US Airways Dividend Miles - US Airways YYC - PHX

We are traveling to Canada for the 1st time. Does anyone have experience taking the early morning flight (6:30am) and how much time is needed to clear immigration and customs. We are not checking bags, so we are considering arriving at YYC around 5am.

Thank you

Just wanted to bump this up and see if there was any last minute replies.

Mornings are a zoo. Do you have NEXUS or Global Entry?

We just did this flight last week on a Tuesday morning. I had nexus, and Mrs Insiderdude did not so we tested it out. I got through (using Global Entry, just to try it out) in about 4 minutes to see the agent + 10 seconds to clear + 3 minutes using Nexus security = at most a 10 minute exercise.

The wife (US Citizen, not that it makes a difference at YYC), lined up ~40 minutes to see a CBP officer + about 10 minutes to clear security (no nude-o-machines in Canada) = almost 1 hour if you take into account check in (we were *G traveling in F), as well as the 5 minute wait to get her BP checked by the dragon right before the preclearance area.

If you do not have Nexus, I would strongly advise getting there no later than 5am.

Mornings are a zoo. Do you have NEXUS or Global Entry?

We do not have NEXUS or Global Entry, so I am getting the feeling that arriving at 5am will be cutting it close for a 6:30am departure. The reason we decided 5am was from the hotel shuttle leaving at 4:45, the next earliest is 3:45. Maybe we'll just take a cab to split the time difference.


Thanks for the help.