What about transit in NRT? only 1 stop from YYZ and split the trip more to the middle than through HKG.

Forgive me for resurrecting a very old thread but I'm looking for the same advice for an upcoming trip in late December of 2017 (I know that flights aren't available yet but it's never too soon to start planning). Given that the advice in this thread is 5 years old, I thought I'd solicit updated opinions.

I'm booked on a cruise departing from Singapore on 30 December 2017. I usually try to arrive at least 2 days early so I'm looking for advice on options for getting there from Toronto. I don't fly enough to have status on any airline so I'm not married to one particular carrier.

Is it still accurate to say that transpacific flights will be less expensive than transatlantic ones? My budget is not infinite but I do have some time to save up so it's *possible* that a business class or first class ticket isn't out of reach.

One other idea I've been batting around is to leave Toronto even earlier and break up the flight by staying a day or two in the layover city prior to carrying on to Singapore. Is this a viable idea or am I just setting myself up for trouble if I try to do that?

Welcome to FT!

Not sure about the costs, but if you do a search using skyscanner, you would be able to see the options available.

Transpacific options are definitely shorter than the transatlantic options, though the ME3 (Qatar, Emirates, Etihad) also offer pretty decents deals.

And yes if you want to break up the journey, you can also stay in a layover city of your choice, however, if you choose the right flights your journey from YYZ to SIN can be as short as 20 hours, in which case, I wouldn't, as I would prefer to arrive at my final destination as early as possible.

If cost is tight (or looking for cheaper business class), longhaul flights are usually quite cheap on Dec 24, 25, 26. So if you want to come a few days early you can check out Singapore, or fly to Hong Kong or Taipei (for example) and spend a day or two there before carrying on to Singapore.

Also, AC does direct to Delhi with LMUs (Las Minute Upgrades) being quite reasonable. That is of course if you want to check out a bit of India.

fortunately the pricing on one way segments over the pacific do not have the issues that the segments have over the Atlantic...at least when it comes to economy.

business, however, is going to be a premium...well, about 3/4 of a return fare for the segment at least from a few dumby bookings.

i would check some random dates out

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/


You have many options out of YYZ. BR, AC/SQ, CX etc. and then you can see what a return would be, what one way would be and then click on the full ticket terms and see what the stop over rules are.

Many allow a stop over for a small fee or smaller.

Just depends what you want to do?

If you want to visit HKG, TPE, ICN, PEK versus SIN, then a stop over is fine...

Now here is my 2 cents.

Given the possible weather in YYZ, you may want to see how much the premium is to buy the airfare with the cruise company.

Normally, the premium is not enough but toss in a snow storm and Xmas and you could have issues getting out of YYZ and at least if you buy the airfare with the cruise company, they will eat the cost of getting you to the next port, for example, if for some reason you don't get to SIN in time.

Then again, I also know that in larger storms, the international departures have priority out of YYZ, so all the eastern seabord NYC, ORD, BOS etc. all get cancelled first, then domestics and then transborder and usually the priority is to long haul international...at least that is what I have read.

Since YYZ SIN must have a stopover you have many choices: TPAC layover in TPE NRT HKG are possibilities and if you add a US layover then the possibilities increases.
TATL are possible depending on the airline and sales. I have flown this year YYZ SIN on KL business for $2500CDN.
A Middle East layover is price competitive as well.

Any winter storm issue at YYZ all the heavies will be prioritized for departure. vs the smaller planes.

Yes, if you book airfare with the cruise line, you are covered to get onto the ship. BUT it must be with the cruise line not a separate ticket that the cruise travel agent sold you.

Another option is travel insurance.

Thank you all for the responses and the advice. It is all very much appreciated.

@SQ319: Thanks for the pointer to SkyScanner. I'd not heard of that site. I usually just search on Google's flight search engine so it's nice to have a solid list of alternative sites in my pocket.

Thanks all for the recommendations about going with cruise air. I'm a fairly seasoned cruiser so I'm reasonably up to speed on the rules and benefits of booking the flights through the cruise line and I always look at that option when planning my cruise. But I also like to check independently as I can often find better pricing (hence my always adding at least a 2 day padding to my arrival in the departure city). But given the distances and international nature of this latest cruise, it would seem like a 5 day pad is a better idea.

The winter storm and flight cancellation prioritisation information is quite useful, thank you. Based on what you are all telling me, it would seem that I'm better off selecting a flight with an international stopover rather than one with a North American one since that keeps my flight higher on the departure priority list in the event of a storm, yes? I've not had to consider that before as most of my prior flights to cruise ports were single hops from YYZ or BUF to FLL or SJU.

How many Aeroplan miles do you have? The best value is a B class ticket on EVA (YYZ-TPE-SIN) where you can upgrade the YYZ-TPE segments into Royal Laurel. The ticket should price around US$1300-1600.

Use a travel agent, or call EVA to book as you must be sure the segments are not "married" when the ticket is issued otherwise the upgrade won't process.

Yes, the long haul transpacifics are about the last flight they will cancel due to weather issues. They want those planes in the air. Don't transit through the US in winter..you could be stuck for days if a blizzard comes through.

Sadly, I am bereft of Aeroplan points these days. I haven't flown AC in quite some time and the bulk of my points expired. I'm a little more flush with AAdvantage and Skymiles, though if that helps me any.

If you have enough AA miles see if you can do CX YYZ HKG SIN. Skymiles options are YYZ US NRT SIN on DL or KL YYZ AMS SIN (usually more miles as you are crossing two zones, TATL and then EU-SE Asia).