toothpick

My BA flight arrival on 7th Jan 2015 coincided with several other international arriving flights. It took well over an hour to clear Immigration - and I am a Canadian citizen, and I was queuing to use the "self service" machines. There were about two thousand people queuing for any type of service. The temperature in the hall must have been about 100 degrees Celsius, with no air circulation. My blood pressure went through the roof from the stress, and I'm sure I was not the only one with health problems made worse by the inhumane conditions. Most of the desks were not staffed, and two were staffed by "officers" (as they like to call themselves) who were actually not accepting people!!! Just noodling away on their keyboards - (Facebook perhaps???) - I am really disgusted and am looking for the right channel or person to complain to - someone who might actually do something - because what I experienced was worse than any 3rd world airport. In the future, it will be Buffalo for me, and I would advise others to think twice about arriving at Pearson - especially if you have health problems that would be exacerbated by queuing for 1.5 hours in an overheated area amongst flu suffers coughing and sneezing.

tentseller

As for me, I either pick connection back to Toronto at non-rush hour or BUF.

mkjr

i have arrived on CX flights and also BA flights in the mid afternoon and never had a huge issue...in fact, lines are usually not long enough to bother going to the NEXUS machines...something must have been up.

tentseller

The problem with intl arrival into T3 is all the airlines that does not fly every day of the week are assigned to T3 so you have to check the arrival for that specific date to avoid the rush. There are also more thorough CBSA check with certain flight origins.

However Wed Jan 7 was the coldest day with windchill at -29 so that might have something to do with YYZ ground-ops not running at full steam causing the backlog?

toothpick

Immigration desks not running at full steam? Just because it's cold outside? Don't make me laugh - I believe you're thinking of Canada Post - oh, but wait, aren't they in the same union? The one that tells them they can get a sick day if they have a paper cut?

B1

The ground ops issue had to do with outdoor baggage handling and I believe that was resolved. BA doesn't go to Buffalo, nor does any transatlantic flight. US arrivals from overseas at places like BOS, EWR, and JFK are no better than YYZ. My alternative has been YUL with a through ticket to YTZ on Air Canada via Google Flight Search. Of course, AC at YYZ to T1 is usually a better operation than the gang gets at T3. If you want BA, you could consider DTW - but not really.

Antonio8069

I am not clear what (exactly) is your issue?

Is it the shortage of NEXUS machines? If so, YTZ is not the answer as they don't have NEXUS!

Is your issue CBP? If so, I suggest you follow-up with them (NB If you do, tone down your language............I find your reference to 3rd world conditions quite offensive).

If your issue is slow ground handling at YYZ, that has been covered extensively in other threads i.e, why start a new one, just to rant?

industry_killer

YTZ does have NEXUS machines.

jerryhung

NEXUS (or Global Entry)

Used GE at LAX and NEXUS at YYZ this week, man, I was so happy to walk by hundreds of people (especially at LAX) without waiting at all (with 2 kids, waiting in line will not be fun)

B1

Besides having the Nexus machine at YTZ, FWIW in my proposal you would enter Quebec at YUL and since the PQ is out for now, you don't need to go through immigration at YTZ.

peano

His issue is YYZ is absolutely terrible when it comes to organizing anything.

Gee, we have a lot of flights arriving at the same time, what should we do??

Gee, its cold outside in January in Toronto, what should we do??

Its the worst run airport I have ever been through in North America.

tentseller

Looks like you have never enter the US at LAX or JFK.

cdn1

I think the issue was lack of CBSA officers to handle the huge number of people...

Antonio8069

^@:-)^

tentseller

Arrived YYZ heavy snow, wheels down 2021h, at gate T3 A14 2029h, entered custom hall 2031, at luggage belt 2033h, had priority tagged bags and was at limo stand 2034.

That's pretty good for a 3rd world airport!