Driving to Canada (Toronto) to fly to Europe

Ruth,

I've never done that, but I suspect the first challenge will be to find parking at YYZ (which will likely be expensive). One method you might consider would be to travel by Greyhound from Ithaca to Toronto. The trip appears to be about 7 hours, and current one-way fares are listed at $59. There don't appear to be any flights available from Tompkins Regional Airport to YYZ.

Good luck and happy travels!

Thanks for the heads-up on parking, Ken. There will be 3 of us traveling, and it looks like the total difference in airfare will be more than $1200. So if we can find off-site long term parking, it would probably still be a big savings (and less than the cost of 3 r/t bus tickets).

Do you know anything about border crossing time (I know delays can sometimes be awful coming into the US and have no idea about the US to Canada experience)? I'm also wondering if there are other problems if your departure country is not the country where you have citizenship?

Fares were really reasonable on our last trip overseas, so searching far and wide for a better option is new to me -- hence all the questions! Thanks.

Now, I'm in Nova Scotia, not Toronto, but last time we flew out of Halifax we stayed the night before at one of the airport hotels and it offered two weeks free parking in a fenced lot. We are only a 45 min drive to the airport, but we had an early flight (at airport by 7am) as well as a really late arrival back home (like, 2am) so we thought it better to have our car nearby. There was a shuttle to and from the airport to the hotel. And tho we were actually gone an extra 5 days over the two weeks, they didn't charge any extra (nice folks here in NS). Depending on how long you will be gone for, you may want to look at coming up the night before and finding a hotel where you can park for free. For us, the cost of the hotel was pretty close to what the airport parking would have been, but we had the added benefit of being right there. So depending on flight times and how long you will be gone and what you can find for free hotel parking, this could be a good option...

Border crossing time can be a crap shoot (it's been years since we crossed from NY to Niagara)...we cross in New Brunswick/Maine every few years. It is much less busy then Ontario would be, of course, but we arrive usually mid-afternoon and can wait up to 30 min, but we crossed thru back to Canada at 11pm, not a soul around. If you could plan an early or late crossing, that could help, but as I said, it's been years since I've crossed at an extremely busy crossing.

I don't think there would be any issue with flying out from Canada if you aren't from here...I'm sure thousands of border dwellers go down to the US all the time to take advantage of cheaper flights. If we weren't a 12 hr drive to Boston, I'd probably take advantage of flying from there all the time.

Ruth:

I live north of Detroit and consider flying out of Toronto to Europe as an option. My wife and I did it once by taking the airport limo from Windsor. As Ken says, the problem with driving (it is about five hours for me) is long-term parking of the car. The cheapest rate appears to be about $12 a day.

Given the distance and time from Ithaca to Toronto, you may want to consider many of the hotels near the Toronto airport that offer free parking with an overnight stay. I did a quick Google search found several hotels with free parking up to thirty days with just one night’s stay. In addition, do you want to drive back to Ithaca immediately upon your return after the long flight home? It will also cost a tank of gas each way and gas is more expensive in Canada than the US.

Depending on how many people are traveling together, the bus from Ithaca to Toronto may be your least expensive option. The Rome2Rio website also suggests that once you get to Toronto you will need to take a train and shuttle to reach the airport from the point the bus lets you off. The bus trip will take 7 ½ hours and cost $56 with a transfer in Buffalo.

You also need to consider transportation home on your return. You will probably be landing in the early afternoon upon your return. Can you timely connect with the bus to get back to Ithaca without overnighting in Toronto or Buffalo? You need to look at the connections both ways when making your plans. When my wife and I used Toronto to fly to Europe, the airport limo dropped us off in Windsor at 1 am. Fortunately, we had very good friends who picked us up. It was also interesting dealing with the U.S. Customs Officer at the Ambassador Bridge in the middle of the night with a load of stuff we acquired in England.

Good luck with your travel plans.

How long would it take you to drive from Ithaca to Newark airport, isn't it less than five hours? If so, you could probably get a hotel that also has free parking with a one night stay, just a thought. Have you priced airfare from Newark?

Ditto on Gail's comment, the distances from Ithaca to either are essentially the same, without a border crossing or other details. Actually Newark is a bit closer!
Based on our search to go to Berlin and Copenhagen, Newark offers excellent choices and prices, so much so that for the second consecutive year we are flying out of Newark rather than Philadelphia, which we are near.
I would suggest do a search using EWR and see if you like what comes up.

