Help a Canadian book flights from the San Fran to El Salvador.

June 17, 2013 12:49 PM

I am in Canada and I've only ever booked flight within, or to-and-from, this country. I'm looking for tips on booking flights from San Francisco to San Salvador, and from San Salvador to Toronto.

Two questions:

1) Do you recommend any particular airlines? (For international travel, I've only ever used Air Canada).

2) Anything else I should know about booking those flights whilst I'm in Canada? I am feeling a bit out of my league here and I just want to make sure I don't overlook something that causes me to spend too much on a flight.

Any info is greatly appreciated!

posted by beau jackson to Travel & Transportation (4 answers total)

Use kayak.com to search flights. There is a huge choice of American and international airlines, any number of which might fly to San Salvador from SFO. Choose the most affordable and convenient option. Another thing to consider is whether Air Canada is a codeshare with any other major airlines -- this can be helpful if you have Air Canada frequent flier miles.

A quick Kayak search for a random upcoming week gave results in the $600 range from Delta, United, and a few "multiple airlines" results notably involving TACA and Avianca, which are major Central/South American carriers.
posted by Sara C. at 1:17 PM on June 17, 2013 [1 favorite]

Another thing to consider, if you're planning a trip soon: the US Fourth Of July holiday weekend is coming up, and airfare from the US to other destinations will be more expensive then. If you're traveling soon, you may want to avoid the first week or so in July.
posted by Sara C. at 1:19 PM on June 17, 2013 [1 favorite]

Traveling on Wednesday is usually cheaper than any other day of the week.

I got a flight on TACA for $627! Wow!
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 1:25 PM on June 17, 2013

For an international "open-jaw" trip (where your departure and return cities are different) it's essential to use a multi-airline search engine instead of going to a single carrier's site.

I also like Kayak, which lets you explore many options with ease. Start with the basic multi-city search for the days you want. Typically Tuesday and Wednesday are the least expensive days. The more expensive days tend to be Friday-Monday, though that varies depending on whether there's a lot of business travel that day.

I always check "Include nearby airports," especially in the Bay Area where the three main airports are all basically fine. It's very easy to check/uncheck the airports in the results screen and see how the price changes to see if the alternate airport is worth it to you.

You can also use the other checkboxes to see how selecting nonstop flights, redeyes, etc. affects the price. For the days I checked, it was only an additional $70 for the whole itinerary to get nonstops. While all airlines will get you there safely, United is basically a flying bus. You can find reviews of various carriers, like Avianca and Taca.
posted by wnissen at 7:05 AM on June 18, 2013