Book your flights early!!

[canadarocks]

I know … everyone knows that! 

But OMG..  I started looking at Flexible EZAir ages ago for our February cruises next year. Checked it daily and got a good price out of Toronto to FLL about two weeks ago - CAN $574. Today the exact same flights are CAN $1032 !! For a less than four hour flight! And this isn’t until February! Who knows how high they’ll get?!?

 

So book those flights asap, especially if you’re Canadian and especially since EZAir is flexible. 

[akaCruiser]

The earliest bookings can be done between 300 to 330 days away from the cruise date. I usually lock in a fight first and then periodically review the cost of flights. I find that around four or five months out, that for flights to the US will drop in cost (usually due to change in flight times to later hours) or direct flights will show up instead of connecting flights for roughly the same price. I would then rebook my flights to get the saving or direct flights.

 

The best part is that you can book ahead and change them before you do your final payments so long as you select Flexible flights option.  

[canadarocks]

Totally true about the 4-5 months. At first I was looking at Buffalo -> FLL , thinking that would be less expensive than a direct flight from Toronto. That was just over $900, so on a whim I checked Toronto->FLL again. And got the $574. 😁

[Josie201]

Seems very high.  We are cruising February 2025.  Flying from YOW to FLL direct (which hasn't always been an option for us) for $446 return.  Booked directly with AC. 

[disgirl]

We are flying out of Calgary in March.  I started looking in November when prices were released.  AC and WS were coming in over $1400 per person!  Im not paying that to fly to FL.  I keep an eye on them and they kept going up.  Then early July, Porter popped into my system without having extra overnights (via Toronto we would have had to stay longer bc of the early departure).  The flights were $700 and I have heard really good things on Porter - service, on time, beer and wine on the flights along with premium snacks.  Willing to give them a shot, so we booked.  

[nbsjcruiser]

This Canadian flies out of the US for a fraction of what I'd have to pay flying out of Canada. We fly only Southwest with its benefits of cancel or change for free on line and in minutes, two free bags per person.

 

I booked our fall trip from Portland Maine to FLL on Southwest for $220CAD per person - 2 bags included. Same date from NB on Air Canada - $998. Flying from Canada would make cruising impossible for us to do more than once a year. Flying form the US affords us two trips a year.

[akaCruiser]

46 minutes ago, disgirl said:

We are flying out of Calgary in March.  I started looking in November when prices were released.  AC and WS were coming in over $1400 per person!  Im not paying that to fly to FL.  I keep an eye on them and they kept going up.  Then early July, Porter popped into my system without having extra overnights (via Toronto we would have had to stay longer bc of the early departure).  The flights were $700 and I have heard really good things on Porter - service, on time, beer and wine on the flights along with premium snacks.  Willing to give them a shot, so we booked.  

I've used Porter in the past and just last Dec 2023 down to MCO. Overall the flight on Porter was good and better than AC in my opinion. 

[nbsjcruiser]

1 hour ago, nbsjcruiser said:

This Canadian flies out of the US for a fraction of what I'd have to pay flying out of Canada. We fly only Southwest with its benefits of cancel or change for free on line and in minutes, two free bags per person.

 

I booked our fall trip from Portland Maine to FLL on Southwest for $220CAD per person - 2 bags included. Same date from NB on Air Canada - $998. Flying from Canada would make cruising impossible for us to do more than once a year. Flying form the US affords us two trips a year.

 

Sorry, that was $220CAD total for 2 people, not pp. Air Canada was $998 for 2 people. One way.

[Astro Flyer]

1 hour ago, akaCruiser said:

The earliest bookings can be done between 300 to 330 days away from the cruise date.

My current experience is that flights are not available to book until about 330 days before the return flight.

 

We’re flying one-way LAX to Brisbane in March however could not book that flight until the cruise’s ending date which is 28 days after boarding the ship. We booked Premium Economy in May and after 2 price drops in July & August refared to get a 27% airfare reduction. I check daily for lower airfares and/or better flights & sometimes that works out great with Flexible EZair. 😊

 

[akaCruiser]

21 minutes ago, nbsjcruiser said:

 

Sorry, that was $220CAD total for 2 people, not pp. Air Canada was $998 for 2 people. One way.

I few years ago, I was able to get a one way on AA from MIA to YYZ for only $167 as I used my points to for the initial flight -- YYZ to MIA. These days can't find these types of bargains unless you drive down to nearby US border city with Southwest, Sprit, or JetBlue. Sometimes the savings are not enough to justify the drive and flight from the US.  

[canadarocks]

We used to get Niagara Airbus to shuttle us to Buffalo and we flew from there, almost always with Southwest. But since COVID, all they do is private car service which is far too expensive. We're gone too long to leave our vehicle at an airport or a hotel, so Toronto works best for us.

[joeyjeremiah]

3 hours ago, disgirl said:

We are flying out of Calgary in March.  I started looking in November when prices were released.  AC and WS were coming in over $1400 per person!  Im not paying that to fly to FL.  I keep an eye on them and they kept going up.  Then early July, Porter popped into my system without having extra overnights (via Toronto we would have had to stay longer bc of the early departure).  The flights were $700 and I have heard really good things on Porter - service, on time, beer and wine on the flights along with premium snacks.  Willing to give them a shot, so we booked.  

Double check your porter flight times. They recently changed the schedule again and the 4 pm flight to yyz is back to 8:30 am.

[disgirl]

1 hour ago, joeyjeremiah said:

Double check your porter flight times. They recently changed the schedule again and the 4 pm flight to yyz is back to 8:30 am.

 

That's why we arent going via YYZ.  We are via YOW and so far, so good.