Flying out of Pearson

[DisneyMama811]

has anyone flown out of Pearson lately? how was your experience? I have heard Pearson is hell these days. I haven't flown in 12 years and I've never flown as a parent before. I'm nervous about navigating it all. it feels too grown up (never mind that I'm 33 where are the grown up grown ups )

also, if the adults in your party are covid vaxxed but the kids are not (age 6&8) did you experience issues? everything I've read says children under 12 don't have to be vaccinated to get into the states but I keep having nightmares we will get turned away!!

also should I bring the children's birth certificates or should just their passports be fine?

 

[Susan2771]

has anyone flown out of Pearson lately? how was your experience? I have heard Pearson is hell these days. I haven't flown in 12 years and I've never flown as a parent before. I'm nervous about navigating it all. it feels too grown up (never mind that I'm 33 where are the grown up grown ups )

also, if the adults in your party are covid vaxxed but the kids are not (age 6&8) did you experience issues? everything I've read says children under 12 don't have to be vaccinated to get into the states but I keep having nightmares we will get turned away!!

also should I bring the children's birth certificates or should just their passports be fine?

Our friends flew out Wednesday evening with Sunwing from Pearson. She said it was a chaotic mess unfortunately.

 

[morrik5]

has anyone flown out of Pearson lately? how was your experience? I have heard Pearson is hell these days. I haven't flown in 12 years and I've never flown as a parent before. I'm nervous about navigating it all. it feels too grown up (never mind that I'm 33 where are the grown up grown ups )

also, if the adults in your party are covid vaxxed but the kids are not (age 6&8) did you experience issues? everything I've read says children under 12 don't have to be vaccinated to get into the states but I keep having nightmares we will get turned away!!

also should I bring the children's birth certificates or should just their passports be fine?

Our daughter had no issues back in April when they flew from Pearson to WDW with their unvaxed children. They each were double vaccinated (the parents) and all did the testing required at that time. They dropped the testing requirement days before their return flight from MCO and again had no issues. As for birth certificates, personally I would bring them "just in case" they decide they need to see a secondary piece of ID for them.

Arrive at each airport hours before departure time so if you do need directional assistance, you won't be as stressed inside the huge terminal. Also especially make sure you call or check with your airlines on the status of your flight due to the weather.

 

[spewey]

I hope you're not flying out today or tomorrow?

I think the height of "Pearson Hell" was in the summer, and soon after the more intrusive travel measures (ie testing) were lifted. That led to a huge increase in travel while at the same time airports (ALL of them - not just YYZ - things were just as bad if not worse elsewhere) were struggling to staff up. And a lot of this was related to having to clear US customs (assuming that's were you were going) before your flight, as they were extremely understaffed.

But many of these issues have been addressed it seems (not much you can do about the weather of course). It did seem that a lot of the issues were directly related to when your flight left. Morning flights were the problem - people were arriving, as they should, hours before their 6, 7, or 8AM departures, but with security usually opening not until 6AM huge bottlenecks often occurred. Afternoon flights, on the other hand, were generally a breeze. We've had several of those this past year, basically strolling through to the gate.

One tip - people have had great luck with the Mobile Passport Control app. Kinda like the US version of ArriveCan. It allows you to upload all your documents electronically in advance, and submit when you get to Pearson. From what I've read (not used it yet, but will in three days) you can then skip the main line in the Customs/Immigration Hall, saving lots of time.

Speaking of documents, I'd say birth certificates are pointless. Passports are required. The only reason I'd ever bring a BC is if you're travelling with minors without their other parent/guardian AND they have a different last name from you (and in this case that would need to be the original long form accompanied by a notarized travel letter from the other party).

Children don't need to be vaxxed. As far as I know this has never been an issue and I don't know why it would. In fact, when crossing by land, the US border guards to a one have been completely disinterested in any of our vax status, often declining to even look at our certificates.

Our friends flew out Wednesday evening with Sunwing from Pearson. She said it was a chaotic mess unfortunately.

This could be the (continuing) ripple effect from the huge mess in Vancouver. Hopefully that backlog is cleared soon.

 

[DisneyMama811]

I hope you're not flying out today or tomorrow?

haha no thank God. my 8 minute drive home from work was bad enough. I can only imagine what the 401 to Toronto is like. Our trip is in 3 weeks, I just have an anxiety disorder and like to be well prepared haha

 

[SirDuff]

Flew out of YYZ yesterday (Thursday). It was 15 minutes from getting out of the Uber to entering the lounge. Including checking in two suitcases. I do have NEXUS, but there was no one in the “normal” CBP lines either.

 

[spewey]

Flew out of YYZ yesterday (Thursday). It was 15 minutes from getting out of the Uber to entering the lounge. Including checking in two suitcases. I do have NEXUS, but there was no one in the “normal” CBP lines either.

