Cathy MerrittMoney Saving Tips, Online Fare Comparison, Booking and Airlines
A large number of international and domestic airlines operate frequent flights to Toronto from different parts of the globe, making air travel to Toronto a lot easier irrespective of your location.
Air Canada, the national air carrier provides connections between Toronto and rest of the world either directly or through its alliance and code share partners.
Therefore, finding a suitable flight to Toronto should not be a major concern.
But since, Toronto is a major tourist attraction and financial capital of Canada, you are advised to book your flight well in advance especially for the peak travel season (May to September) to get better deal.
If you are looking for the flights to Toronto, this page provides lots of useful information about different airlines serving Toronto, how to search for better flight deals online, from where you can buy flight tickets online, Toronto international airport and ground transportation to downtown core from the airport.
Quick links: Jump to…
- Online ticket booking and airfare
- How to find best deals on Toronto flights online
- Top 5 tips for getting best Toronto flights
- Airlines flying to and from Toronto – From US, From Europe, From Caribbean, From Mexico, From Africa, From South America, From Australia And New Zealand, From Asia, Domestic Flights
- Toronto Pearson International Airport
- Getting to downtown centre from Toronto airport
Online Ticket Booking and Airfare
Travel industry has evolved significantly with the advent of internet technology. Gone are the days when you had to visit travel agents or had to have a long phone call in order to book your flight ticket.
On the web, you will find numerous online comparison websites that offer flight tickets from all different airlines. There are several advantages of booking your flight ticket online. It is easy and quick to search and book flight tickets online. With just few mouse clicks, you can have many options instantly. You can book the tickets at any time. And most importantly, it allows you to save your time and extra fees (read agent’s commission).
4 Step Process to Get Best Deals on Flights to Toronto
1). Search low airfares on Tripadvisor.com
To find great deals on Toronto flights, start with tripadvisor.com, a leading price comparision website. Tripadvisor offers simple, idiot-proof and superior search engine to discover flight options with lowest airfares.
Tripadvisor’s sophisticated search tool scans top travel websites, airfare aggregators, best airlines and no-frills carriers and returns results in real time. The results include actual airfares without any hidden costs.
The best thing about Tripadvisor is that it offers one-stop shop for your flights. It explores every potential avenue of lowest airfares and presents the best flight deals at one place, and thus save your valuable time. It also does the stressful job of checking rates for alternate dates and nearby airports, offering you extra saving.
Unlike many other airfare aggregators, Tripadvisor displays final rates for the flights which include additional fees, taxes and surcharge. So you can have peace of mind knowing that you won’t get any bolt from the blue when you book your flight.
You can validate seat availability and find out how full a particular flight is before you reserve your flight ticket.
2). Check top discount travel booking engines
There are numerous online travel providers in market. But Expedia and Hotwire stand out from their counterparts, with their outstanding services and exceptional reputation. These two discount travel sites offer simple, clear-cut and efficient search tool. They provide countless travel products and offer great deals from their travel associates.
Expedia.com is world’s top online travel provider, providing great selection of flights, hotels, rental cars, cruises, vacation packages and more. Expedia offers “No Booking Fees” on single-carrier flights. Also, make sure to check their “Best Price Guarantee” offer. You will also get amazing last minute flight deals at Expedia.com
Hotwire.com is a leading discount travel site that offers incredible low rates on flight tickets, hotel rooms and rental cars. Hotwire does NOT charge booking fee ever for any flight booking. It offers Trip Watcher, a great tool that looks for lower-price travel days and sends you alerts for your travel destinations. You may save up to 40% off last minute fares with low Hotwire Hot-Rates!
3). Search websites of leading airlines
Many airlines offer several flight deals available only on their websites. So check websites of top airlines to find out whether there is any great deal available or not.
4). Don’t wait forever, reserve your flight tickets at right moment
Keep the lowest rate in mind that you are willing to pay. As soon as airfare drops below your set rate, book the flight that meets your other criterion (direct or non-stop, early morning or afternoon etc.). Don’t wait for rock bottom.
