emcampbe

Except that's not what you said, your exact quote was:

That's not taking anything out of context, that's exactly as you posted. You never said anything about bags, etc. Now you are clarifying, but that was not in your original response.

And while I surely don't have detailed knowledge of US CBP, etc. procedures, I'm sure that if an agent wants to pull any given passenger bag and take a look, they will (do you have inside knowledge that would suggest differently?). I'm not sure why you would think sending it down first would make a difference, or why doing it before departure vs. after arrival would make it less likely. If an agent believes that you have something that they should be concerned about, are being untruthful in answering their questions or the ones on the form, they're going to investigate. If it means pulling a bag, it means pulling a bag. If they think you're bringing in something your not supposed to, I'm sorry to say, but they don't care if you miss your flight. Their job is to be the front line of protection for passengers coming into the US., not to make sure a passenger gets on their flight.

But back more on topic, to the OP: given that now is prime travel time, particularly for those who might not travel as much and be as familiar with the process, it may be wise to give yourself extra time through the process.

platbrownguy

^

Yup. My longest customs delay ever was at the Canadian border. The immigration agent had asked me to identify my bags on his screen, and when I was diverted through secondary, they had the bags brought up -- this is the part that took 20+ minutes. It seemed like something that happens every time someone goes through secondary there. They looked in the bags and sent them back with the neon-vested ground staff, then sent me on my way.

B1

I had carry-on only at pre-clearance for US entry at YYZ and some candy in my pocket. So for the US form I had indicated that I had food with me, something that is very tricky as the form lists specific and general terms. They sent me straight to secondary and the first person unpacked my bag and the second went through everything and asked for a passport (I use NEXUS). Then they asked more questions that had nothing to do with my trip and left the unpacked luggage for me to deal with and told me I was good to go. It added a long time to getting to the gate and I had nothing of interest to them. So I was glad I had left enough time.

M60_to_LGA

This may be a UA thing. I find they sometimes make up rules as they go along.

Example: when flying UA from MEX, there seems to be an unwritten policy that you need to arrive at the airport three hours in advance. Once, out of an abundance of anal-retentiveness, I called their local number the morning of my flight to confirm, and the phone agent (obviously MEX-based) told me that if I didn't show up at least three hours beforehand my ticket would be voided. Of course, that's not true; I showed up around two hours before and sat calmly by the gate for an hour-plus.

heraclitus

These pieces of advice seem to conflict somewhat!

I have a 6 am flight to SFO next month. I gather that if I make it to the terminal for 4:30, I will have a bit of a wait but should not ultimately have any problems making my flight?

gglave

I regularly fly to the USA out of YVR on the early morning flights. The queues for security can get quite long at that time (luckily I have Nexus, but walk past the long line).

An hour-thirty should be OK, but I wouldn't push it much past that.

heraclitus

Good to know. I was planning to show up around that time but I will make a point of being there 100% no later than 4:30!

EmailKid

This a.m.

7:30 a.m. flight on UA, 5:15 wakeup call, 5:30 shuttle leave hotel, 5:45 shuttle arrives US departures.

Pretty quick through, even though machine kicked me out and had to fill out a paper Customs Form

About an hour in MLL before strolling to gate 84 (IIRC), where boarding was already in progress.

Could not get WiFi to work either for MLL or FreeYVR

Still, going to MLL instead of United Club, priceless

Of course, this is an odd time of year, so may not apply at other times.

i59bravo

I wouldn't say they are contradictory. If the queue lengths are inconsistent, you should plan for the worst and hope for the best.

heraclitus

Grasping at straws here, but I wonder if the fact that it's going to be on a Saturday morning makes any difference? Typically my very early AM Saturday departures have meant breezing through security regardless of where I'm leaving from.

gosha83

Thought I would update this with 2017 info as I found this thread while waiting for the US CBP to open at 4:30am (flying to LAX at 6am).

There was a crunch of US bound flights at this hour. While 2 hours is more than plenty for those not checking bags and with Global Entry, it may be a good idea for others to heed the advice. Even with GE, I didn't have to wait more than 5 min for US CBP to open and after I breezed through, I looked back and saw very long lines for normal, non-GE processing.

The line for Tim Horton's at Gate E 84 was almost as long

pa3lsvt

A colleague and myself showed up at YVR at 4 AM for ~6 AM flights back in May. I have NEXUS, he has nothing.

We probably got to the CATSA entrance at 4:10. CATSA took me ~5 minutes and GE another 5, only to stand in line waiting for US CBP to open at 4:30.

My colleague showed up in the customs hall (I lost him at CATSA) before CBP opened and used the kiosk, then waited in his line for CBP.

I waited less than 10 minutes for him after preclearance. We even had time to grab a bite at Timmy's.

EmailKid

Intetresting. By 6:30 it was better a few days ago but still half hour to Tim Horton's.

Only to get stuck next to a smelly passanger who was sick and kept sneezing

SilverChris

Is midday on Tuesday normally peak time for security/pre-clearance? I'm booked on the 1:44pm to SEA, but might only be able to get to the airport by 12:30pm.

Not too worried about the 1hr check-in cut-off time (even though I have bags), but I've never had experience with pre-clearance during that time of the day. I've always gone through mid-morning without waiting over 25 mins for both security and CBP combined. No GE/Nexus.