Anyone been at Pearson Toronto lately?

[scorpsfan]

We will be heading there in a couple weeks (ahh!) and just wondering if anyone has been there recently and how was your process?

With all the delays and wait times I'm hearing about, I'm kind of worried! Of course, we will be leaving waaay early to allow for anything! I just hope most have had good experiences.

Thanks for any input or advice!

 

[SaraMc]

My cousin is trying to fly home from Mexico and has been delayed because they don’t have the people to get everyone through customs. Leaving they almost missed their flight as well.
The leafs are flying out of Buffalo just to avoid this

 

[Aug2020distrip]

A couple weeks ago. It was a disaster coming home. We got “lucky” that we were stuck on the tarmac for only about 45 mins after we landed. There were other planes that waited 2-3 hours.

Landed at 10:15pm and finally walked out of the airport at 12:30am. 100% do not recommend, unfortunately that was our only choice for WJ flights. We are actually glad we ended up getting an overnight connection, would never have made our next flight if we were trying to connect.

Flight the next morning (domestic) was fine, no lines. Seems like it’s mostly a customs line issue.

Edit to add: on the way to Orlando through Pearson, we had a 2 hour layover. That was just enough time, pretty much went straight to boarding after we left customs. Would not have made it had our connection been any shorter. I would have preferred a 3 hour connection honestly, just to not have to worry (and would have had a bit of time to actually grab some lunch).

 

[wdwmom3]

When we flew in February we didn’t have huge lines to get on our flight. But our flight also left at 7:30 am so we were there checking in at 4:30. Coming home we sat on the plane for an hour before they let us off to go through customs. It wasn’t that big of a deal.

Just make sure you show up extra early for your flight and pack a lot of patience. If you go with the expectation of long lines and having to wait it will make things less stressful.

 

[wdwmom3]

My cousin is trying to fly home from Mexico and has been delayed because they don’t have the people to get everyone through customs. Leaving they almost missed their flight as well.
The leafs are flying out of Buffalo just to avoid this

I heard they were flying out of Buffalo so they wouldn’t have to do Covid tests. But not having to deal with the lines is a bonus.

 

[TammyLynn33]

I heard they were flying out of Buffalo so they wouldn’t have to do Covid tests. But not having to deal with the lines is a bonus.

Well they don’t have to worry about it anymore

 

[TammyLynn33]

We will be heading there in a couple weeks (ahh!) and just wondering if anyone has been there recently and how was your process?

With all the delays and wait times I'm hearing about, I'm kind of worried! Of course, we will be leaving waaay early to allow for anything! I just hope most have had good experiences.

Thanks for any input or advice!

We go in about a month and I’ve told the kids if they can’t fit it in their carryons it’s personal items it can’t go. Then at least we can avoid waiting for luggage .I don’t mind throwing a load of laundry or two in over the week .

 

[Dom497]

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[SleeplessInTO]

Flew out of Pearson on Friday. Bag drop, security, and customs were all fine. I even got selected for secondary and still got to gate with plenty of time. (Arrived at airport via UP train at 4, flight was 6:35). Unfortunately our flight ran into a lot of issues and we didn’t take off until after midnight. As we sat there, the only thing that seemed worse were all the arriving planes that weren’t able to unload passengers. AC is blaming Customs for making people sit on planes for at least 20 minutes (although for some I watched it was hours), but they clearly haven’t reduced their number of flights to accommodate this or to try to make it better. I just hope the inflight entertainment and climate control systems remained on.

Not looking forward to my return flight at all.

 

[Frozen2014]

Yesterday my husband went 5 hours early for a flight Pearson to Texas as he was worried of long line ups and delays and not getting on his flight. But he had no issue (and then had 4 hours to wait). However, he's also heard that you can sit on the tarmac on return so knows there still could be issue when he comes back. Will see in a few days.