Ruth,

Regarding the border crossing times, as Nicole says it can be a crap shoot at times. MapQuest shows the driving time at about 4H:15M, assuming you'll be using the Niagara Falls border crossing. A lot will depend on WHEN you're travelling, both in terms of the date and the time-of-day. If it's a holiday weekend or whatever, crossing time could be considerably longer. At the Pacific Border crossing (busiest border station west of Windsor-Detroit one), waits of three hours or longer aren't uncommon.

If you can find a hotel that offers free parking for up to a month, staying for one night might be the solution.

@Paul,

"gas is more expensive in Canada than the US."

Now that the dollar is down to about 91¢, I wonder if that's still true?

Cheers!

Hi -- We're flying open jaw into Amsterdam and out of Paris. I was attracted to flights from Toronto because of the significant price difference and because it was a non-stop flight by far less expensive than non-stops from other airports (including Newark -- I just checked). Delta and partners fly multiple flights per day from Toronto to Amsterdam, which I also though could be a plus. If the total difference in price is only a few hundred dollars, we'd probably be better off flying out of our small regional airport, saving the strain of driving 5 (or more) hours each way and the cost of long term parking. But $1200 is a big savings. However, I'm definitely worried about the possibility of major delay (I've read 4+ hours??) crossing into Canada. I'm not sure it's worth it, and driving up a day early isn't an option due to our schedules.

We always park at Skyway Park. The longest we've parked is 22 days and it cost only $100. I'm pleased with that price considering the transfers from Peterborough start at $400! Thats ridiculous considering if there's no traffic I can get from my house to YYZ in 1.5 hours. Sometimes a bit faster!

I'm not a fan of driving so far to get started on a holiday but if it saved me that much money I'd consider it. My in laws cross to the States to fly to Vegas all the time to save money.

Ruth, some food for thought.
I realize you are not showing specific dates, so I just made some random searches using a Tuesday-Tuesday itinerary in July on Momondo.
And I found that you can fly for significantly less than Delta doing this either from Toronto, or from Newark, with the Newark prices actually being somewhat less, especially Iceland Air, around $1100. Ad for that matter, this is even less out of JFK (1070) True, it's not non-stop.
I also found that you can get AirTransat from Toronto for substantially less than Delta, as in $970 or so US.

I would recommend that you play with the flight search engines some more and see what all of your various alternatives are, and then weigh against them the costs and time involved in getting to each airport, including the risks of delays due to the border crossing.

I'm a U.S. citizen living in Canada. Here are a few thoughts from my experiences.

I have had no problems flying out of Canada as a U.S. citizen or any questions at my destination as to why I departed from Canada when I'm a U.S. citizen. So, I don't think there are any worries about that.

Border crossings are a complete guessing game. Certainly, there are generally times when traffic at border crossings generally makes things quicker or slower. However, there are no guarantees. An accident at a crossing or some special event near a crossing can cause unexpected delays. So, while you might be able to generalize that it would be a 30 minute wait if you cross at noon on a Saturday, there aren't really any guarantees. I usually use a small, rural crossing that rarely has more than a 20 minute wait, but one holiday weekend the wait was more than three hours to get back in to Canada.

Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA), which is like the U.S. CBP, does post wait times on their website at http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/bwt-taf/menu-eng.html but if you have a long drive before you even get to the border, then checking before you leave might not give you much info since a 30 minute wait at 10am could be a 3 hour wait by 2pm. I believe that there are two (possibly three and I'll get to this in a minute) options for crossing, either at Buffalo or at Niagara Falls, given your route, which does give you some flexibility to adjust your route a bit if one bridge has an unexpected wait.

You might look in to applying for NEXUS cards for your family. NEXUS is the trusted traveler program between the U.S. and Canada. It costs $50 per person to apply and you would have to travel to one of the interview sites on the U.S.-Canada border or at a Canadian airport to apply. However, the card is good for 5 years and is valid for both the U.S. and Canada. So, you can use the NEXUS lane at U.S.-Canadian land border crossings, the trusted traveler lanes going through passport control/customs at both U.S. and Canadian airports, and so on. So, it could save you time on future international trips, as well. One of the three bridges in the Buffalo/Niagara Falls area is NEXUS only. So, having the NEXUS cards would open up that bridge for you. However, I've not used my NEXUS card at any of the Buffalo/Niagara area bridges, so I don't know if the bridges are well set up to really save a lot of time with the NEXUS card. Part of the time savings will depend on how well marked the NEXUS lanes are, so you know well in advance which lane to get in to, and also whether they're separated from the regular lanes well enough that you can zip past a lot of the regular traffic. So, something to do some research on and see if it makes any sense for you and your family. Do note that ALL people in a car MUST have a NEXUS card for your car to be able to use the NEXUS lane.