What time was your flight? This has been our experience with afternoon departures - and because of that we avoid the AM ones.

 

[SirDuff]

What time was your flight? This has been our experience with afternoon departures - and because of that we avoid the AM ones.

I got to the airport about 9am. I don’t was told it had been busy earlier. I try to avoid flights before about 10:30am

 

[DisneyMama811]

@spewey you mentioned security doesn't open til 6, our flight is at 615, how will that work for us? I've been assuming we need to get to the airport at 3am since it's an international flight...but if security isn't open what are we supposed to do?

 

[SirDuff]

@spewey you mentioned security doesn't open til 6, our flight is at 615, how will that work for us? I've been assuming we need to get to the airport at 3am since it's an international flight...but if security isn't open what are we supposed to do?

I don’t know about T3 (i.e. WestJet flights) but Spewey is incorrect for T1 (though possibly there have been some days with abnormal operations).

Security opens at 4:15am and CBP opens at 4:30am. Logically, there is no way that security opens at 6am if there are flights starting at 6:15am. For a 6:15am flight, though, I wouldn’t show up 3 hours in advance (admittedly, I’m unlikely to show up that early at YYZ anytime), since security/CBP only open about two hours before your flight.


https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco...nformation/check-in-and-boarding-times.html#/

 

[spewey]

I don’t know about T3 (i.e. WestJet flights) but Spewey is incorrect for T1 (though possibly there have been some days with abnormal operations).

Security opens at 4:15am and CBP opens at 4:30am. Logically, there is no way that security opens at 6am if there are flights starting at 6:15am. For a 6:15am flight, though, I wouldn’t show up 3 hours in advance (admittedly, I’m unlikely to show up that early at YYZ anytime), since security/CBP only open about two hours before your flight.


https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco...nformation/check-in-and-boarding-times.html#/

Yes, sorry, I my post is really confusing - security will be open at least two hours before the earliest flight - I meant that when there were times (before the number of flights ramped up as the pandemic restrictions lifted) that security, when it opened, was overwhelmed by the number of people in line, many for flights later in the morning. Sorry about that.

But that does seem to have been addressed, by adding staff. Fingers crossed.

 

[Lesverts]

Just to further clarify:

Airline desks, baggage drop-off and agent assistance opens at 4am
Security opens 4:15am-ish (plus or minus a few minutes)
Customs opens at 4:30am-ish

Airside stuff opens anywhere from 4:30am to 7am. There will be agents at the departure gate about 90 minutes before your flight.

Before 9am, in both 1 and 3, you cannot proceed to security until your flight has been called. Depending on volume this will be anywhere between 90 and 120 minutes before your flight. After 9am it will depend on volume if they let people into the security line going forward or if they continue to restrict.

One of the flights recently, by the time I was allowed into the security line, got through and get to the gate they were starting pre-boarding.

 

[Frozen2014]

We flew out of Pearson last week to Fort Lauderdale.
Flew WestJet (Terminal 3). Flight was 7:45am so at the airport 5ish. Everything was very smooth. Got through security quick (nexus) and waiting at the gate. No issues. Luggage came out fine (whereas in the summer, we did carry on to avoid the headaches).

We returned from our cruise on Friday and when we got to the airport WestJet had cancelled our return flight. They rescheduled us for next day at 7am and then cancelled again. At that point, we purchased fresh tickets from AC to get us home. Pricey but they had 2 seats. Flight was ok (aside from extremely bumpy on landing due to weather). We noticed at baggage, there was tons of bags just sitting there (Terminal 1). Also, lots of people but the belts weren't moving. We were ok though and our luggage came down on the belt. Also noticed when leaving that the lines for taxis were huge. (We drove so didn't have to wait)

 

[spewey]

My 2 cents - we flew out of Pearson yesterday (AC Terminal 1 to Nashville) with a 1:40PM departure. As has been our experience lately with afternoon flights we had no line ups or waits for anything; the customs hall had literally no one in line when we entered, so using the MPC app was unnecessary in our case.

I dunno - maybe there were fewer travellers as it was Boxing Day? We were also concerned there’d be lots of people whose flights had been canceled the previous days trying to get out, but that didn’t seem to be the case either.

 

[Lesverts]

Yea, air is a mess right now, but it looks like it is specific carriers with major issues (Sunwing/Transat in Canada, Southwest in USA). Cannot really be blamed on the airports.

I fly to Denver tomorrow morning, so hopefully more of the volume and cancellation issues have been sorted.

 

[CanadaRunningMom]

Just to further clarify:

Airline desks, baggage drop-off and agent assistance opens at 4am
Security opens 4:15am-ish (plus or minus a few minutes)
Customs opens at 4:30am-ish

Airside stuff opens anywhere from 4:30am to 7am. There will be agents at the departure gate about 90 minutes before your flight.