 

[TammyLynn33]

Yesterday my husband went 5 hours early for a flight Pearson to Texas as he was worried of long line ups and delays and not getting on his flight. But he had no issue (and then had 4 hours to wait). However, he's also heard that you can sit on the tarmac on return so knows there still could be issue when he comes back. Will see in a few days.

What time of day ? Pls keep us updated . Thanks

 

[MotherKnowsBest]

I flew out of Pearson last Thursday (May 12) to FLL. We arrived 3 hours early and were through security and customs in around 15 minutes, so had lots of time.

Coming back (May 16), we landed and were immediately sent to a gate. As customs agent came to the plane and said only connecting flight passengers could get off as customs was being "metered" due to crowding. Then about 10 minutes later they said they would let 30 people off every 10 minutes. We were in the second row so we got right off. No luggage to pick up and it took us 1 hour exactly from wheels down to getting into our car in the value parking garage.

I think right now it just comes down to luck. We had very smooth travel days but it could have easily gone the other way. We have another trip to Florida booked for August and we are driving and one in the fall that we are flying out of Buffalo for.

 

[wdwmom3]

Just FYI I’ve heard that it’s advisable to arrive more like 4 hours before an international flight then the 3 that was recommended before. You could get through with little wait, or you could be in line for hours. Better to be cautious and have time to waste

 

[Susan2771]

Apparently you can check ahead for wait times at a number of Canadian airports https://www.catsa-acsta.gc.ca/en/waittimes

 

[Frozen2014]

Yesterday my husband went 5 hours early for a flight Pearson to Texas as he was worried of long line ups and delays and not getting on his flight. But he had no issue (and then had 4 hours to wait). However, he's also heard that you can sit on the tarmac on return so knows there still could be issue when he comes back. Will see in a few days.

DH came home today from Texas. Flight arrived around 2:30pm and he walked in the door at 3:30pm. No issues at all.

 

[damo]

Got home this afternoon with zero issues in Terminal 3. We were home within an hour of the plane landing.

Son got home Friday night and was held on the plane about an hour after their flight was delayed in Orlando due to thunderstorms. Family customs line was short. This was Terminal 1.

 

[TammyLynn33]

Reassuring to hear non-horror stories

 

[MamaLema]

Apparently you can check ahead for wait times at a number of Canadian airports https://www.catsa-acsta.gc.ca/en/waittimes

That’s cool! Thanks!

 

[dancin Disney style]

My DD and her friend flew out of YYZ yesterday...their first adult WDW trip. They decided to go to the airport for 6:45am....flight departed at 10:15am. The only real difficulty they experienced was getting their bag checked. Westjet had zero staff at the kiosks to assist people and the girls really didn't know where to go or what to do. They waited in a line for nearly 20 minutes just to find out they could go directly to the bag drop area and get the tag there. Once they got to bag drop there were a couple of staff helping but they were busy so the girls figured it out on their own while they waited for staff assistance. From there they got through security in 5 minutes and then the line at US immigration was long but moved quickly. Not sure how long they were there but they got to the gate around 8:15am. So it took a bit of time but not terrible.

What I have heard in the last few days is that it's the incoming flights that seem to be having issues. I spoke with a coworker today that flew in on Saturday afternoon and she said they were held on the plane for an hour before getting to the gate. Then the lines were really long once inside. She said they lost track of time but it was approx 2.5 hours from landing to getting down to baggage.

DH and I are also flying out of YYZ (going to MCO) in a couple of weeks. We intentionally booked a 1pm flight so that we have lots of time. If things are no better by then we will probably plan to be arriving at the airport around 4 hours early. It's a Friday so it's likely to be a busier day and I would much prefer to be sitting at the gate for far too long than to be stressed thinking I'm going to miss the flight.

 

[4orm]

We travel transboarder lot. The worst time is the early flights since it seems the US only puts 2 boarder guards on at 5/6am. Once the backlog of initial early flight people clear out it's a lot smoother. Arrivals is hit or miss based on how many flights arrive around the same time. I like redeyes that land at 6am to sail right through Canadian customs.