Pearson Airport info

[bookbabe626]

There's also a hotel by the parking garage, reachable by the train that also goes between the terminals, say a max of 10 min from the furthest terminal.
http://pearson.althotels.ca/en

 

[abdmom]

There's also a hotel by the parking garage, reachable by the train that also goes between the terminals, say a max of 10 min from the furthest terminal.
http://pearson.althotels.ca/en

The train is out of service as of a few days ago. It's been replaced by a bus while they are constructing the new train station.

I was on the same flight as a PP. We had checked in at 5:15 for our 8:55 flight as my ds was flying overseas out of terminal 3 earlier in the evening. We sat in the d*** Q lounge for 3 hours. No food available, except a vending machine. Even when we left the lounge to go look for food, there was only a Tim Horton's available. When we finally did get through security, there were the restaurants, empty. If I were the operator/waiter in one of these restaurants, I would be very unhappy. I was very unhappy as a traveller.

 

[bookbabe626]

The train is out of service as of a few days ago. It's been replaced by a bus while they are constructing the new train station.

Wow. We just used it Sunday night on our way back from a March Break trip. We always park in the valu-park garage, so that's a big problem for us. Any idea when it will be running again?

 

[abdmom]

Wow. We just used it Sunday night on our way back from a March Break trip. We always park in the valu-park garage, so that's a big problem for us. Any idea when it will be running again?

The changeover was on Tuesday. According to the webpage for Link here and the links on that page to the Union Station Express, the new express train is supposed to be in service in 2015. So....no time soon.

 

[pxlbarrel]

Oooooh...that's bad. I'm going to park at the value garage in a couple of weeks. Hopefully the bus is isn't too inconvenient.

 

[bookbabe626]

Oooooh...that's bad. I'm going to park at the value garage in a couple of weeks. Hopefully the bus is isn't too inconvenient.

Can you post after you get back and let us know how it went? It would be really helpful for those of us planning future trip parking...

 

[pxlbarrel]

Can you post after you get back and let us know how it went? It would be really helpful for those of us planning future trip parking...

Sure... I'll be using it next weekend so I'll post how it went a week from this Sunday (hopefully I remember and I'm not to zonked out to do it!)

 

[coolspot]

We are connecting through Pearson in August. We land at 12:30am and don't get our connecting flight to MCO until 10:20am. Is there a hotel at the airport like we have in Vancouver?

Yes, there is a Sheraton along the Airport Monorail line, but it's probably overpriced.

However, within 5 - 10 minutes of the airport there are a gazillion lower price hotels.

The changeover was on Tuesday. According to the webpage for Link here and the links on that page to the Union Station Express, the new express train is supposed to be in service in 2015. So....no time soon.

Oh great news! About time Toronto has a train link to the airport.

Hopefully they will price the train for a reasonable cost. Chicago for example, you can go from the airport to downtown for $2.50 since it is a subway stop.

But anything less than $20.00 would be great.

Too bad the train doesn't stop off in the suburbs as well (i.e. Markham, etc.).

 

[pxlbarrel]

Ok. Took the link bus this morning. There was a bus waiting as soon as I left the building. It took about 10-15 minutes to get to Terminal 1. Probably 5-10 to get to Terminal 3.

The biggest difference between train and bus is schlepping your luggage on and off the bus.

Now... I took this at 5:30 in the morning. I'm not sure how fast it'll be when there's more traffic on Airport Road

Park on Level 4, walk to where the train would be, go down one level and the bus is just outside.

 

[pxlbarrel]

Q Lounge is still in existence. I ended up arriving at the airport 2 hours before my flight and got to the gate 5 minutes before boarding. Didn't have time to buy breakfast.

When I got home, I went to the bus stop for the link bus back to the garage. In Terminal 1, you need to go up to Departures, row H. Basically...where it dropped you off.

Make sure you get on the bus that includes the Viscount garage. There are some buses that just go to the terminals. 2 terminal buses came before the garage one. All in all, from the time I stood on the curb to wait for the bus and when I got to the garage was approximately 15 minutes.

 

[alc571]

Q Lounge is still in existence. I ended up arriving at the airport 2 hours before my flight and got to the gate 5 minutes before boarding. Didn't have time to buy breakfast.

