silver_halide

I arrived in YVR last week, June 4, just after noon, from the US. After getting off the plane, I followed the walkway to just before the stairs/escalator down to customs. However, YVR staff had the stairs roped off, and were directing all passengers around, past the elevators, to the international side, where the stairs were also blocked off.

All arriving passengers were were being held upstairs and only being sent down a few at a time. Apparently, the customs hall was full.

After 10 minutes in the holding line, someone came through, asking for Canadian nationals, and I was put into another, much shorter line (1-2 dozen people as opposed to a few hundred).

After a 5 minute wait, some number of Canadians we're allowed down into the customs hall, where Canadians without Nexus were being put in a queue that snaked from the totem poles back beside the stairs towards the washrooms.

I skipped over to the Nexus area, which was deserted, and got through immediately.

Then I waited for luggage. The belts were overflowing because no one could get through customs to pick op their stuff. Seriously, bags were three deep on the belts. After a much longer than usual wait for my (priority tagged) bag to come out, I retrieved it.


The line to leave stretched back to the airline assistance desks.

All-in-all, it probably took me 45 min between getting off the plane and reaching curb side, which, I think is more than twice my usual time. I'm guessing Canadians without Nexus would have been there for at least 1:15 hr, and non-citizens for 2+ hrs. Anyone with a connection would have been totally screwed.

I can't imaging this was just cruise passengers, or the regular mid-day Asian bank, since YVR and CBSA should have been able to plan for that. Any thoughts about what the issue could have been?

If YVR, and AC, want to make this airport into an Asian gateway/transfer point, this isn't a way to get repeat customers.

vh_bu98

That's pretty crazy. I flew in after midnight last week and customs was empty.

Seat13F_AC_CRJ

I wonder if teething pains with the new PIK (primary inspection kiosks) are the root cause.
--
13F

OSSYULYYZ

Is an OSS test a possibility?

silver_halide

I wondered if the kiosks were a possibility. I've come into YVR other times since they added the kiosks, and never seen an issue, but combine them with a bit heavier volume, and maybe that was enough.

I never considered OSS, and not sure how it would impact things. But most of the other incoming passengers were from Asia, and I my (limited) understanding was that OSS was US/Europe focused, and it should only impact connecting PAX. Unless they did something that was impacting all passengers, I'd be surprised if OSS was the cause.

I've got pics, but posting them from the phone is a pain.

Nazdoom

It's not that uncommon and has happened for the past few years -- it's not a result of PIK. PIK is actually reducing the occurrence. The problem is very simple: the arrival area wasn't designed with today's loads in mind.

To give an example, last year we had this happen three out of every four days during the height of peak in August. Why can't the CBSA prepare better?

1) Not enough booths, we have even had situations where there are so many more officers than booths that officers are relegated to very minor but slightly helpful roles. Things like yelling for people to tear the side of their card and checking completeness, something usually reserved for airport authority staff.

2) CBSA doesn't schedule what times planes land, and often delays that affect one carrier (especially out of China) will affect others. If there are no delays, it's busy but manageable (a full wait but no restrictions on people coming down the escalators). If there are delays, it can get as bad as illustrated in your post, or they can start refusing carriers from being able to deplane. The airport has a vested interest in increasing traffic, often at the detriment to other stakeholders. They have been looking at how to increase the size of the terminal for quite some time, but action is slow.

PIK helps #1 but not #2 . It also doesn't solve the problem that at peak times there is not enough physical space downstairs for the people waiting.

There are some poor higher up management decisions that don't help, but they aren't something to comment on publicly.

Hope this helps shine some light.

silver_halide

Great! Thanks for the info, Nazdoom. Guess I've been lucky enough to come in at times that avoid the afternoon rush, and had never seen it before.

Whoever's fault it is, it wasn't a pleasant experience for guests to our city.

seawolf

YUL is like this during summer afternoons. Thank goodness for NEXUS.