# Give yourself lots of time for customs at Toronto airport



## Farm girl (Aug 21, 2014)

We have just flown from Halifax-Toronto-Las Vegas and it was the trip from Hell after we arrived in Toronto.

Our trip allowed us about two hours between flights and I assumed that would be ample time to pick up our connecting luggage, go through customs and security and arrive at our gate, which was in the same terminal as where we landed.  

SO WRONG!!!

The luggage took close to 30 minutes to arrive on the carousel, we finally got to customs and proceeded to the new customs machines.  The customs area was packed full of people and there were only three agents on duty at the time.  To make matters worse, my husband was flagged with the big X across his sheet.  When I showed it to one of the 'handlers' working with the people he just said that's okay and didn't explain what that X meant. 

In fact, that meant he was supposed to go through a different screening line, which was indicated on a sign board, but there was no way to get out of our line and head the other direction.  When we finally got up to a customs agent he took us back through the waiting line and put us at the back of the other waiting line.  We spoke to a lady working with the lines of people, she went to the customs officers to see if we could be bumped forward since we'd already been waiting in line for close to an hour but he wouldn't allow it.

We finally ended up clearing customs about the time that the doors on our plane were closing.  To top it all off, West Jet was going to charge us each a $75.00 late fee in order to get on the next flight.  He eventually backed down from that when we pointed out that part of the reason we missed the plane was because they didn't get our luggage to us in sufficient time for us to get through customs.  We spent another 10 hours at Pearson International before finally heading to Vegas for our holiday.  

Our advice to anybody having to clear US customs at Toronto is to arrive at least three hours before your flight unless you want to experience what we did.

:annoyed:


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## moonstone (Aug 21, 2014)

We rarely use YYZ, preferring to fly cheaper from the nearby US airports. DD & friend booked a flight out of Pearson last January heading south. The flight was scheduled to leave at 06:15 and they were told to be at the airport 3 hrs early! When they got to the security area at 03:00 everything was dark & doors locked. There was 1 other couple standing by the doors & advised DD to get in line even though the doors wouldn't open for about an hour! 

They joined the line & sure enough by the time the lights were turned on & doors unlocked at 04:15 the line up was huge, all the way down the terminal hall! DD later talked to another couple at the resort that barely made the flight because they were near the end of the line & security didn't care what time anybody's flight was!

Oldest DS travels frequently for work and got a Nexus Card (I believe that's what the fast pass card is called). He rarely has more than 3 or 4 people in front of him in line at security.

~Diane


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## matbec (Aug 21, 2014)

Sounds like an awful and frustrating experience. 

I think 2hours to make a connecting flight is tight if the flights are crossing a border and you have to go through both customs and security. We found this to be true in Vancouver as well. On our way back from Maui, we had 2hours to make our connection to Toronto and by the time we cleared customs and security, and get to our gate, they'd already started general boarding for our flight. 

Most major airports have special lines for people making connections. To the OP, did they not direct you to those lines?

I've also found that when the lines are long, there are staff asking if there are people in the lines with flights departing in the next hour. So, if it's 9am, staff will start asking if people are going on flights leaving before 10am. I've observed this for check-ins, security and customs line-ups at Toronto. The staff then try to fast-track you through the lines.


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## Farm girl (Aug 22, 2014)

matbec said:


> Sounds like an awful and frustrating experience.
> 
> I think 2hours to make a connecting flight is tight if the flights are crossing a border and you have to go through both customs and security. We found this to be true in Vancouver as well. On our way back from Maui, we had 2hours to make our connection to Toronto and by the time we cleared customs and security, and get to our gate, they'd already started general boarding for our flight.
> 
> ...



On previous flights we also noticed staff helping people fast track through the lines but on this occasion there was nobody attempting to help.  A lady just ahead of us in the line made that exact same comment about why wasn't anybody helping people making their connections.  Maybe that's going to be a thing of the past??

We had an opportunity to chat with an agent with West Jet when we caught the later flight and he was of the opinion that the customs people were trying to make a statement - sort of a work to rule thing.  He claimed that they had asked for more agents to be made available and were ignored.


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## am1 (Aug 22, 2014)

Farm girl said:


> We had an opportunity to chat with an agent with West Jet when we caught the later flight and he was of the opinion that the customs people were trying to make a statement - sort of a work to rule thing.  He claimed that they had asked for more agents to be made available and were ignored.



Makes sense.  It is not US Customs job to worry about if people make their flights or not.  Unless that was agreed to beforehand.  

Sometimes even 3 hours would not be enough for a connection.


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## TommyTrughman (Aug 27, 2014)

Agreed on the 3-hour minimum, especially for international flights. You never know what kind of customs, baggage, or flight delays you'll run into these days.


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