Flying into Toronto for Cruise- Help Please!

Am having hard time finding decent flights into Toronto next year for my Canada cruise (land tour first is why Toronto).

Finding only Air Canada and United (United Express). Have heard such stories about United changing times, cancelling flights outright, etc. Should I avoid them? Also obviously, the two airlines are merged as I find United flights under Air Canada and visa versa. Should I stick with strictly Air Canada or are they so much the same just get the best flights for my needs and pray for the best? Thanks for any input as I have so far, been able to use SW. Wish they flew to Canada!

Pooh

There are other options if you make a stop - Westjet, Delta, and American. I was very happy with my Westjet flight from Boston to Vancouver on Westjet with a stop in Toronto.

Air Canada and United have not merged. They are on Star Alliance together so they have many code share flights. The flights that you see should say either Air Canada operated by United or United operated by Air Canada. I'm guessing the latter. Where are you flying out of? I find it odd Star Alliance is your only option. I've personally never had a problem with Air Canada other than my last trip which was cancelled due to severe thunderstorms (not their fault).

This may be the only direct flight but if you are willing to transfer then as 138east mentioned all the major airlines fly into Toronto. If you like Southwest then you should try Westjet which uses a similar model in Canada. Westjet has codeshare agreements with both American and Delta.

Are you coming out of Denver? That's a United hub and you should have all sorts of flight options.

It looks like there are four daily non-stops from Denver to Toronto; two are on United Express and two are on an Air Canada code share. I have absolutely no problems with Air Canada. IF you happen to be Global Entry or TSA Pre, take the United Express flight or connect through Chicago, Newark, or DC where you check in with United; you can't use TSA Pre on a a foreign flagged carrier. If not, then take the Air Canada ERJ-190, which is a wonderful regional jet (as is the ERJ-175). As stated they are both Star Alliance carriers and you can by tickets on AC as a UA codeshare and vice versa.

I fly United all the time. Yes, there can be problems, but I find them to be no more often than other carriers; they have certainly had some major publicity issues! Now, flying out of Denver, depending on the time of year and the weather, is a different story.

Your other option is to fly southwest to Buffalo. You can get airport transfers that take you from Buffalo to Toronto but they are pricey.

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You can tell by the flight number. Normally, a 4 digit flight number means it is not operated by the company that is booking the flight. So UA XXXX would not be operated by United itself. United Express is a catch all for several other companies that fly regional routes under the United banner. But they are not United.

All airlines change times and flight designations. The further ahead you book, the more likely this will happen. But for most routes in North America, if you were flying the morning, you will still be flying in the morning. It will not be from morning to that night or the next day.

That does happen, but only in places that most people do NOT go for vacation (but some of us do travel to for work).

As was mentioned, Air Canada and United (along with Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss, Brussels, Turkish, EgyptAir, Ethiopian, Thai, South African, and some others) are all in Star Alliance. This means the cooperate. You can earn miles from any of them on any others. So you can get United miles for flying on Air Canada and build your miles faster. You can book award trips on each other. Upgrades may or may not be possible. And they do code shares, so they can offer "flights" without actually having to fly an aircraft on that route at that time.

You can tell by the flight number. Normally, a 4 digit flight number means it is not operated by the company that is booking the flight.

Bum scoop alert. This is a good ways from the truth. United flies about 5000 flights a day. So there is no way they can get them all numbered under 1000, even when they occasionally use the same number twice a day, for different flights.

A recent example- just flew UA 1725 and 1728. Definitely United planes, flying SFO-Maui-SFO. Flying FLL-ORD-SFO in a month, all mainline UA metal. UA 1219 and 1230.

If you a deep dive on the UA site, you can find the flight numbers assigned to their code share partners. I believe anything above 3000 is a code share, including United Express, which is a group of local carriers, like Skywest.

OP, use a desktop broswer to access & look up flight details, i.e. between DEN and YYZ - you can mask or show CodeShare UA and AC flights, flown and/or marketed by regional alliance partners. Flightstats dot com is what I use when planning & research ahead - mobile app is available but the desktop site is much more flexible.

For example, there are only 2 non-stops tomorrow (Friday) between the 2 cities above, 2 by United and 2 Air Canada ... list them all by CodeShare partners and you will see all the cross-marketing flight #'s. They are all narrow-bodied, regional jets - CRJ 175 or alike, 50 seaters or less with 2-2 across seating in coach, very little overhead bin space for anything but personal bags, even 21" and 22" MCL or carry-on rollers have to be gate-checked.

It is a long flight on these commuter jets, 10 years ago - nobody could imagine or see themselves flying these for 3 or 4 hours ... times have changed. They are more prone to delays and cancellations as they aircraft are doing loops, hooping around from airports to hubs to airports to hubs. Odds are that prices aren't all that competitive either without looking up travel dates. DEN used to be a big hub for UA flights and for decades, I prefer to connect there over ORD (Chicago O'Hare).

Have you look at connecting from a 1-stop connection, going thru ORD into YYZ (Toronto) where you might have more options & possibly better pricing ... instead of flying into BUF (Buffalo Int'l) and then make your way across the border ?

Bum scoop alert. This is a good ways from the truth. United flies about 5000 flights a day. So there is no way they can get them all numbered under 1000, even when they occasionally use the same number twice a day, for different flights.

 

A recent example- just flew UA 1725 and 1728. Definitely United planes, flying SFO-Maui-SFO. Flying FLL-ORD-SFO in a month, all mainline UA metal. UA 1219 and 1230.

 

If you a deep dive on the UA site, you can find the flight numbers assigned to their code share partners. I believe anything above 3000 is a code share, including United Express, which is a group of local carriers, like Skywest.

Yes, my mind is going.

4 digits with a 3 or higher first digit.

Happy? :)

 

For example, there are only 2 non-stops tomorrow (Friday) between the 2 cities above, 2 by United and 2 Air Canada ... list them all by CodeShare partners and you will see all the cross-marketing flight #'s. They are all narrow-bodied, regional jets - CRJ 175 or alike, 50 seaters or less with 2-2 across seating in coach, very little overhead bin space for anything but personal bags, even 21" and 22" MCL or carry-on rollers have to be gate-checked.

I’ll agree with everything but this. The ERJ-175 that United Express flies (and probably the ERJ 190 on AC) is a two cabin aircraft with full sized overhead bins. They still run out, just like many full sized jets, but there is no automatic gate check.

Your other option is to fly southwest to Buffalo. You can get airport transfers that take you from Buffalo to Toronto but they are pricey.

 

 

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I was thinking the same thing. I wonder what a one way car rental costs.

I’ll agree with everything but this. The ERJ-175 that United Express flies (and probably the ERJ 190 on AC) is a two cabin aircraft with full sized overhead bins. They still run out, just like many full sized jets, but there is no automatic gate check.

The overheads on the left side of the ERJ-175 aircraft in first class are not full sized. They are about 1/3 full sized. Carry ons don't fit, just purses, smaller backpacks, etc.

But, you are correct, there isn't an automatic gate check.

The overheads on the left side of the ERJ-175 aircraft in first class are not full sized. They are about 1/3 full sized. Carry ons don't fit, just purses, smaller backpacks, etc.

 

But, you are correct, there isn't an automatic gate check.

Yeah. I was simplifying that detail. Never had a problem, even sitting in “A”...

I was thinking the same thing. I wonder what a one way car rental costs.

Very expensive and complicated as you are crossing into another country.

There is a megabus that travels from the Buffalo airport to Toronto that is not that expensive but only runs at certain times (google megabus Buffalo airport). Or there are airport shuttles you can pay for. I forget the name of the line but again a google search could help.

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