What time did your flight leave? I was wondering about this, as we leave on Sunday.

 

[pxlbarrel]

What time did your flight leave? I was wondering about this, as we leave on Sunday.

Flight was at 8:10 am on a Thursday. Boarding time was 7:30. I arrived at the terminal at 6:00 but didn't get to go to U.S. immigration until ....probably 6:50 or so. (I used the time wisely and used the restroom... make sure or you may not have time before boarding!!)

They were pulling some people out of the line to go to the front of the line because their flight was on the verge of leaving.

 

[Keancanuk]

We leave in a month on Sunwing at 6:35am. Will this effect us too you think?
Never flown Sunwing before. We have to leave our house around 1:30 am or so, to get there. I thought International flights you had to be there 3 hours prior?

 

[abdmom]

We leave in a month on Sunwing at 6:35am. Will this effect us too you think?
Never flown Sunwing before. We have to leave our house around 1:30 am or so, to get there. I thought International flights you had to be there 3 hours prior?

Nothing will be open at 3:35 a.m, so there is no point arriving that early. Sunwing flies out of terminal 1. It's better to arrive around 4:30-4:45.

 

[alc571]

Nothing will be open at 3:35 a.m, so there is no point arriving that early. Sunwing flies out of terminal 1. It's better to arrive around 4:30-4:45.

I agree. We have never arrived more than 2 hours in advance of a flight, and have flown to the US numerous times.

 

[pxlbarrel]

I agree. 2 hours for the United States is the standard. Flights out of North America is where I use the 3 hour time ... and that's mostly so that I give them every second they need to get my bags on the plane. LOL

I didn't have to line up to drop my bags since I just had carry on. So factor that into your time too. Just because you can't go through U.S. immigration as soon as you arrive, you may still have to line up to drop your bags. And airlines have minimum times as to when you can drop your bags.

Despite lounge Q, I think I'd still like to be there earlier than later.

 

[alc571]

We arrived on Sunday at Pearson Terminal 1 at 4:25 am - parked and made it through customs and security and were waiting to board 40 minutes later. Our flight left at 6:30am. We had no checked baggage. There was no Q lounge at this time of the day. It was a breeze!

 

[switch15foot]

Not a frequent traveler (working on it though). I will be traveling out of YYZ to MCO, wondering if I want to pick up alcohol on the way to MCO, when and where would I do it? Thinking duty free, but have never done this. How does it work? Buy it and carry it on the plane, or buy it and it is delivered to you on the plane?

 

[coolspot]

Not a frequent traveler (working on it though). I will be traveling out of YYZ to MCO, wondering if I want to pick up alcohol on the way to MCO, when and where would I do it? Thinking duty free, but have never done this. How does it work? Buy it and carry it on the plane, or buy it and it is delivered to you on the plane?

Airport duty free is most likely not the cheapest place to buy alcohol... when you arrive in MCO, pop into the duty free store at MCO before you exit the security gates and make note of some of the prices.

Local stores maybe cheaper (especially Costco), but make sure you pack the alcohol in your suitcases and not carry on otherwise bottles will be confiscated at the checkpoints since it is greater than the 100ml liquid carry on allowance. Also when packing in your suitcase, make sure you wrap and double wrap your bottles so they won't break and make a mess!

Canada Customs alcohol limits are here: http://www.cbsa.gc.ca/travel-voyage/ifcrc-rpcrc-eng.html#a5

One more thing, if you are flying non-direct ... carry-on duty free liquids (alcohol/perfume/etc) is an issue especially if you have to change terminals and cross through security again. Just something to be aware of.

 

[bookbabe626]

Airport duty free at Pearson (YYZ) is likely cheaper and more convenient than buying at the LCBO and packing it in your suitcase. Purchasing at YYZ is probably more expensive than purchasing off-site once you get to Orlando, but not more expensive than purchasing on-site at WDW. However, you'd need a rental car or taxi to get off-site, so when you factor in that cost (assuming you're taking ME from MCO and not renting a car) it's probably easier to just buy at the YYZ duty free...see your other thread about this for details on how that works.