Ken, Paul - gas is still definitely more expensive in Canada than in the U.S. It's about $1.10 more a gallon in Windsor, ON than in Detroit, MI for example, even with the weaker exchange rate. That said, for $1200 savings on flights, and extra $20 bucks to fill up your tank probably is worth it. ;)

One other small consideration for your planning. The drive from Niagara Falls to the west side of Toronto, where Pearson airport is located, is expressway almost all the way. However these roads are some of the most heavily travelled in Ontario. The section of the Queen Elizabeth Way between Hamilton to the 427, especially, can turn into a parking lot any hour of the day or night, and rush hours guarantee stop-and-go on the 427 up to the airport. So although Google puts the distance at 122km and one hour, 20 minutes, you should not be surprised if it took at least a half-hour longer.
Fill up with cheap US gas on your side of the line and you should easily do the round trip without refilling unless you are driving some sort of urban tank.

Sarah’s comments regarding gas prices in Canada accurately reflect my experiences. I make frequent trips to Canada and try to avoid buying my gas there because of the price difference. The wait times at Canadian border crossings can be a significant problem. My wife and I are NEXUS cardholders so this problem for us is greatly reduced. Two to three hour waits at rush hours or on weekends is not uncommon. There are seldom more than a couple of cars in the NEXUS line and we usually are zooming past the cars waiting in the other lines.

While somewhat off the subject, I find that a great advantage of being a NEXUS cardholder is a very quick clearing of customs at the airport upon your return. A NEXUS card puts you in the trusted traveler program and allows use of the computer kiosk in the customs area of many airports. You scan your passport, make your customs declaration at the kiosk, and present your receipt to the customs officer as you exit. It is about a ten-minute process. A NEXUS card also allows you to use the trusted traveler line at airport security and avoid many steps in that process.

I am a US citizen who will be moving with my spouse to the UK. We live in western New York State and planned to fly out of Toronto (which I did once long ago) to Heathrow. We want a direct flight because we will be taking our dogs with us and we'd like to avoid changing planes as they will be traveling in cargo. Would there be any difficulty with the dogs and customs in TORONTO? We are already working on making sure we have everything set to bring the dogs into the UK once we get to London. And we've also brought our dogs in Ontario on any number of occasions, so we're good with that part. But I'd like to know whether we can expect any customs issues in Toronto related to the flight. TIA for any help!

Agiliteve-

You would do better to post this question as a new topic, with the heading for what you need, which is getting the dogs through customs. It has no connection to the issues raised here by the original poster.You could also check Canada customs online for info, or call them.

I've done it when I lived in Buffalo. I don't remember the parking details, but it was not a big deal compared to the airfare savings. I mean, you will need to park at whichever airport you use, so I can't see it mattering all that much.

The border crossing can get backed up at busy times, and randomly if there is a security concern or other hang-up. I'd advise plenty of extra time. Ithaca to Toronto is about 4.5 hours, add 2 hours for potential traffic issues, and 2+ hours to arrive at the airport ahead of your flight. You're looking at leaving home 9+ hours ahead of your flight. Unless your flight is late in the evening, it might make sense to drive there a day ahead of time, get a hotel with a parking deal, and fly out the next day. It would still save plenty of money, and add peace of mind in case there is a traffic jam or border issue. There are a couple different border crossings in the Buffalo area, someone who lives there now can probably advise which is best, but this site gives wait times.
https://apps.cbp.gov/bwt/

I've never had a border wait of more than an hour in Buffalo, but it does happen. If your flight is on a Friday or weekend in the summer there is more traffic.

There should be no issue with being a US Citizen flying from Toronto direct to Europe. If the flight had a connection in the US, there might be additional customs/immigration (not sure of details, but you'd technically be arriving in the US from Canada, so it would be a consideration). But for Toronto direct to Europe, it should be no different than anywhere else.