Top 5 Tips to Get Best Flights to Toronto
1. Plan well ahead and book your tickets as early as possible (if possible at least 2 months in advance).
2. Be flexible with your travel dates and time, prefer traveling during weekdays (Tuesday to Thursday).
3. Book round-trip ticket and stay with the same airline during entire trip.
4. Try alternative routes, many times direct flights are more costly.
5. Check out whether any special travel package is available or not. You can save significantly if you book hotels, car rental and flight tickets in a package.
Airlines Flying To and From Toronto
Over 65 airlines operate in and out of Toronto Pearson Airport, including most of the major players, few less known carriers and several no-frills airlines.
Flights to Toronto From US
Toronto is very popular travel destination among US travellers. And also due to its proximity to many US cities, major airlines run several flights to Toronto from various cities. In fact, Toronto is connected directly to more than 50 major US cities.
Air Canada is one of the most reliable and frequent flier to US cities. With its Star alliance partner United Airlines, Air Canada offers frequent direct flights to Toronto from Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Memphis, Miami, Minneapolis, Nashville, Newark, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington.
Another Canadian airline, Westjet connects several cities down south in Florida to Toronto. The major cities covered are Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Miami, Orlando and Tampa in Florida and Las Vegas in Nevada.
All major US airlines operate flights to Toronto from various US destinations.
American Airlines offers direct flights to Toronto from Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami and New York.
Continental Airlines connects Toronto to Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Fort Lauderdale, For McMurray, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, Nashville, Newark, New York, Orlando, San Francisco and West Palm Beach.
Delta flies to Toronto from Atlanta, Detroit, Columbus, Cincinnati, Ft. Walton Beach, Memphis, Minneapolis and New York.
US Airways runs daily flights from Philadelphia and Charlotte to Toronto, while Virgin America offers flights from Los Angeles and San Francisco to Toronto.
Flights to Toronto From Europe
If you are flying to Toronto from Europe, there is no shortage of direct and connecting flights. Toronto is well linked with major European cities by several airlines.
Air Canada offers direct flights to Toronto from Copenhagen (Denmark), Frankfurt and Munich (Germany), Geneva and Zurich (Switzerland), London (UK), Paris (France), Vienna (Austria) and Warsaw (Poland).
Air Canada also runs connecting flights from Amsterdam (Netherland), Barcelona and Madrid (Spain), Brussels (Belgium), Rome, Milan and Venice (Italy), Stockholm (Sweden), Edinburgh and Glasgow (Scotland), Dublin (Ireland), Manchester (UK), Belfast (North Ireland), Duesseldorf, Dresden, Hamburg, Berlin and Stuttgart (Germany) and Helsinki (Finland) to Toronto.
Several notable European airlines also provide direct flights to Toronto. This includes Air France from Paris, Al Italia from Rome, Austrian Airlines from Vienna, British Airways, Jet Airways and Lufthansa from London Heathrow, Finnair from Helsinki, Lufthansa from Frankfurt, KLM from Amsterdam, Swiss Airlines from Zurich and Geneva, Scandinavian Airlines from Copenhagen and SATA internationals from Lisbon.
If you want to fly to Toronto from Moscow, Russia unfortunately there is no direct flight between the two cities. However, many airlines offer flights between Toronto and Moscow with one stop, including Air France via Paris, British Airways via London, KLM via Amsterdam, Lufthansa via Frankfurt, Alitalia via Rome, Emirates via Dubai and Delta Airlines via New York to just name a few.
Flights to Toronto From Caribbean
Air Canada connects several Caribbean cities to Toronto. The major routes served by Air Canada from Toronto are – Bermuda (Bermuda), Bridgetown (Barbados), George Town (Bahamas), Grenada (Grenada), Kingston and Montego Bay (Jamaica), Nassau (Bahamas), Puerto Plata, Punta Cana and Samana (Dominican Republic), San Jose (Costa Rica) and San Juan (Puerto Rico).
