Vancouver YVR connecting

[Phil'sFrontier]

Hi guys. Well we leave tomrrow and I have gotten more and more nervous about missing connections since the new security regulations in place.
We leave from Whitehorse tomorrow morning and arrive in Van at around 1pm. We then only have about an hour and ten minutes to get to our gate headed to Denver Co.
My luggage should be checked right through to Orlando...correct?
So this means we just have to walk from one side of YVR(gates a/b) all the way down to US departures. I am guessing it will take me, the DW and the DD8 about 15-20 minutes of hustling to just walk there. That means we have less than 1 hr to go through security and US customs!

Can I get some advice on how to make this connection in time? I was thinking of flagging down one of the golf cart things to get us down there fast?
Help ease my mind

 

[monkey30]

you will have to collect your bags for customs. BUT the last time we went through vancouver our baggage went to a separate claim area which was right by customs and they had thier own security area as well. Hopefully that is the case still.

be prepared for the walk it is a long one!!!

 

[Phil'sFrontier]

Thanks Erin

 

[mom_rules]

Also keep in mind the additional security screening now involved.

Also heard no carry ons in cabin for flights from Canada to US?

Any recent travelers verify?

 

[Phil'sFrontier]

Yeah we realize the new screening. Also we did know about the no carry on luggage rule.

 

[c&m]

DH and I flew out of YVR to Vegas on Saturday, Jan. 2, at 10:05am. We arrived at the airport at 7am, due to all the heightened security checks. It took us 45min. to check in with WestJet and another hour to go through security searches (included the full body pat-down). Line-ups reminded DH and me of Disneyland.

In reality, you have to allot yourself as much time as you can these days. Hope Phil made it onto his connecting flight!

 

[Phil'sFrontier]

We were reassured this morning by the Air Canada attendant who checked our bags in Whitehorse.
Ninety minutes and I'll be at 30k feet!

 

[mom_rules]

Good Luck-have a great trip

 

[Phil'sFrontier]

Turns out all the luck in the world wouldn't have helped make that connection.
I sit here now at the Travel lodge in Vancouver, when I should be either in the air, or on the ground in Denver. I don't know who I am more pissed at...Expedia for making this flight plan, or Air Canada. Both insisted we would be fine. When we got to Vancouver, we even got a cart to help get us to the far side of yvr. The nice young lady working the counter at United Airlines informed us we could not have made the connection. No chance.

Beware when booking on Expedia....they apparently are a bunch of morons who live in a dream world were all flight gates are right there, and everything works out OK.

 

[Grasshopper]

Sorry to hear the connections didnt work out.

We are traveling YVR-> Denver-> Orlando in February with United and would love to hear how you get on.

 

[c&m]

Sorry to hear about that, Phil...how frustrating. Welcome to Vancouver though.

I guess if the line-ups were that slow when my DH and I went through it at YVR early morning last Saturday, I can only imagine how clogged up it can get by afternoon. I also never imagined that I'd be the recipient of a "pat-down search" so early in the morning. LOL!

Add to your moron list the idiot who tried to blow up the plane with the device in his underwear. He's the reason why we all have to be subjected to delays and full-body searches.

 

[Phil'sFrontier]

OK....Sooooo, we are at YVR this morning bright and early. There wasn't much of a line at the US Customs. We got our bags checked and through customs in under an hour.
Also there was a great United airlines worker who checked our bags.
We were unaware that United charges for bags(all of them). Since we missed our flight yesterday, she let our bags go uncharged! Saved us Ninety dollars! She also changed our seats so the three of us are seated together.
Also the gentleman from Air Canada who put us up at the Travel Lodge and gave us 90 bucks in food vouchers was a great help.
It really helps when you get people like that working for you. And if you are kind, you usually get what your looking for.