non-stop, direct, and prices were not much better than Air Canada.

 

[bonjoe07]

We fly from MSP to MCO via Airtran. we got our tickets for $65 one way so therefore $130 return (it was a really good sale). Last year we went and the cost was the same. maybe if you can drive to a nearby US city that services Airtran, it would be cost effecvtive. We drive from Winnipeg to Minneapolis all the time, the drive is 7 hours. We were to fly right out of Winnipeg it will cost us about $700 pp.

 

[braddillman]

I'm always looking at cheaper ways to get to Orlando for my family of 5. We collect tons of aeroplan points with a credit card and when I fly AC for business. Still, it's sometimes difficult to cash in AP points for YHZ -> MCO.

Driving to Bangor is looking tempting, though I've never tried it. About 7 hrs from my place, one way. But there were some great deals last time I checked, and the taxes are less. I'd have no worry about doing that other than arriving on time for the flight, and finding parking (and the $$$ for parking); buying tix in the U.S. isn't much different from Canada. I think lots of NBers do this.

I've used google maps to estimate driving times, but I don't think we could handle it. The extra days in Orlando make the price of flying worth it for us.

We've used United, US Air and Continental, and we've never found any difference between them and AC. Never been on WJ or CJ.

Typically, we book 3 tix with AP points and pay for 2. But I might try booking 3 tix with AP, and then try another 2 tix with AP within 24 hrs. There are never 5 AP econ seats on any AC flight.

Also, I might try booking star alliance partners with AP points, but I haven't figured that out yet.

In winter months, there are more direct flights out of YHZ which is much more convenient, but I'll take a connecting flight if it's cheaper. I think the best time to go is Sept or Oct, but that's tough with school.

The only other advice to consider is booking early, but make sue you can change your tix (usually for a fee, find out how much and write it down). If you find a cheaper arrangement (more than enough to cover the change fee) then re-book. This also applies to rental cars and hotels.

 

[DisneyRookie2007]

don't forget westjet as well

if you are doing "disney" and staying on-site, westjet usually has a package deal to inlude flights, accomodations and tickets.

last year our family of 4 flew from halifax, 7 day MYW and 7 night POP century for around $3200

this year, also a westjet vacaton package, we are flying from out hometown moncton, accomodations and tickets, taxes-in for $3600 Canadian.......considering the cheapest airfare I have seen is about $2000 Canadian....the remaining $1600 is a bargain for 1 week of disney

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

I would suggest, if you can, book through a US carrier. In our experiences since 2003, we have never been able to get a cheap flight from Edmonton to Orlando through either AC or WestJet. We've had excellent results with the US carriers though and for the past few trips have flown on Northwest. The cheapest we've paid was around $350/pp return Canadian and the most expensive was around $700/pp return Canadian (which included an upgrade to First class). Unfortunately we don't have any non-stop flights from Edmonton to Orlando, which would definitely be nice.

I wouldn't count out the US carriers!!

 

[tribus121]

We flew Airtran from Portland me ($215 us taxes inc )they where great and it is a nonstop flight one other advantage of flying from the US is that you can use the resort check in and don't have to take your bags to the airport( If staying at a Disney hotel ) Hotels in portland run about $ 120 cdn with free parking for 7 days

 

[schoonersky]

OK - thanks for the tips. I have been watching for flights from Halifax, Moncton, Bangor, Portland and Manchester (even considering Boston). Do you have to book Air Tran at their website? I will check that one out...Portland would be easy for us I think.

Thanks!

Last year we got 2 tickets with Aeroplan points and flew United (Star Alliance) Hfx to Washington and then to Orlando. But coming back had to come through Chicago so took a while longer. It wasn't a great deal though in the end, because we paid $810 per person for the two who paid. It made the cost of the flights bearable, but not a smashing deal. That's what you get when you travel in August with no direct flights.

I'm going to check canjet but I don't think they fly in August to MCO.

Thanks!

 

[hockeymom3]

I agree with Canjet - although if you check the Continental website, you can sometimes find a good deal there too. It'll likely take you Hfx to Newark and then Newark to Orlando.

I prefer Canjet's direct flight - we paid 550.00 each for 3 weeks from now for 5 of us, so it cost us 2750.00 - if we had went to the US it would have cost us 1750 so we would have saved an extra $1,000 BUT it wasn't a direct flight, and so after an 8 hr drive we'd have to spend 8 hours flying from Maine to Florida - maybe when the kids are older.

 

[tribus121]

OK - thanks for the tips. I have been watching for flights from Halifax, Moncton, Bangor, Portland and Manchester (even considering Boston). Do you have to book Air Tran at their website? I will check that one out...Portland would be easy for us I think.