Westjet, the other key Canadian air carrier offers direct flights to Toronto from Bermuda (Bermuda), Bridgetown (Barbados), Montego Bay (Jamaica), Nassau (Bahamas), Puerto Plata and Punta Cana (Dominican Republic), Cayo Coco and Varadero (Cuba), St. Lucia and St. Martin.
Air Jamaica operates direct flights from Kingston and connecting flights from Montego Bay while Caribbean Airlines flies to Toronto from Port of Spain.
Flights to Toronto From Mexico
Air Canada operates direct flights to Toronto from Cancun, Cozumel, Mexico City and Puerto Vallarta. While Westjet runs flights from Cancun and Puerto Vallarta to Toronto.
Flights to Toronto From Africa
Unfortunately, there are no direct flights to Toronto from any African city. You have to take connecting flights if you are travelling to Toronto from Africa.
Emirates offers several flights from Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg (South Africa), Cairo (Egypt) and Nairobi (Kenya) via Dubai.
Major European carriers connect several African cities to Toronto. British Airways flies to Toronto from Cape Town and Johannesburg via London, Air France from Johannesburg via Paris and Lufthansa from Johannesburg and Cape Town via Frankfurt.
Flights to Toronto From South America
Air Canada offers direct flights from Bogota (Colombia), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Caracas (Venezuela), Lima (Peru), Santiago (Chile) and Sao Paulo (Brazil) to Toronto.
Flights to Toronto From Australia And New Zealand
Air Canada offers direct flight to Toronto from Sydney. If you are from New Zealand, you can take a flight to Toronto from Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington via Sydney.
The Australian airliner Qantas runs daily flights from Sydney to Toronto via Los Angeles and New York. From Brisbane and Melbourne, you can catch the Qantas flight to Toronto via Los Angeles.
Flights to Toronto From Asia
Air Canada runs direct flights from Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong (China), Seoul (South Korea), Tel-Aviv (Israel) and Tokyo (Japan) to Toronto.
Apart from Air Canada, various other airlines operate direct flights to Toronto. The list of airlines includes Air India from Delhi, Emirates from Dubai, Hainan Airlines from Beijing, Cathay Pacific from Hong Kong, Korean Air from Seoul and Etihad Airways from Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Air Canada also offers connecting flights from Bangkok (Thailand), Bengaluru and Mumbai (India), Abu Dhabi and Dubai (UAE) and Singapore to Toronto.
Few other airlines offering connecting flights to Toronto are – Singapore Airlines from Singapore via London, Japan Airlines from Tokyo via Chicago, EL AL from Tel Aviv via New York and Jet Airways from Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai via Brussels.
Flights to Toronto From Within Canada
Toronto is also very well connected to most of the major Canadian cities by Air Canada and Westjet.
Air Canada operates direct flights to Toronto from Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver, Quebec, Winnipeg, Victoria, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste Marie, Saskatoon, Regina, London, Fredericton, Halifax and Kelowna.
While Westjet flies to Toronto from Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver, Quebec, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Saskatoon, Regina, Halifax and Kelowna.
Pearson International Airport, Toronto
Most flights to Toronto arrive at the Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) located 27 km/17 miles from downtown Toronto. This ultra-modern airport is the largest and busiest airport of Canada and serves as the major hub for Air Canada. The airport has undergone major restructuring and renovation in last few years and now handles passengers out of two massive terminals, Terminal 1 and Terminal 3.
The easy to navigate airport has several 24/7 foreign exchange bureaus and Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs), if you need to withdraw some cash. From the airport terminals, you will find lots of transportation options to get to downtown area.
Getting to downtown Centre From Toronto Airport
Once you land at the Pearson International Airport, there are several ways to travel to downtown Toronto and other parts of GTA.
Six major car rental agencies have their kiosks or offices located on the Level 1 of the parking garages next to each terminal. You can also take comfortable Limousine or more economical option is to take a taxi.
Airport Downtown Express provides frequent bus service between airport and several downtown locations (mostly major hotels) from each terminal. This is an excellent way to reach to your downtown hotel, with bus service running early morning to late night round the year.
Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) provides bus and subway service to downtown, while Brampton Transit and Mississauga Transit links the airport with the respective suburbs.
