When should I get to Pearson/Toronto airport for 9am Sunday morning flight?

[alohamom]

I am hoping some of you might be flying again and have had experience with Pearson on a Sunday morning
My Delta flight says to be there 4 hours early but the flight is at 9am so that would put me getting there at 5am
I don't even know if security is open at that time.
Any thoughts?
Does anyone know of a source by which I can see crowds or wait times at YYZ?

 

[White Cat]

I have had 7AM flights and stay at a hotel right by with a shuttle. It seemed like security was open but US customs was not open as early. That opened at 5:45am I think. You wait in a holding area. I know it’s not much help but gives you an idea.

 

[bababear_50]

For me and I live quite close,,,,,
I get up at 5:00 am and I am on the road by 5:30 am. ,,,,park at Airport Park N Fly and head to Terminal around 6 am.
They say 4 hrs. but I tend to go with 3,,,BUT if you miss your flight because of me I never said any of this.
Have a great Holiday Hon!
Hugs
Mel

 

[wdwmom3]

I have heard that mornings are often the busiest for security and US customs. So I would aim to be arriving at the airport around 5:30am. If you have far to travel you may want to stay at an airport hotel.

Customs and security will definitely be open by 6am.

 

[bookbabe626]

First hand experience from this morning. Arrived at YYZ T3 garage at 7:50am. At gate for flight to MCO at 8:21am. We have Nexus, no line at all, maybe two people ahead of us at security, and a couple more at the customs guys. Lines weren’t the worst I’ve seen for the regular, looked like maybe 20 min wait in each spot from our travel experience. The regular 2 hrs before would have been more than enough time even without Nexus.

But, it’s Murphy’s Law, if you only leave the minimum amount of time, that’s when the lines are super long or you get stuck behind slow people. The lines are only short and speedy when you’re early and have tons of time…

 

[pigletto]

Depends. I was thinking three hours would be good but I’m wondering now if I shouldn’t give it a bit more. My flight is 10 on a Sunday too. Add in holiday travel, time to park and get to the terminal, all the new rules and test results that need to be shown .. I think I’m more comfortable with 3.5.

Keep in mind I’m a nervous flyer and the last thing I need is the fear of being late to add to the mix. So if I’m there with an hour or more to spare I grab something to eat, poke through the shops and just relax .

 

[pigletto]

For me and I live quite close,,,,,
I get up at 5:00 am and I am on the road by 5:30 am. ,,,,park at Airport Park N Fly and head to Terminal around 6 am.
They say 4 hrs. but I tend to go with 3,,,BUT if you miss your flight because of me I never said any of this.
Have a great Holiday Hon!
Hugs
Mel

My gramma lived at Albion and Islington for over 50 years. I miss the days of staying at their place the night before and them sending us off on our trips. The planes flew right over the house !

 

[damo]

We went last Wednesday. It was about an hour and a half to get through everything after parking the car. However, we were stuck behind a family whose airplane tickets were having major issue and waited a good 15-20 minutes behind them. Security was about 10 minutes, customs was about half an hour and then there was the very long walk to the gate.

 

[White Cat]

We went last Wednesday. It was about an hour and a half to get through everything after parking the car. However, we were stuck behind a family whose airplane tickets were having major issue and waited a good 15-20 minutes behind them. Security was about 10 minutes, customs was about half an hour and then there was the very long walk to the gate.

That walk can be very long. As can be the walk to customs and out when returning.

 

[bababear_50]

That walk can be very long. As can be the walk to customs and out when returning.

We all chant *Walking the Mile" Walking the Green Mile* when exiting....
LOL

 

[White Cat]

We all chant *Walking the Mile" Walking the Green Mile* when exiting....
LOL

LOL. I got in once and saw a huge Air China jet sitting right outside the window that I later found had landed 30 mins prior. I had forgotten my Canadian PR card so had to wait in line with my US passport. A very kind Canadian border agent saw me languishing in the crowd and told me to go through!

 

[starvenger]

My flight was at 11:15. I left the Park 'n' Fly at 8:30, was in T1 US departures at 9. A few notes:

- I have a NEXUS, so got to use Global Entry
- They still make you take out all your electronics at security. Which was fun, since I was carrying 3 tablets and a laptop for my company's display booth.
- The only reason it took so long was because I had to check a bag. My company had me bring about 25lbs of flyers for their booth (don't get me started on how illogical this was) so I had to reconfigure my entire travel situation. Ended up checking what is normally my carryon rollaboard, and using a collapsible backpack as my "personal item". I HATE waiting for bags at T1, so this allowed me to bring all the clothes I'd intended on bringing, without having to check anything on the way back.
- Oh, right, the bag check. The first area of kiosks asked me for my passport (no problem), then a "national ID". I have no idea what a "national ID" is supposed to be. Tried my NEXUS and driver's license but that didn't work. So the agent sent me to the second area of kiosks and we were good. Combined with putting my bag on the conveyer belt, this took more time than my trip through security/customs.

And to conclude the story, my return flight was delayed by two hours, we spent about 30 minutes on the tarmac waiting for a tarmac crew, and another 10 for connecting passengers to get out (and run to their next flight). So it was midnight before I was out of the airport, and about 1am when I got home. Had I checked my bag, it would likely have been at least 1:30 before I was home.

 

[chezcurrie]

Thought I’d add a recent datapoint for you. We flew out of Pearson this morning on WestJet just after 9am. Arrived at the airport this morning (took a cab) around 6:15 at security by 6:40 and sped through security and customs with enough time to have a leisurely breakfast and fairly significant wait at the gate. Caveat is: we have Nexus. That saved us 45min or more, and the security and customs line kept getting longer the later it got. We saw people who entered security at the same time as us but in the regular line as we were finishing breakfast. So all that to say, if you don’t have priority or Nexus I would err on 3 hrs prior, and plan on how you are going to nourish. Try and do everything beforehand for check in so all you need to do is print bag tags and drop them. Terminal 3 was a lot less chaotic than the last 2 times I flew out of Terminal 1, so that is a bonus.