What airlines should I consider from Toronto to Orlando?

[Jennkneefir]

I typically stick to the major Canadian airlines for international flights - Westjet or Air Canada.
I use google flights to track flight prices, then book directly through the airline. If it were a low stakes trip (adults only for a quick weekend trip, for example) i might consider booking with a discount airline, but that hasn't happened yet.
Most of my Orlando trips have been through Westjet and ive had a very positive experience. No complaints. I'm also a pretty mellow traveler and plan for things like delays, etc in my trip itinerary. I avoid booking anything on my arrival day and make sure i won't miss anything if im delayed getting home.

 

[White Cat]

Try Flair out of London Ontario, bit of a hike down but descent prices for a Thursday- Thursday to Sanford. Take a lift into Orlando.

Or fly out of Buffalo, Pearson flights can be a huge headache.

Or also fly out of Niagara Falls NY.

 

[Frank4202]

I know its a bit of a drive but is Detroit an option for you? Delta and Spirit will fly direct into MCO from DTW.

 

[focusondisney]

Or also fly out of Niagara Falls NY.

Allegiant is the only airline that flies out of NF. They fly to Sanford & don’t even have flights every day. Not a good option. The extra 20 minute drive to Buffalo is a much better idea. And from the Peace Bridge, the Buffalo airport is actually closer.

 

[iZon]

Since our flight was seven hours late leaving a couple weeks ago, I’ve been looking at the Air Canada flights between Toronto and Orlando on FlightRadar24 and they are often very late. For example, today’s will be at least three hours late because the plane is going to and from Thunder Bay. But that flight is on time. It looks like they are substituting the plane. In an email they said we didn’t merit compensation because of a safety issue but it appears to me that they’re just constantly switching planes around because of a shortage. Or else their planes are constantly breaking down. I see why AC has the worst on-time record of any major airline in North America. But I will be avoiding them in the future.

 

[starvenger]

Hard to avoid AC because, well, Canada.

But don't be fooled into thinking the American legacy carriers are better. AA is bad in general. And United can be bad if you have to transit through one of their hubs.

With that said, I haven't had an issue doing long haul and cross-continent flights with AC. But they seem to have a real issue with those shorter routes.

Flying Westjet YYZ-YVR this summer. I am curious to see how that goes.

 

[samsteele]

Last Sept I flew WestJet from YYZ-MCO then AC return MCO-YYZ. The WestJet flight departed mid afternoon on time but we were held on the tarmac at MCO for over an hour waiting for a gate. Pilot made a number of announcements to keep us up to date and remarked "this again" so has been an issue. Watched an AC plane taxi past us to a nearby gate. That's a tough delay for every reason including no bathroom break as seatbelt sign remained on and flight attendants not allowing us to get up and wander. The WestJet plane looked dirtier and interior beaten up but may just be aesthetics. The AC return flight was at 7am and ideal as departure on time and no delays. This could be very different in the winter if wings need to be de-iced before departure. I've had that happen in Jan at MCO and easily an hour plus delay if required.

My AC flight from YYZ-MCO this past Jan was delayed 45 mins before boarding as plane switched due to snowstorm in Maritimes. It was a newish airbus with complimentary onflight entertainment so sounded great until the pilot advised us once onboard that departure would be delayed another 45 mins so a tech could fix the broken entertainment system. His fix allowed one side of the plane to watch free movies while the other side had nothing and passengers kept glancing over at the others' screens. Guess which side I was seated on.

 

[White Cat]

Allegiant is the only airline that flies out of NF. They fly to Sanford & don’t even have flights every day. Not a good option. The extra 20 minute drive to Buffalo is a much better idea. And from the Peace Bridge, the Buffalo airport is actually closer.

For me it works. Have maybe 100 flights between Niagara Falls and Sanford.

 

[iZon]

Not Westjet! My brother and his family were supposed to fly this morning at 7 AM from Hamilton to Orlando on WestJet. He got a text at 3:30am saying the flight would be delayed because of no pilot. Then that was sorted out and the plane rolled out a bit late and found out there is a mechanical issue in the cockpit. So they went back and put them in the terminal and then they cancelled the flight.

