flight question

I usually fly open-jaw (multi- city) and got a great price in November. If you have found an airfare you like, buy it and don't look back. Fares tend to go up the closer you get to take-off, especially for popular routes.

You could call the airline to check on how full the flight is; since more airlines are charging for seat selection at time of booking, the flight seating charts are not as reliable as they used to be. Someone may know of an app, I don't.

the only thing you can do is follow the prices for awhile to get a feel for what a 'good price ' is and then jump when you have a 'good price' and then stop looking. Invariably the next day the price will have dropped by 100$ or more (I think they may do that with cookies since it happens every time for us) July is high season and they are running many fewer planes than they used to do so huge bargains are less likely at this time of year. There is no answer to your question anymore.

The seat map is a reaonable indication of how full the plane could be, depending on the fee for picking your seat. It clearly indicates when aisle seats are nearly gone, a transatlantic flight stuck in a middle or window seat is pure misery.

Also watch the fare on Eurostar as that will rise rather sharply closer to the travel date - for example tommorrow costs £122. But six months out the cost is £37. This site gives the lowest fares - http://www.eurostar.com/uk-en while the USA version (https://m.eurostar.com/#/outbound) costs £41.50 tommorrow and £138. for the same date in July.

But how do I see the seat map before I've purchased tickets?

Is January too early to purchase flight tickets for July?

It is a dice roll. Like trying to buy stock at the low point or sell at the high point. Their computers are smarter than you are. If you like the price, buy it now. The seating chart is a poor indication of the seat sold. Sometimes blocks of seats are not available for a host of reasons and therefore appear to be sold on the chart. Suddenly those seat or some of those seats may be released. The airlines and their computers are well aware of all the games that can be played so if the price is close to what you think is reasonable, buy it and don't look back. It is far easier to save a couple hundred dollars elsewhere in your schedule than the brain damage you get from trying to find super cheap airline tickets. Some people get lucky, most don't.

The seat map availability varies with each booking engine/UI, generally somewhere in the flight selection process but not consistent and not always presented.

But as Frank said, the key is to buy when the price feels right - I was thrilled to get $550 round trip and bought flights six months in advance for our March trip.

When you are ready to commit to the trip is the best time to buy.

Enjoy the planning and the trip!

You can click on "View Seats" at some point before you get to the credit card payment screen, in most cases.

Does anyone have a general idea what a good price would be for a flight from Toronto to Paris and London to Toronto, so that I have an idea if what I'm looking as is what I should be jumping on.

Thanks

That's why you have to watch prices for awhile. They change so much that, even if someone has taken those exact flights before, the price could be entirely different. By "awhile", I usually watch for a few weeks. But even a week would give you an idea of how the prices are trending. Some airlines also have a calendar that shows what the prices are for a particular time period. I booked a flight from Chicago to Paris because I found a deal for $462. In looking at the calendar, though, I had to fly a day earlier than I had planned to get that deal because the next day was twice the price (they had a sale that ended).

I would fly into London and out of Paris as flights out of london have higher local departure taxes .

Airtransat usually has the cheapest flights and my experience is that prices dont change alot , i usually book in january or feburay for summer . Airtransat seats are tight , so i find booking well in advance gives me a chance to book the seats near the back that are only 2 side by sides (2-4-2) , i hate the 3-4-3 rows in rest of plane .

Kayak.com shows flights from Toronto to Paris on July 10, and London to Toronto on July 24 (arbitrary dates) in the $700 range round trip on Aer Lingus, with stops in Dublin, and the $800-900 range on Air Transat, Air Canada, or Lufthansa with no stops. I think those are excellent fares, but I'm used to paying more from the west coast. I'd be very surprised if fares like that were to drop as time passes. More likely they will rise.

I agree with the advice to start early, play around on search engines, get a feel for what's available, and pull the trigger when it feels right. Many search engines and airlines will let you search for dates and/or airports close to the ones you specify. In general, fares will rise as the dates get closer, and waiting for an exception can be frustrating and expensive. When you've found a flight, or airline, that seems to work for you, make the actual purchase on the airline's own website. This will protect you better if you have to change or cancel, and usually costs no more than the fare quoted on the search engine. (If it costs significantly more, then use the engine.)

Ok, so if what I'm seeing is Toronto to Paris for $624 and London to Toronto for $534, that sounds decent?

Thanks

Also consider that the departure taxes from London to the U.S. are higher than leaving from Paris -- if you could flip your trip into London and out of Paris you might save money.

I tried flipping them, using the same dates but it was more expensive (the Paris leg of the trip). Plus we have tickets to the keys ceremony on the 11th, which means we have to be in London that day.

Prima: Flying from Toronto, you have multiple choices of carriers, so much so that in 2016 there was over-capacity due to the new routes and a certain customer reluctance about security in Europe. Prices in general were a couple of hundred dollars cheaper than in 2015. Starting in August there have been spot fares for specific dates that were lower than I have seen in quite a while. It's a gamble and the best advice (however hard to take) is to leap on anything that seems reasonable and then never look at what might come up after your purchase. Based on plenty of experience out of Toronto, I'd shop now to the end of February. Do not be distracted by "airport fees/taxes". What matters is the bottom-line price, however calculated (some airlines try to shift the blame for their operating costs.) Toronto Pearson, by the way, has some of the highest fees in the world but there is nothing you can do about them and they are included in the quoted price. That's the bottom line for making comparisons.
Air Canada (including Air Canada Rouge), WestJet, Air Transat, Aer Lingus, Icelandair, and other European-based airlines all fly from Pearson to European destinations. For a survey, I use www.itasoftware.com (no ticket sales) and then go to the airline's own site, always using the multi-destination function. Despite its name, www.cheapoair.com has an easy-to-use site and there are plenty of others, including Priceline and Expedia and Flighthub. Try to find currency conversion on the site so the prices shown are in the fragile Canadian dollar. Flight time and duration, transfers etc. all affect price.

MsEB, I'd be coming out of Gatwick and not Heathrow.

I went to Expedia, plugged in Tor-Par and Lon-Tor which totalled $1212.45 (Cdn). Then I flipped it, Tor-Lon and Par-Tor and the total was $1417.29. Which means I would save 204.84 doing it my original way. Unless I'm missing something......

Kayak is showing $614 on Aer Lingus into London and out of Paris and $647 into Paris and return London, not a huge difference. I haven't tracked that route before but those seem like a good fare to me with only one stop in Dublin.

Be sure to use the Multi City option and not two one-way tickets.

Airrrnasat 940 going into London out of Paris . What airline are you looking at with those high prices ?

You did select " multi destination " not two one ways right ?

Did not know about the multi city option as this is the first time that we aren't flying round trip. Thank you for that information.