Concerned about travel from Winnipeg through WestJet

[canadianboy]

Hi there, we (2 adults and 1- 7 year old)are traveling from Winnipeg to Orlando in October through Westjet.

Here is our travel itinerary

06:00 (YWG)
9:18 (YYZ)

10:30 (YYZ)
13:07 (MCO)

We have to go through customs in Toronto and as you can tell we have about an hour between flights. I have a couple questions.

1) Do we have to pick up our luggage in Toronto and the recheck it again before we go on to Orlando or is checked right through from Winnipeg?

2) are the gates close to each other?


Any suggestions on what to do or make this as painless as possible would be appreciated. would be helpful as we are a little concerned about the amount of time we have. Thanks

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Once you land at YYZ you will need to pick up your checked bags and after clearing US Customs you will then need to put them on the luggage carousel so they can be sent to your flight. Besides that I am not sure how close the gates will be, however here is a link to a video from the YYZ website on how do that for Terminal 3 which is where WestJet is located. To watch the video click on Terminal 3 connections and then click Canada to U.S.
http://www.airportwayfinder.com/wayfinders/yyz/

 

[cpbjgc]

We did this connection last August. We had the same concerns as you, but it turned out ok. You do need to collect your luggage in Toronto, clear US immigration, and send you bags back onto a converyor belt before heading back to the gate for Orlando.

When we checked bags in Winnipeg (four bags and a child booster seat), they put on a bright colored sticker that had "CNX" on it. I guess this was to identify luggage that needed to go to the special carousel.

When we got off the plane (which arrived about 10 minutes late) I asked the gate agent for directions. They told us where to exit and where to find the carousel for connecting flights. The carousel is very close to US customs and immigration. We waited maybe 5 minutes before our luggage came out, collected it, and went through immigration. There was no line up (everyone was already at the gate for Orlando as it turned out), so we cleared that in under five minutes, hefted our bags on the conveyor belt, and headed back to the gate (which turned out to be right beside the gate we arrived at ) where we waited another 10 minutes before boarding started.

The new terminal is a big improvement over the last time I did this where I had to collect bags and change terminals to make the connection.

So overall, it went smooth for us, and we had time to spare.

Have a great trip!

 

[b-1]

It went well but we had a huge wait at US immigration. which made me a bit anxious. The next time we did this I picked up the blue forms (that you have to fill out to go through us immigration) when I was at the winnipeg airport. The forms are usually on the counter top of the check in desks at northwest airlines.

I filled out the form before arriving in toronto and then went straight to the line up without having to stop to look for the form or trying to fill it out quickly while in line. It may give you a little peace of mind and shave off 3 minutes when you arrive in toronto. HTH

Have an awesome trip.

 

[Shir Kahn]

I know this really doesn't have anything to do with your concerns about the connection, but I thought I'd chip in here. We normally drive down, but when we do fly, we've always found that the rates from Winnipeg are horrendous! So much so, that we've found it's cheaper to drive to Minneapolis, stay at night at a Park-n-fly hotel and fly out the next morning. The night at the hotel costs us around $100 and gives us unlimited parking while we're away. Maybe it's the time of year we go, but even counting food, gas and hotel, we usually save a bundle versus flying out of Winnipeg.

 

[purplepeg]

We did it too last August and are going to do it again this August. I'm pretty sure I give explicit directions in my tr(link in my siggie page 9 post #125) because I know an hour isn't very long. The gates are right beside each other but you have to walk quite a ways to collect your luggage and go through customs and then drop your bags and get back to your gate. Hope my info helps.

have fun on your trip

 

[grover]

We have flown thru Toronto on Westjet..same flight times as yours..missed our connection as our flight leaving here was delayed..we landed in TO just shortly before our connection was leaving :-( But it was not enough time to get our bags and clear customs.
They got us on the next flight that evening.
I have not done a one hour connection since then..just stresses me out!

That being said..I know people who have done that same flight no problem.

 

[canadianboy]

So what happens if we miss that connection in Toronto?. I don't think westjet has another flight to Orlando later on that day. Thanks for your help.

 

[crashbb]

So what happens if we miss that connection in Toronto?. I don't think westjet has another flight to Orlando later on that day. Thanks for your help.

Then you fly out the next day. As far as I know WJ doesn't have any interline agreements, so they will not put you on another airline. You will need to wait for the next WJ flight on which you can get a seat, whether that is the same day or not.

Now, you don't have to fly into MCO. For example, if there is a WJ flight into Tampa, you could ask to get on that, but you'd be responsible for getting from Tampa to WDW.

Actually, I think WJ may have an agreement with SW. So, it is possible that you could take a WJ flight to somewhere in the US from which you could connect to a SW flight to MCO (I'm not sure any such combination exists, just throwing it out there).

 

[maxie]

We've done it twice and never had a problem.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

So what happens if we miss that connection in Toronto?. I don't think westjet has another flight to Orlando later on that day. Thanks for your help.

WestJet usually has two flights a day from Toronto - Orlando, so you should check their website and see the day you fly to make sure and to see what time the 2nd flight leaves at.

I also think the suggestion of seeing about flying from Toronto - Tampa if you need to is a good one and it's only an hour drive from there to WDW. Also the flight from Toronto - Tampa would leave at 10:50 AM and arrive at 1:29 PM, of course you don't know if it would be sold out.

 

[grover]

When we missed the connection they took care of getting us all booked..they had the info for us when we got off the plane in TO..guess they knew we would not make it.
I would have asked about Tampa had I known about that!

 

[canadianboy]

Thanks for all the info. I actually checked their site and no other trip to Orlando that day, nor to Tampa Bay. When you said they took care of you what did they do? Thanks again for everybody's replies.

 

[grover]

They booked us on the later flight..there was a agent there waiting to let us know when we got off the plane in TO.

 

[canadianjovigirl]

We are going in Nov. from Calgary and I wont fly Westjet unless we can get the direct flights as i flew to the US with connections in Canada and i found it very stressful trying to collect bags, rush to clear customs and make connecting flights...we are gonna transfer in the US as that way we have already cleared customs and dont have to worry about collecting bags etc prior to our connecting flight with 3 kids in tow....

I am still watching westjet as i have seen some direct flights on seat sales for $199 each way........

 

[crashbb]

We are going in Nov. from Calgary and I wont fly Westjet unless we can get the direct flights as i flew to the US with connections in Canada and i found it very stressful trying to collect bags, rush to clear customs and make connecting flights...we are gonna transfer in the US as that way we have already cleared customs and dont have to worry about collecting bags etc prior to our connecting flight with 3 kids in tow....

I am still watching westjet as i have seen some direct flights on seat sales for $199 each way........

Connecting in the US (both ways) is definitely my preference for flights between Canada and the US.

Also, if my second flight (in this case YYZ-MCO) doesn't have a later flight that I can be put onto, I make sure that my connection time is on the longer side. Later flights could be on the original airline or an airline that the original airline can/will switch me to (for example, United if flying Air Canada). If my second flight has many options (say between Toronto and Montreal), I'll cut it as close as possible. But then, I am generally flying alone and am a relatively seasoned traveler, so can move through the airport quickly.