So my brother booked them another flight to Detroit today at 3 o’clock so they’re driving there now. But the WJ reps in the terminal told them that if they booked on another plane even with another airline, they wouldn’t get a refund, which I don’t think is true. It’s really none of their business what you do after they cancel the flight. They said they would try to get another plane for tomorrow. So the rule now is do not book on a Canadian airline. At least that’s my rule.

 

[iZon]

Update. My brother and his family are sitting on the Delta flight in Detroit ready to pull out. He got a full refund from WestJet. It was actually a Swoop livery. I guess they haven’t bothered repainting the planes yet. He also immediately cancelled his Boathouse reservation, so they won’t get dinged for that. So they will arrive at the AKL about seven hours late. At least they can check in right away.

 

[Lesverts]

Not Westjet! My brother and his family were supposed to fly this morning at 7 AM from Hamilton to Orlando on WestJet. He got a text at 3:30am saying the flight would be delayed because of no pilot. Then that was sorted out and the plane rolled out a bit late and found out there is a mechanical issue in the cockpit. So they went back and put them in the terminal and then they cancelled the flight.

So my brother booked them another flight to Detroit today at 3 o’clock so they’re driving there now. But the WJ reps in the terminal told them that if they booked on another plane even with another airline, they wouldn’t get a refund, which I don’t think is true. It’s really none of their business what you do after they cancel the flight. They said they would try to get another plane for tomorrow. So the rule now is do not book on a Canadian airline. At least that’s my rule.

I have flown every major and legacy carrier in North America. I've had problems, delays and cancellations on them all. I have sat at JFK for six or more hours because of delays and equipment issues with Delta and Jetblue. I have had last minute equipment changes on Air Canada, United and American. I've sat in O'Hare going from one plane to a second to a third because of mechanical issues. I have flown the same route and air craft type the day after that flight number went down. Southwest had a complete meltdown a year ago Christmas. Nothing is going to be perfect and there are also going to be problems. Picking a routing that is limited in scope is going to limit your backup plans. Flying out of Hamilton on a thrice weekly service is going to be inherently more risky then flying out of an airport that has multiple daily flights, plus the backup of a codeshare partner. Blanket statements about an entire industry because of one bad experience is just silly.

 

[iZon]

I have flown every major and legacy carrier in North America. I've had problems, delays and cancellations on them all. I have sat at JFK for six or more hours because of delays and equipment issues with Delta and Jetblue. I have had last minute equipment changes on Air Canada, United and American. I've sat in O'Hare going from one plane to a second to a third because of mechanical issues. I have flown the same route and air craft type the day after that flight number went down. Southwest had a complete meltdown a year ago Christmas. Nothing is going to be perfect and there are also going to be problems. Picking a routing that is limited in scope is going to limit your backup plans. Flying out of Hamilton on a thrice weekly service is going to be inherently more risky then flying out of an airport that has multiple daily flights, plus the backup of a codeshare partner. Blanket statements about an entire industry because of one bad experience is just silly.

It’s actually been several bad experiences. Last year our flight on Swoop was delayed by two days. Then another flight on Swoop was completely canceled. A flight on Flair was completely canceled. So we tried Air Canada for the first time in many years because we had bad experiences with them and our flight from Toronto was 7 1/2 hours late. And in none of the cases was the customer service experience very good. And then my brother had his issues today. They had no problem with their flight with Delta today. And they had a Delta flight last week to South Carolina that was good. I’ve never had any trouble with Delta out of Detroit.

And yes, flying on lesser serviced routes is more risky, which is why I will go on Delta from Detroit from now on that has several flights a day. With the border issues following the pandemic, I thought I would try some Canadian options but they’ve all turned out to be a complete bust.

I read that Air Canada and WestJet have the worst on-time records in North America. And actually following AC the last little bit on Flightradar24 I was amazed at how often their flights are delayed significantly. Delta was first with 91%. Air Canada and WestJet had 74 and 73%.

 

[Frank4202]

Ive never had luck flying with ANY Canadian Airline. The customer service at Air Canada is some of the worst Ive ever had. Im lucky Im in Windsor and Detroit is only a 30 minute drive from my house.