Cheapest flight path from YTO -> AMS -> YVR?

December 2, 2015 6:49 PM

Anyone have some secret routing tips to find me a deal to get me from Toronto to Amsterdam back to Vancouver this holidays?

I need to leave Toronto after December 16. I need to be back in Vancouver on January 5. In between I'd like as much time in Amsterdam as possible.

Anyone able to find a brilliant way of doing this? For less than $1500 Canadian?

posted by miles1972 to Travel & Transportation (9 answers total)

Doesn't look hard. Delta and United (afa Air Canada) are both showing me USD 950ish returns YVR-AMS in those date ranges, which is about CAD 1250, leaving you $250 for the many 250ish one ways from Toronto to Vancouver to start your (retrograde) journey.

Is there some twist I'm missing?
posted by rokusan at 7:01 PM on December 2, 2015

Response by poster: Interesting. I am seeing nothing remotely close to that.

What sites are you seeing this on?
posted by miles1972 at 7:08 PM on December 2, 2015

Kayak gives me US$992 on American:
December 16: YYZ-CLT-LHR-AMS
January 5 (arrives January 6, so may be no good for you): AMS-PHL-DFW-YVR

That routing sucks, but it's cheap.
posted by hoyland at 7:53 PM on December 2, 2015

However, everything else was like US$1200+.
posted by hoyland at 7:54 PM on December 2, 2015

I see stuff in that range on Google flights. Googling "Toronto Amsterdam return" is showing around 1100 CDN, and 400-ish Toronto>Van city one way. With some variation depending on the exact days, but probably doable for around fifteen-hun, plus tax.
posted by rodlymight at 7:55 PM on December 2, 2015

Using ITA, I see flights between ~1300CAD and ~1600CAD, depending on the arrival and departure dates. Google Flights uses ITA as a back-end, but ITA lets you choose flexible dates when you're searching for multi-city flights. (Also, I find that Google Flights tends to forget my selected currency between searches, which is annoying.) Be sure to set the number of stops to "no limit" to see the cheapest routes.

If you're a member of SomethingAwful, you can also ask for help in this thread.
posted by neushoorn at 10:32 PM on December 2, 2015

Brussels, Cologne, Dusseldorf, or Paris may yield lower prices and trains are reasonable if you travel second-class and book online. Seat 61 has incredible advice and is very readable.
posted by mdonley at 12:45 AM on December 3, 2015

Best answer: In general, it is cheaper to fly Toronto-Heathrow than Toronto-Schipol. When I was on a serious budget, I flew to Heathrow and then took the train to Harwich, the ferry to Hook of Holland, and another train to Amsterdam. I saved about $200 doing it this way, though it added 18 hours to my travel time at each end.
posted by 256 at 6:39 AM on December 3, 2015

Response by poster: Flying in and out of Gatwick. And then Easyjet from there.
posted by miles1972 at 1:50 PM on December 6, 2015