Toronto to Singapore
 

Which is better: via Vancouver/HK or via London?
Anyone done these routes before can let me know their travel experiences?
How was the 15hrs flight from Toronto to HK? Less tiring if I transit in Vancouver?
I'll be travelling with my 18mth old son.

Its a VERY long way either way you go. Check out Singapore Airlines Newark-Singapore (SQ21/22) which is non-stop.

If taking AC YVR or YYZ to HKG, you should have enough time to make the last SQ flight to SIN (SQ871).

There's also the JFK-FRA-SIN route on SQ with a minimal layover....

Wouldn't transit in YVR because it adds another stop.

If ticket costs aren't an important consideration, I would avoid transit through the U.S. on the way back (just adds to the hassle) if you are considering such a routing.

Not sure what the schedule is but KL via AMS isn't a bad option as far as an easy transit goes, and AMS has rest and play areas for families. CX via HKG is also another one-stop option with a relatively-easy connection. Not sure how the schedules for the Gulf airlines are.

Not sure how good the other airports in Europe are (I think BA requires a terminal change at LHR - not something fun even for the child-free).

I did YYZ-HKG-SIN with CX back in September. i left on the 1:30am flight out of Toronto; not the most convenient but allowed for a good night's sleep with a sunrise arrival at HKG, which is a great airport to transit in my opinion.

Thanks for the info.
I have a friend who also took the CX in sept to SIN and told me it wasn't too bad (for one second I thought you were her hubby! lol)

I guess the service on CX is far better than AC :)

Another good option is maybe with EVA Airways via TPE. Transit time is around 2 hours only. Though the flight is not daily from Toronto.

If you take AC, your best connecting point is at HKG, where you will connect onto SQ's A380 flight to SIN. Please note however if you book on AC's website, AC will book you onto their codeshare with SQ which is in a booking class that does NOT earn any miles! It doesn't matter what the AC website says, you can't change this.

The only way to make sure that you will get miles connecting onto SIN is to book it as a SQ flight number. You would definitely need the services of a travel agent to do this for you! The fare is the same as AC's website.

Always remember this - flying via transatlantic is usually more expensive than flying via transpacific even though the latter's distance might be longer.

wow I didn't know about the codeshare miles thing :eek:. I was going to book on AC's website.

I'll check the EVA airways.

Thanks for the info.

I've booked on ac.com to SIN many times using AC flight # (codeshared with SQ) and have always had miles from my SQ flights credited to my AP account automatically. I've never had an issue once.

Can even transit Dubai on EK, but that's far south enough that I suspect (without checking) it must add some time to the trip . . .

I have taken the LAX-TPE-SIN route multiple times on EVA. It is their newer 777-300ER, and it is a great airline. Good food, asia style service, the layover in TPE is not bad, not the newest airport, but very nice, and comfortable. I have stayed in the EVA lounge in TPE, and it is a bit dated as well, food is a bit limited (unless you like hot dogs), but once again comfortable.
I always flew business class on EVA, but there is a Evergreen Deluxe, which is like the old style business class seats that are not much more than economy.

I was excited to see that they started offering service out of Toronto.

How about the Swissair codeshares through Zurich?

Zurich airport has an absolutely fantastic kids playroom/nursery with changing stations, microwave, toys for a wide range of kids etc.

9pm-ish out of Toronto so probably not too disruptive with sleep patterns at that end, 6am into Singapore.

Add to that the fact the airport is relatively compact (although the play room is in the Schengen zone so you'd have to go through passport control to get there).

I see the fastest way seems to be Air Canada daytime flight to London picking up the BA flight to Singapore. This doesn't involve a terminal change but would probably be a terrible flight for timings with a baby...

You could also go through Tokyo and switch over to ANA for the Singapore leg. I had this on a miles trip coming up -- needed to change the dates and am now going through HKG with final leg in United coach (blech).

Travel from North America to Asia via transatlantic will always be more expensive than transpacific.

But where does the OP say anything about cost? With the question they ask they're more concerned about departure times and ease of transit at the intermediate point.

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).