Flying from US to Ottawa vs. Toronto - help?

[Benni]

I'll be making another trip to see B (and get married) in April. My experiences at Pearson Int. (Toronto) airport have been nightmares!

I tried to google info about the possibility of flying to Ottawa (less busy and more efficient customs process), then on to Newfoundland from there. I checked several travel sites and the flights into NL ALWAYS land at Toronto for customs purposes. However Ottawa has customs also.

But, I checked and the only way the flights are set up is to fly from here to NL with the stop in Toronto.

The only thing I could think of was to get a ticket from here to Ottawa (with only one stop in Chicago). Then another ticket from Ottawa to NL. There seems to be no other way to do it.

However, I need round trip tickets for all this, so how would I do 2 separate tickets as round trip?

(Did I make any sense in this post?)

[mllebamako]

Your post is a bit confusing but I think I see what you're getting at. If you really want to do it like that, you can just buy separate tickets: 1 round trip ticket from USA to Ottawa, 1 round trip ticket from Ottawa to Newfoundland. You just have to get the layover times matched up, but that shouldn't be too hard!

[Benni]

Thank you! I tried to explain it best I could but found it difficult to write out my train of thought.

Hmmm........ I wonder if I would need to do that directly through the airline and not use a travel site? Probably.

I'll have to call them with my questions and see what they say.

[mllebamako]

Thank you! I tried to explain it best I could but found it difficult to write out my train of thought.

Hmmm........ I wonder if I would need to do that directly through the airline and not use a travel site? Probably.

I'll have to call them with my questions and see what they say.

I don't see why you couldn't use the travel site. You're not doing anything out of the ordinary, just booking 2 separate flights because you don't like the route that comes up when you try to book them together.

[Benni]

I'll try the travel sites and see what happens. Thanks!

[Tooki]

I've done this before, it's quite easy. Good luck!

[Mims27]

I don't see why you couldn't. And as someone who lives Ottawa and has used that airport many times, I agree, its WAY better than Toronto. It's tiny and awesome! So if you can avoid T.O. you really should!

[BabyGund]

I was going to suggest two different sets of RT tickets. And you may actually save money in the long run.

I didn't have a nightmare flying into Toronto Pearson, but I'm just always looking for ways the save money. It's cheaper for me to fly to Buffalo, even with one stop in Newark than to fly direct nonstop to Toronto, due to the foreign taxes imposed.

[Benni]

Cool! Thanks ya'll! I'll look into it some more.

My main issue with Toronto is the loooooong walk to customs, standing in line forever, then the looooong walk to the gate. On a 2 1/2 hour layover, I'm running as fast as I can and JUST make it in time to board.

This time I will have checked luggage, so now I'll need more time to go pick up my luggage (with a long wait for that), then run to where I need to re-check it, then on to customs, etc. Whew! I'm out of breath just typing it out!! ))))

[Benni]

After some research, I've found that it would cost way more than a straight round trip ticket plus it would take TWO days -- as the flight gets into Ottawa in the evening and the flight out to NL is the next day. Pooh! I'll just have to suck it up and hone my running skills!

[mllebamako]

After some research, I've found that it would cost way more than a straight round trip ticket plus it would take TWO days -- as the flight gets into Ottawa in the evening and the flight out to NL is the next day. Pooh! I'll just have to suck it up and hone my running skills!

Bummer. Better wear your running shoes!

[Benni]

I intend to!!!

[BabyGund]

After some research, I've found that it would cost way more than a straight round trip ticket plus it would take TWO days -- as the flight gets into Ottawa in the evening and the flight out to NL is the next day. Pooh! I'll just have to suck it up and hone my running skills!

Sorry to hear that Benni.

[Benni]

B has suggested I rent a skycap/porter -- costs $10 which would be well worth the money -- to pick up my luggage and go recheck it while I run on to customs.
Never thought of anything like that, need to check into it!

[Riyko]

How long is your layover between flights? If it's less then 2 hours you'll need to see about finding a flight with a layover, over 2 hours. The reason why is to give you enough time to go through customs, get your bags, recheck them and then get to your next flight. I've also never had issues with customs in Toronto, but then i'm now a canadian citizen and i have a nexxus card (it makes going through customs 100 times faster as your line isn't very long). You might also want to look into that card as well.