Hi everyone! I hope I might get some help here. I am a Canadian resident, and my wife is going to give birth soon. My grandmothers are still alive, but one is unfortunately unwell and bedridden (she’s over 80), and the other, who I deeply love, has early-stage Alzheimer’s.
Flights between Toronto and Porto, Portugal, are not the cheapest. The best options seem to have long layovers or are almost double the price.
I’m hoping this community can provide tips for finding the most affordable option. I considered Skyscanner, but whenever I check prices, they seem to change. Air Canada and KLM are quoting almost $4,000 for economy with layovers. TAP is under consideration with a 2-hour layover in Lisbon for about $1,800 for us all. Air Transat offers direct flights for around $2,000.
If you know of any other options or methods to find cheaper tickets, I would greatly appreciate your help. I don’t want to book without knowing I could save more.
Consider flying into Lisbon and then taking a train or renting a car to Porto if tickets are significantly cheaper than direct flights to Porto. It’s a math game.
Google Flights generally provides good historical pricing info, which can help you gauge if a deal is reasonable.
There’s no hidden trick to finding really cheap flights unless you have lots of miles/points. Typically, prices will rise as the departure date gets closer due to increased demand.
Zion said:
I usually rely on Google Flights, which I find quite useful.
If you can provide your travel dates or date ranges and the number of passengers, I’d be happy to see what I can find!
I have tried Google Flights, but the prices I see are even higher than booking directly through the airlines. I’m looking for roundtrip tickets for two adults and one baby at the end of September or early October.
My recommendation is to fly to Lisbon and then take the train. There’s a lot more competition for Toronto to Lisbon compared to Toronto to Porto. For example, you can fly nonstop to Lisbon in early May for CAD $702 per person on TAP. If you fly Air Transat and can handle a stop in YUL, it’s CAD $619. I’m not sure how much a train ticket to Porto costs, but it shouldn’t be too pricey.
@Vaughn
That might end up costing more than the layover in the end! I’ll keep that in mind, but I need to get my son a passport before I can buy the flights.
I seem to be the only one struggling to understand what you’re looking for. Are you trying to book round trips for yourself and your pregnant wife, or is it just for you to travel to Porto to visit your grandmothers? Assuming your grandmothers won’t be heading to Toronto given the flight direction indicated in your title, right?
Regardless, I’d recommend playing around with Google Flights. You can use filters for layover lengths and arrival/departure times. Additionally, the Price Graph function can help you identify when the cheapest options are available. For example, I just found a round trip from Toronto to Porto with a single 2-hour layover each way for €476.
@Landyn
Yes, that’s exactly what I need! I’m looking for roundtrip tickets for me, my wife, and our baby, from Toronto to Porto and back. I’ll definitely experiment with Google Flights—you mentioned features I wasn’t aware of before! Thank you!
