Good day...

I am an Englishman living in New York with a girlfriend who resides in Toronto. I am trying to see her as much as possible...does anyone know a low cost flight option? or how a frequent flyer programme might help me? or any other ideas? im a student, in love, on a budget!!! any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much.

Cross-post:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=531012
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=531013

Sorry about the crossposts.

Im a flyer forum freshamn making the schoolboy errors.

Apologies people.

Canadian taxes are very high. The cheapest way would be to fly to Buffalo and drive (90 miles). Jetblue has flights JFK-BUF and these would be about half the LGA-YYZ price. However crossing the border by car can take hours during peak tourist times, so there is a definite time/dollars tradeoff here. Maybe you can hang out at Niagara Falls some of the time.

Checkout canjet.com and their weekend smartsavers. Also I have noticed AA often has this route for peanuts and CO is sometimes aggressive out of EWR. Most of the time crossing the land border is a breeze. It is almost never "hours" waiting time. I'd say 30 minutes would be terrible at Ft. Erie/Buffalo. Avoid crossing at Niagara Falls and you should be fine. See if you can sign up for these airlines emails for their fare/wknd offers.

It really is going to depend on your specific situation. Being that your a student I did a really quick search for air between NY and Toronto, with a Fri departure and a Sun return. Fares to Toronto are more than double than if you fly into Buffalo (as previously suggested). If your GF has a car, she could drive down and pick you up at the airport, depending on your flights you would both be traveling for about the same amount of time. Border crossing is usually as fast as passing a toll booth, just watch for special events that will occasionally cause delays.

Buffalo is a nice town still trying to play the part of a big city, I know I live here. There is plenty to do for a few visits esp considering your young lovers and won't need to venture out too much. You could occasionally just stay here or in Niagara Falls.

Either way you look at it you an either spend $325 for airfare to Toronto or spend $150 for airfare to Buffalo and then another $150 for a hotel or $50 for gas so she can drive and pick you up and return you.

Love isn't cheap.

Continental out of Newark has a $78 e-fare most weekends. This makes planning a little difficult, but sure is better than paying $325.

Continental out of Newark has a $78 e-fare most weekends. This makes planning a little difficult, but sure is better than paying $325.

FYI, the specials require you to leave on a Sat. and return on either a Monday or Tuesday. Quite doable if you catch the earliest outbound on Sat and come back first flight Mon. And yes, I have also noticed that this e-fare appears quite often. CO usually release their specials around Tuesday, and you can always sign up for the weekly specials newsletter. Hope this helps.