Before 9am, in both 1 and 3, you cannot proceed to security until your flight has been called. Depending on volume this will be anywhere between 90 and 120 minutes before your flight. After 9am it will depend on volume if they let people into the security line going forward or if they continue to restrict.

One of the flights recently, by the time I was allowed into the security line, got through and get to the gate they were starting pre-boarding.

Just flew out of Pearson on Dec 22, terminal 3. No one was checking flights to get into the security line, you didn’t have to wait for flights to be called. Our flight was at 6:30am. Maybe this changed very recently?

 

[Lesverts]

Just flew out of Pearson on Dec 22, terminal 3. No one was checking flights to get into the security line, you didn’t have to wait for flights to be called. Our flight was at 6:30am. Maybe this changed very recently?

630am is within the first 120 minutes of operation for US customs and it would be within the first dozen or so flights to depart Pearson, therefore high priority. Pearson has been doing this going back years. Line management is a major part of Pearson for US flights because of the limited space they have for multiple sets of security in both terminals.

 

[CanadaRunningMom]

630am is within the first 120 minutes of operation for US customs and it would be within the first dozen or so flights to depart Pearson, therefore high priority. Pearson has been doing this going back years. Line management is a major part of Pearson for US flights because of the limited space they have for multiple sets of security in both terminals.

They did hold people outside the security queue, when there was tons of room inside it, for no apparent reason, but we were literally were told that your flights would only be checked right up at the screening (as usual) not to get into the line itself. Anyone could go in the line.

 

[dancin Disney style]

Aside from the weather related issues of the last 4-5 days there are no problems at YYZ. The stories that were out several months ago of long lines were blown out of proportion by the media. Were there problems...yes. Those long lineups were caused by passengers showing up for the early morning flights 3-5 hours ahead of time. Then they started lining up for security before security even opened. So by the time security did open the lines were huge....100's of people long. I have had several flights this year through YYZ and not had any real problems. My DD has been flying back and forth to MCO for work over the last 6-7 weeks. She has had some minor issues but beyond anyone's control....deicing delay, minor mechanical delay.

 

[bababear_50]

DisneyMama811
I am just sharing my experience ,,,just be prepared that stuff can happen and I wish you and your family a safe & happy trip.

I flew YYZ (Toronto) to MCO (Orlando) in Nov 2022
A few things I noticed:

Departing: 6:30 am flight (WestJet)
Definitely not enough staff at WestJet check In. (2 people)
I took a checked bag.
I pre checked in online, and had already printed my boarding pass.
But machine to print bag tag broken. (wait 45 minutes inline).
USA customs slow ,,over an hour.
Got boarded and sat for over an hour and a half due to mechanical issues.
Bags seemed to disappear in MCO and we waited about 45 minutes for them to appear.

Return 11:00 am flight ( WestJet ).
Arrived 3 hours early
Checked in online but tried to print bag tag at airport _NOPE,,,
Machine to print boarding passes & bag tags was broken ,,,seems like they have been broken for years.. Well I can't leave my suitcase there.
Waited in line for over an hour and half. West Jet did apologize saying their systems (I.T).were
experiencing issues. (only one computer terminal out of 6 were working).
Ran to USA customs,,, wait clock said 45 minutes but it was more than double that time to even get through the initial custom agent viewing my passport.
Realized after awhile that I might miss this flight...panic sets in.
Definitely not enough people doing security ,,even border agents apologized for delays.
Ran to the shuttle and realized that all the cars but one were closed,, I am not sure why but you have never seen hundreds of people squeeze into a single car. (thank god I'm short).

Got off the shuttle in A area and smelled the coffee but then WestJet called a LAST call
for boarding ... Everyone started running ,,,yep I should have known better but I ran too,
New suitcase got away from me and as I reached out for it my left foot rolled over and down I went.
BUT there was no way I was staying there, I am CANADIAN!
Got up and limped on the plane. Airline flight attendant made me an ice bag and I kept it on till I got into Pearson and they were great getting me a wheelchair.
I got out of the Airport and sat and cried my eyes out,

I am definitely making a few changes for my upcoming trip ,,,,

My advice for parents,
Have the kids pack their own back pack and be responsible for carrying it.(collapsible water bottle).
Now is not the time to limit screen time, bring extra ear buds.
Take a go to bag of quiet activities, books, coloring, stickers, magic marker painting books, cards etc.
Pack a bag of snacks & treats.
Try to get a good night rest before traveling,,,
Bring gum for chewing when landing,,,, eustachian tube pain, check with child's Dr. because sometimes they recommend an antihistamine to ease flight pain.
Pack your patience and remember to make great memories.

Best wishes
Hugs Mel