Connecting to US via Montreal--is it as bad as Toronto?

[coastgirl]

We have a connection through Mtl coming back from Orlando, on Air Canada. The connection time is only about an hour, but apparently this is a "valid" connection time per the airline's rules. Is Mtl as bad as Toronto? Will we have to collect our bags and such and go through customs? I'm concerned about the time...

Thanks for any feedback!

 

[DisneyFreak06]

I usually have no problems going through Montreal. You do go through customs in Montreal as well, although AC lists 45 minutes connection time for them. I have one hour for my connection and I'll be flying on Monday, I can let you know.

Once flying out of Halifax through Montreal, they lost almost everyone's luggage from the plane (I'm assuming they just didn't put most of it on, or they were backlogged from previous flight cancellations etc as it was the day after a storm and many people were on it that were scheduled to fly out the night before) and as we waited and waited for our luggage they said "Anyone going to Orlando go without your luggage" and they waved us on and took us ahead of some people waiting in line at customs. The airport was really good to us.

 

[MikeyNS]

We have a connection through Mtl coming back from Orlando, on Air Canada. The connection time is only about an hour, but apparently this is a "valid" connection time per the airline's rules. Is Mtl as bad as Toronto? Will we have to collect our bags and such and go through customs? I'm concerned about the time...

Thanks for any feedback!

We've never really had a problem with either place, especially with the connecting passenger lines in customs, although I would pick Montreal over Toronto just due to the difference in flight times. Anytime we go through Montreal it seems quick, but the walk to the gate is always looonnngggg as ours always seem to be at the end of the terminal!

My wife is going at the end of September for a girls weekend and is going through Montreal. We tried continental at the time, but AC was cheaper. Have you thought about Continental and going through Newark to preclear in Halifax?

If you're going Jan-May-ish don't forget to juggle your dates to see if you can do a direct flight with WestJet/AC/Air Transat.

 

[coastgirl]

Thanks folks. We've booked our flights iwth airmiles, so can't change anything at this point. We were happy to try MTL b/c we've had bad luck with TO...delays getting there, delays getting our luggage, etc. We have been escorted through, as Tina mentioned, b/c the timeline was tight, and had to get our luggage to catch up with us. At least we're arriving to our home airport, so it wouldn't be a huge deal if it missed us. (Which happened once in TO, we were told to go without it.) Good reminder, though--when we got escorted through, it was only after we flagged someone down and told them our flight was sooooon.

(We did try to book a US flight so we could pre-clear in Hfx, but there was only the AC route avail on AM.)

 

[DisneyCapers]

Hi Everyone,

The title of this thread scares me. We are flying from Halifax with a stopover in Toronto. Anyone have any tips for me? Our stopover time is approx. an hour...

Thanks!

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Hi Everyone,

The title of this thread scares me. We are flying from Halifax with a stopover in Toronto. Anyone have any tips for me? Our stopover time is approx. an hour...

Thanks!

I would watch these connection videos from the Toronto Pearson International Airport website, which list everything you need to do when connecting from Toronto to the United States when flying in from a Canadian city. So just click on the Terminal you will be flying into to see the correct video.
http://www.airportwayfinder.com/wayfinders/yyz/

 

[coastgirl]

DisneyCapers, sorry to scare you! I just don't like going through customs in Toronto. You have to collect your luggage from your inbound flight, bring it all to the customs area, queue up there (depending on the crowds, this can eat a lot of time), then clear customs and drop it all off again. Then find your gate and check in for your next flight. I much prefer the days when you only had to get yourself to the plane, and you cleared customs at the other end. If your flight is delayed comng in, it's too easy to miss your connection. We have both missed our flights ourselves and been left scrambling to get home, and we've missed our luggage and had to go on without it. On our last trip with Air Canada last summer, they changed our flight times and gave us an "illegal" connecting time, and didn't flag it. I called when I saw the change and pointed it out, and they had to change our flights to make it do-able. This time we've got almost 2 hrs in Toronto, and I'm not worried, but I'll sure keep an eye on it. They've already changed our return flight time, in less than 2 weeks since we booked it. (Going through Mtl, which I haven't done recently, and which I hope is better.)

I like the look of that wayfinders site, thank you CR Resort Fan. Forewarned is forearmed, right?? :

 

[DisneyCapers]

Thanks for the info! I hope it goes well for us!

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I like the look of that wayfinders site, thank you CR Resort Fan.

You're welcome.

 

[WalkingintheFog]

2 years ago I had to go via Montreal on a trip from NL to middle east (it's SO annoying to spend all that time flying west to have to fly east!), and had 1 hr connection time, but the customs part was London, and I had no problems.

Last year going to WDW, my flight from NL was via Montreal, with just 1 hr connection... and customs. That had me concerned, but the booking agent at AC said it was no problem. I did pack my carryon with enough to get me by a couple days (in fact, most of my clothes & shoes!).
As luck would have it, weather somehere (this was mid Sep) resulted in my flight being cancelled.
I managed to rebook to go via Toronto, with a 3 hr delay.
And was I glad for the 3 hrs! A loong wait to reclaim the baggage, then a loong lineup to get in to the customs section. I was bringing NovaScotian apples with me so had to go thru the section for people with things to declare (that was the quickest section of all).

This year I had the choice of 1 hr or 3 hr connections in Mtl or TO, and I didn't hestitate to take the longer wait time.
I wasn't as concerned as making there with my luggage as I was about being sure I made my connections.
If I could travel with just carryons, I might consider the 1 hr connection, but man, that's stress I don't need!
But it is a common connection time, and if (in today's travel/security climate) it didn't work most of the time, I feel AirCanada would have changed it by now.

 

[coastgirl]

Walkinginthefog, I had guessed your location before I spotted it! (We lived in St John's for 5 years...our first trip to Fl dates from that period, when we felt it necessary to "buy summer", in 1993 I think it was... )

We are seriously, seriously considering trying it with just carryon, or maybe carryone + 1. (Finding one bag has got to be easier than finding 5, right??) The kids are older and it's Sept, so we need only bring light clothes...I don't mind doing laundry there.


We've got Toronto going and Mtl coming home. Almost 2 hrs in TO which doesn't worry me much. Would rather arrive late at home than at Disney! We're coming home on Sat, so we've got the day before going back to work/school.

Oh, hey, we'll be there the same time.

 

[DisneyFreak06]

We just arrived last night from a quick trip. We flew Charlottetown to Montreal and had a one hour layover before leaving for Orlando. It seemed like it took FOREVER for our luggage, but we made it although we were the last on the plane. My sister and friend even stopped for a quick bathroom visit while I told the agent that we were coming. It really was okay. I would not chance it with the one our later in the day though. There was no line at customs at all, nor at security. The wait was totally just for the luggage.

Coming home, we flew Orlando-Toronto-Montreal then home. Both Toronto and Montreal were fine. No problems. The lines were way longer at Toronto, but they always seemed to move quickly, probably because they had more people working. The people working at both airports were friendly and helpful.

I would not hesitate using either Toronto or Montreal for connections again.

 

[coastgirl]

Thanks Tina, glad it worked well for you, hope we do as well!