I used kayak.com to compare prices then booked online on airtran's website check often as prices change daily

 

[DianaNS]

this summer we are flying from halifax to orlando via jfk on delta for 400ish ithink 456 cdn taxes in. i just kept checking the delta website a couple of times a day the prices change all the time i have seen this deal several times since aug 1-12 is our travel dates sat to wed
we often have gone through bangor and also portland last summer.
in the winter we go westjet wait for a seat sale i know a couple of good park and fly hotels/motels that are convenient and reasonable

just check in the am early when you get up and then at night esp check on sundays as well.

have you tried allegiant out of bangor they are direct again no frills but good service and usually cheap

good luck

 

[schoonersky]

I saw the delta price was pretty low late last night on their website...like 484 taxes in but with 2 stopovers. Still takes less time than driving so I'm thinking on that...

 

[Charleyann]

We flew Airtran from Portland me ($215 us taxes inc )they where great and it is a nonstop flight one other advantage of flying from the US is that you can use the resort check in and don't have to take your bags to the airport( If staying at a Disney hotel ) Hotels in portland run about $ 120 cdn with free parking for 7 days

Howard Johnson in Portland is $75 US. They offer free parking for up to 3 months. They also offer free airport shuttles to and from the airport as well as discount for nearby restaurants. We have used them 3 times in the past year.

We usually fly Jetblue for anywhere near $89 -$100 each way! Airtran is near the same price. Christmas may be a bit higher. For best rates book as soon as they come out!

Charleyann

 

[coastgirl]

I've probably posted this before, but last year the 4 of us flew Manchester-Orlando on Southwest for about $500 (for 4, taxes in), less than we could get one ticket from Halifax. It took about 10 hours and we stopped overnight, which still doesn't begin to add up to another $1500+. That was last winter, so the kids were 5 and 7. We have a dvd player in the car (portable, we take it with us for the hotel), and they were pretty good about it. I set up Ding! on my computer and got the fare that way. The MHT airport is great, and we got a park-and-fly package from the Holiday Inn. The year before we did it from MHT on...Continental I think, for cheap, but not quite that cheap. I think the only way it'd be worth it for us to fly from YHZ would be if we could do it on points.

 

[schoonersky]

coastgirl, how did you set up ding!? I tried last week but it wanted a zip code and my canadian one didn't work. Did you set it up with the Manchester zip code?

Their schedule opens Tuesday for my dates so I'd like to get ding! set up today if I could, just in case.

 

[squirrel]

We drive down to Seattle and fly out. It's so much cheaper that way. I also found the flight times to be better than up here in Canada.

I'm hoping that Air Tran will lower their prices for our return flight.

 

[autumnpalm]

We are in southern Ontario, about a 2.5 hour drive from the Buffalo airport. In December we payed over 600 dollars pp flying directly from Toronto International. In May, our tickets were $114 pp plus taxes from Buffalo with one stop. For the savings, the stopover and drive are absolutely worth it. Plus, no immigration at the airport!

 

[DisneyFreak06]

I flew out of Halifax (once Delta, and once AC) for around $550 each time. That was during March Break too. The Delta flight, I booked a week before I left, through Expedia. It was a very short trip and a very unplanned trip! I booked my room at Pop Century and my flight as a package. Driving to Halifax airport is around 3 hours each way, and that's long enough. I now have decided that I'm willing to pay more and fly out of Charlottetown, it's just much more convenient. If my flight is cancelled, I can go home and wait it out, no need to get a hotel or stay in the airport overnight. (Yes, we had to do that on a trip to Disney!) This summer I got a deal with AC for $550 out of Charlottetown! I know that's more expensive the more people you travel with, but for me it's worth it to be 5 minutes away from the airport, and to fly out of a very small airport.

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

We're lucky - we only have a 45 min drive to the airport. The other thing we like about flying on a US carrier rather than AC or WJ is that you get to clear US customs in Edmonton, rather than having to fly to either Calgary or Toronto, collect your luggage and then clear US customs. Plus we find the flight schedules with the US carriers are better for us than AC or WJ by far.

 

[dis_guy]

We're lucky - we only have a 45 min drive to the airport. The other thing we like about flying on a US carrier rather than AC or WJ is that you get to clear US customs in Edmonton, rather than having to fly to either Calgary or Toronto, collect your luggage and then clear US customs. Plus we find the flight schedules with the US carriers are better for us than AC or WJ by far.

This is so true!

Today for our flight to WDW in Dec(21-30); United is quoting $854 CAN pp, through Denver while WestJet through Toronto is $1180 CAN pp. The UA flights are at decent times and take around 7.5 hours. The WJ flight is a 1 AM departure with an almost 4 hour layover in YYZ for a total of around 10.5 hours. Which would you choose? And for the record I got our flights for about $650 CAN pp. Not what I was hoping to pay, but less than it likely will be in the near future.

Be obsessive, check all your sources often and maybe, maybe you'll luck out and find a better price.