How early do you arrive at yyz for flight

[cndmama05]

Im finally about to pull the trigger and book our trip to orlando. Thankfully i was able to align everything and use our aeroplan points for our flights. The only problem is that they are very early flight times. Departing at 6:15 both ways. How early should we arrive at the airport. We will be driving in and staying with family for the night before in markham. Thanks

 

[minnie56]

We're it me, I'd be there by 4:30-4:45 .. that said, I have Nexus and that expedites things.

 

[mkmommy]

Are you flying Air Canada direct, if yes you will clear US Costums in Toronto? When I last flew to the US, customs did not open till 5:00. People did start lining up before, i usually arrive at 4:00 to try and be at the front of the line but it is a rùsh and i wonder If arriving later would be better

 

[Lesverts]

It does not matter who you are flying with. You clear American customs if you are flying to an American airport. Also does not matter if you are only connecting in the USA.

 

[TommyJK]

We had a similar flight time for our last trip to Orlando. We arrived at the airport at approx. 4:00 - 4:15. Even at that early a time the security line was LONG. That took quite a while to get through, then customs, and finally to our gate.

It gave us enough time to get a quick bite to eat at the Timmy's in the terminal and then get to our gate to get on the flight right as they were letting people board.

 

[starvenger]

I actually live in Markham. Are you driving to the airport, and if so, where are you parking?

In either case, it's about a 30-45 minute drive over to Pearson. You can take the 407, but at that time of day the 401 should be clear so you might as well avoid the tolls.

I agree with @TommyJK, you want to get into the terminal around 4-4:15am, so that means leaving the house around 3:15-3:30am. Not much you can do about the security lines - they open somewhere between 5 and 6, so the bottleneck is inevitable.

 

[jump00]

We always fly out of YYZ and in May the security lines were really long even at 5 am!! But when we went in August there was almost no wait but our flight was at 10:30 am. Better be safe than sorry and get their early. I always use the 3 hour rule for any International flight - we saw a few people in total panic as they were late and tried to "bump up" the line.

Have a wonderful trip

 

[scrappinginontario]

My experience has been that Toronto is extremely busy early in the morning. If it were me I would aim for 3 hours. Better safe than sorry and far less stress.

 

[alc571]

We always arrive 2 hours before. I hate being rushed, and don't want to risk being late. That being said, we always make it through security pretty quickly during those super-early morning flights.

 

[hardis5]

We try to arrive 2-2.5 hrs prior for a US flight and the earlier in the day, we try and arrive with more time to spare. The last time (last month) we literally flew through all points and were at the gate with 90 minutes to spare the entire process taking less than 30 minutes but the time previous, every step of the way was slow with us arriving at the gate minutes before they closed it (we were the last ones on). The one exception to our rule is if travelling a holiday or "prime-time" period (think March Break/Christmas) where I'd plan at least 3 hours prior.

 

[SaraMc]

We usually Aim for 3 hours before if going out of YYZ. Ive had it where we did the 3 hours and were running to the gate because we sat in customs for so long.

 

[grantclaire]

I give in to the DW and get there 2hrs ahead of time not the 3hrs the airlines recommend, we fly at Xmas and March Break and have had lots of time.