Flight Advice

[ckdsweet]

Hi all!

My boyfriend and I are leaving on Sunday to go to Orlando for two weeks! So excited -- been scouring these forums for months.

Anyways, we are concerned about our flight and was wondering if anyone's been in a similar situation:

We are booked with Air Canada to go from St. John's, NL to Toronto and then from Toronto onto Orlando. The problem is that we are not sure of we will have enough time to make the flight in Toronto. We only have 1 hr 10 mins between the two flights.

Most trips I've taken have been a direct flight (i.e. London, Dominican), so I'm fairly new to the connecting flgiht thing. If you have done a similar trip with AC before:

1. Did you have to pick up your luggage between the two flights?

2. Do you have to deal with Customs in TO?

3. How tight on time will we be?

Thanks so much!

 

[ccudmore]

The best piece of advice is to go to http://www.airportwayfinder.com/wayfinders/yyz/, click Terminal 1 Connections (AC is in Terminal 1) and then Canada to the US. This will show you a video with a step-by-step walkthrough of exactly what you'll go through in Toronto.

70 minutes should be lots of time between flights. You'll have to pick up your luggage, go through US customs, put your bags onto the connecting flights belt and then re-clear security. If for some reason you find you're behind schedule (like the inbound flight getting in late), don't be shy to ask someone at either the US customs or security to move you up to the front of the line to make your connections.

Other tips:
- on your inbound flight, ask what gate you're arriving at and what flight the Orlando flight will be leaving from. The flight attendants can radio ahead and get that information. Then look at the terminal maps in the EnRoute magazine in the back of the seat to get an idea of where you'll need to go in Toronto.
- if your inbound flight is running really late, ask the flight attendant to get in touch with the Orlando flight gate to make sure they're aware that you're on your way. As long as it's not too much of a delay, chances are they'd hold the flight for you if they knew you were in the terminal.
- when you check in for your SJ flight, try to get seats as close to the front of the plane as possible as this means you'll get off the plane faster.

To answer your specific questions:
1. Yes you have to pick up your bags between flights.
2. Yes, you clear US customs in Toronto.
3. 70 minutes should be lots of time as long as it's not a a peak time. I've made dozens of connecting flights in Toronto with less time than that. Just don't dawdle.

Have a fun trip.

 

[Tower]

Great Advice ccudmore! I'd just add that if your first flight is late and you can't make the connection, Air Canada will arrange for your connecting flight, hopefully within a couple of hours.

 

[grover]

The best piece of advice is to go to http://www.airportwayfinder.com/wayfinders/yyz/, click Terminal 1 Connections (AC is in Terminal 1) and then Canada to the US. This will show you a video with a step-by-step walkthrough of exactly what you'll go through in Toronto.

70 minutes should be lots of time between flights. You'll have to pick up your luggage, go through US customs, put your bags onto the connecting flights belt and then re-clear security. If for some reason you find you're behind schedule (like the inbound flight getting in late), don't be shy to ask someone at either the US customs or security to move you up to the front of the line to make your connections.

Other tips:
- on your inbound flight, ask what gate you're arriving at and what flight the Orlando flight will be leaving from. The flight attendants can radio ahead and get that information. Then look at the terminal maps in the EnRoute magazine in the back of the seat to get an idea of where you'll need to go in Toronto.
- if your inbound flight is running really late, ask the flight attendant to get in touch with the Orlando flight gate to make sure they're aware that you're on your way. As long as it's not too much of a delay, chances are they'd hold the flight for you if they knew you were in the terminal.
- when you check in for your SJ flight, try to get seats as close to the front of the plane as possible as this means you'll get off the plane faster.

To answer your specific questions:
1. Yes you have to pick up your bags between flights.
2. Yes, you clear US customs in Toronto.
3. 70 minutes should be lots of time as long as it's not a a peak time. I've made dozens of connecting flights in Toronto with less time than that. Just don't dawdle.

Have a fun trip.

thanks for posting that link...very helpful!!
i would have headed to the canadian baggage thinking i had to pick up my luggage there before going thru security...good to know otherwise!