Raj1212

Hello members:
As a Canadian citizens, can we drive to DC or NYC to board a flight to India and back? We plan to drive from Toronto to DC or NY (9 hrs) and park my car using one of the parking apps.

The cost from flying from Toronto is almost double compare to flying out from DC or NY even with gas, a night or two at a hotel and parking for 30 days. Total savings will be around $3K if we fly out from DC or NY.

Thanks,
-rs

J62

Yes, you can. No issues.

Seamus

As long as you have a valid Canadian passport and any visa, COVID test required at the time of your flight should be no problem at all.
BUT
Are your travel dates flexible? What airlines are you considering? a random check for YYZ/EWR/IAD to DELor BOM on United shows the difference in economy fares between YYZ origin and EWR or IAD origin is less than $500 to $600 USD. Aside from the nuisance of the drive, cost for gas, at least one hotel night, parking and ground transport would be more than that.

Raj1212

thanks!

Raj1212

Hello - thanks for your reply. Yes, we will have India Visa on our stamp and yes, I agree its hassle to drive for 9 hrs, but the ticket from YYZ/YTO to DEL/BOM is around CAD 2000 (unless you pick the one with 2 stops and total time including transit is about 40 hrs) as opposed to CAD 1000 to 1100 from JFK/IAD which means savings of about CAD 3.5K to CAD 4K. Dates are flexible like +- 3 days. Will keep checking the price from GTA.
Thanks,
-rs

mrwunrfl

That fare difference seems unbelievable. What is GTA? When do you want to leave for India for your 30ish-day stay?

Assuming it really is that much cheaper to fly from USA then:

- consider buying two tickets. YYZ-USA-YYZ and USA-DEL/BOM-USA. You could get an airport hotel in USA the night before your flight to India. And maybe the night after return to USA. Really, you could book same-day connections with a huge transit time for the connections (considering you are willing to spend 9hrs driving you can make a 4 or 6 hour layover).

- search using NYC and WAS to get results for all three airports in each city (both NY and DC)

- try DTW, Detroit is a shorter drive

- reconsider the two-stop itinerary. Yes, maybe 40 hours, but you would spend 18 hours driving plus the overnight stays (16 hours?) in the USA plus the flight time.

- the two-stop itinerary could probably be booked with an enroute stopover. Your connection time can be up to 24 hours. Some airlines offer multi-night stopovers for free or small fee. Spend a night (or two or three) in Abu Dhabi or Tokyo or Vancouver or NY or Istanbul on the way to India. This might require a multi-city search (I can explain) or just look for a really long travel time from YYZ to India, one that requires an overnight stay in one of the connecting cities. Of course, you would need to meet the entry requirements for any country where you would have the stopover.

mrwunrfl

That drive-fly-drive plan will require two overnight stays in the USA. You want to drive down the day before your flight because stuff happens. And after flying all the way from India you would be advised to not just jump in your car to make a 9-hour drive home.

cdnyul

Yes.
Airports in Plattsburgh (NY) or Burlington (VT) are frequently used by Montrealers.,

I would think that Buffalo would be the Toronto equivalent.

mrwunrfl

Yes. I took a look the other day to see how to get from Toronto to Detroit (at rome2rio). One option was a shuttle to Buffalo and fly from BUF to DTW.