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I did some searching for airfare from Toronto Canada to Auckland, New Zealand for October of 2021.

The best return price I could find today was around C$1600. My intent with the October date was to minimize the impact of covid on the prices.

I would be traveling after covid travel restrictions have eased and people are vaccinated, and I expect that I could book multiple months in advance.

Does C$1600 sound like an attainable round trip cost outside of covid times if booking in advance?

Thanks!

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    I wouldn’t expect Covid restrictions to be over in New Zealand sooner than summer next year given their vaccination pace and potential for virus variants.
    – JonathanReez ♦
    Apr 11, 2021 at 23:22
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    @Max this is why I used the word "attainable" - meaning something that is actually available in the market and is not related to my ability to pay. Therefore I believe this is an objective, factual question. Please advise if I could improve the wording to make this clearer.
    – Master Jimson
    Apr 12, 2021 at 0:14
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    Yes? I mean things could change any day / hour in this new world, but a quick check shows me tickets for CAD1478: bookings.beatthatflight.com.au/flights/YYZ1010akl20101
    – Mark Mayo
    Apr 12, 2021 at 1:48
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    Probably shouldn't do this in comments tho, but if you want some help finding tickets, ping me in the Travel Chat
    – Mark Mayo
    Apr 12, 2021 at 1:48
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    Be aware that once travel restrictions are lifted for inbound travel to NZ, there are going to be a lot of people trying to get here - NZ cut down on a lot of types of visas for this period, so there are a lot of residents stuck overseas right now that want to make it back, plus migrant workers desperate to get back to work. Expect fares to go through the roof when its announced.
    – user29788
    Apr 12, 2021 at 9:05

2 Answers 2

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One way to check if what you're finding is a reasonable price, is to search in Google Flights, where they tell us that $1585 (presumably what you found when you said "$1600") is $1193 cheaper than "usual", and that it "usually" would cost between $1650 - $3900 CAD.

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However you can see that if you booked it 49 days ago it would have been around $1400 CAD. So if you keep tracking the price, maybe it will go back down to where it was 49 days ago, but also it might go up to where it "usually" is which they say is $1650-3900 CAD.

However the last time I traveled between New Zealand and Canada it was much cheaper, probably because I flew from New Zealand to Vancouver first (with a beautiful stopover in Fiji!), then got a $30 flight from Abbotsford to Hamilton with Swoop airlines. I used Pop-a-Ride to get from Vancouver to Abbotsford for about $10-$15 and Hamilton to Toronto only costs about $20 on the GO train and a few bucks to get from Hamilton airport to the GO station by bus.

As pointed out in this comment, you might want to consider staying with a friend overnight in Vancouver if possible, to give some buffer time before the final flight to Toronto, just in case there's delays.

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    That's quite creative itinerary!
    – Itai
    Apr 12, 2021 at 1:14
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    I would strongly not recommend such an itin for a non-experienced traveler. Unprotected connections are for the experienced and laid back. Otherwise you might find yourself worrying for the entire length of the New Zealand-Vancouver flight whether you catch your connection. Also, when I book such connections I book a a night's sleep inbetween which not only makes it easier but also provides a healthy buffer against delays.
    – user4188
    Apr 12, 2021 at 1:19
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    @chx I have added your advice to the comment, but at $30, I don't think anyone's going to be worrying for the entire NZ->Vancouver flight about missing the connection :)
    – user1271772
    Apr 12, 2021 at 5:31
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    The problem is if you miss the connection a last minute ticket will not be $30... of course you could buy one for the next flight well ahead of the time too.
    – user4188
    Apr 12, 2021 at 6:54
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    I've travelled between Toronto and NZ a bunch, those google flights numbers are pretty much in line with my experience pre-COVID. It'll be $3000+ around Christmas, $2000-2500ish for most of the year and $1600 is about the lowest I've ever seen it, at least when just booking straight through Air New Zealand and connecting to somewhere other than Auckland.
    – llama
    Apr 12, 2021 at 16:12
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Remember to factor in the costs of compulsory Managed Isolation on entry into New Zealand.

You have to stay isolated in a hotel room for 14 days immediately on entry into the country.

https://www.miq.govt.nz/ says

Rates
$3,100 (NZ) for the first or only person in the room (whether that is an adult or a child) with $950 for each additional adult and $475 for each additional child (3-17 years old, inclusive) sharing that room, all GST inclusive......

Right now in April 2021, that's around $2740 CAD, so your flight will cost less than the first two weeks stuck in a (nice) hotel room.

You also have to have MIQ space allocated - there are only a set number of rooms so needs to be booked early and to line up with your arrival date. This might not line up with your optimal pricing for airfares.

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  • Not an answer I know, but too long for a comment. MIQ costs more than the quoted airfares and that's important. I am a New Zealander.
    – Criggie
    Apr 12, 2021 at 12:02
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    OP is planning to travel "after covid travel restrictions have eased" though they may be a bit too optimistic on when that will be. Hopefully quarantine will be lifted for people with proof of vaccination in the coming months.
    – jcaron
    Apr 12, 2021 at 13:14
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    @jcaron there are two different ways to interpret that tho - right now, NZ has both travel restrictions and managed isolation requirements in place. Unless you have some very specific visas, you cant even travel to the country, and when you can then you end up in isolation - later this month, the isolation aspect eases for Australian travellers coming from Australia (but not foreigners in Australia - important to distinguish that, tourism visas are still not being issued). Its very conceivable that one restriction or the other might be lifted individually.
    – user29788
    Apr 13, 2021 at 1:03
  • @Moo well put. Consider that here in NZ the only C19 cases are those caught in MIQ at the boarder. When one person had a positive it was nationwide news. Compare that with other countries where there are hundreds of new cases a day. New Zealand is amazingly well off, and we want to keep it that way.
    – Criggie
    Apr 13, 2021 at 2:01

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