Arrival time at YQB for a 5.20am departure
May 30, 2016, 6:50 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Sydney, Australia
Programs: QF, VA, CX
Posts: 87
Arrival time at YQB for a 5.20am departure
We'll be flying YQB-JFK in early October and were booked on DL6242 which was to depart YQB at 2.15pm but that flight has now been cancelled and we've been moved to DL3816 which departs at 5.20am.
I've looked on the Delta website to see what time we should arrive at the airport but Quebec City is not listed among the cities listed.
Under "Security Check-in Requirements for International Travel To/From Non-U.S. Cities" it says "The recommended arrival time at the airport prior to departure of international flights is 3 hours."
Looking at YQB departures for tomorrow I see only 3 flights listed to depart before 6am - AC8909 to YYZ at 5.10am, DL3816 to JFK at 5.24am and AC7711 to YUL at 5.35am so I wouldn't expect security lines to be really long at that time of day but I've never flown from YQB before.
Would the airport be open all night? Would we need to be there 3 hours before or is that overkill for a small airport? We're booked into a hotel 3km from the airport and will be dropping off a Hertz rental car when we arrive. I've phoned the Hertz YQB office and been told I can drop the keys in a box at their office and then just walk across the road to the terminal, so I'm thinking to leave the hotel at 3am and by the time we drop off the car we should arrive to check in our bags by 3.20am (2 hours before the flight).
Does arriving to check in 2 hours before sound like enough time or should we arrive a bit earlier? I see that the Priority Pass Salon VIP Lounge opens at 4am so we should be able to spend a bit of time there before boarding the flight.
I've looked on the Delta website to see what time we should arrive at the airport but Quebec City is not listed among the cities listed.
Under "Security Check-in Requirements for International Travel To/From Non-U.S. Cities" it says "The recommended arrival time at the airport prior to departure of international flights is 3 hours."
Looking at YQB departures for tomorrow I see only 3 flights listed to depart before 6am - AC8909 to YYZ at 5.10am, DL3816 to JFK at 5.24am and AC7711 to YUL at 5.35am so I wouldn't expect security lines to be really long at that time of day but I've never flown from YQB before.
Would the airport be open all night? Would we need to be there 3 hours before or is that overkill for a small airport? We're booked into a hotel 3km from the airport and will be dropping off a Hertz rental car when we arrive. I've phoned the Hertz YQB office and been told I can drop the keys in a box at their office and then just walk across the road to the terminal, so I'm thinking to leave the hotel at 3am and by the time we drop off the car we should arrive to check in our bags by 3.20am (2 hours before the flight).
Does arriving to check in 2 hours before sound like enough time or should we arrive a bit earlier? I see that the Priority Pass Salon VIP Lounge opens at 4am so we should be able to spend a bit of time there before boarding the flight.
May 30, 2016, 7:09 pm
#2
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: SJC/YUL
Programs: DL PM, Marriott Gold
Posts: 3,878
Your plan is fine. There is no customs pre-clearance at YQB yet (there will be next year) so you don't have to worry about that. Likely the check-in counter will only open 2 hours before the flight, so no point in arriving earlier than that. YQB is open to the public 24/7
Last edited by Mountain Explorer; May 30, 2016 at 7:15 pm
May 31, 2016, 7:07 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Sydney, Australia
Programs: QF, VA, CX
Posts: 87
Your plan is fine. There is no customs pre-clearance at YQB yet (there will be next year) so you don't have to worry about that. Likely the check-in counter will only open 2 hours before the flight, so no point in arriving earlier than that. YQB is open to the public 24/7
May 31, 2016, 7:59 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Sydney, Australia
Programs: QF, VA, CX
Posts: 87
We're looking forward to spending time in Quebec city and surrounding areas. We're doing a cruise from New York that visits Newport RI, Boston, Bar Harbor, St John NB, Sydney and Halifax NS, Charlottetown PEI and then Quebec City. We'll have two days in the city and will then do a 3 day road trip to hopefully see some Fall colours.
I phoned the Quebec Original tourist office and asked for suggestions for where to go on our 3 day drive and it has been suggested that we drive to Saguenay and on to either Saint-Fulgence or Saint-Rose-Du-Nord to stay the first night. For the second day we'll drive on to Tadoussac and then to Saint-Simeon and on to La Malbaie and stay there on the second night. On the third day we'll head back to Quebec City on the Mountain Road via Saint-Aime-des-Lacs – Notre-Dame-des-Monts – Saint-Hilarion and Saint-Urbain – Baie-Saint-Paul.
I would never have chosen a flight that departs at 5.20am but there is no choice since Delta seem to have cut out the afternoon flight on all the dates I looked it within a couple of weeks of our flight on October 6. Maybe they weren't getting enough bookings for the afternoon flight.
I phoned the Quebec Original tourist office and asked for suggestions for where to go on our 3 day drive and it has been suggested that we drive to Saguenay and on to either Saint-Fulgence or Saint-Rose-Du-Nord to stay the first night. For the second day we'll drive on to Tadoussac and then to Saint-Simeon and on to La Malbaie and stay there on the second night. On the third day we'll head back to Quebec City on the Mountain Road via Saint-Aime-des-Lacs – Notre-Dame-des-Monts – Saint-Hilarion and Saint-Urbain – Baie-Saint-Paul.
I would never have chosen a flight that departs at 5.20am but there is no choice since Delta seem to have cut out the afternoon flight on all the dates I looked it within a couple of weeks of our flight on October 6. Maybe they weren't getting enough bookings for the afternoon flight.
May 31, 2016, 10:59 pm
#6
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: SJC/YUL
Programs: DL PM, Marriott Gold
Posts: 3,878
That's a great road trip itinerary! You can do some great whale watching in Tadoussac as well. I think you'll love the city too: the oldest city in North America and the only walled-city in North America.
Ya, 5:20am is rough!! Since you'll have a car, you could consider flying out of Montreal instead. It's only 2.5 hours drive. From Montreal, DL flies several times a day to JFK, LGA, ATL, DTW (and once or twice a day to MSP). So you'd have way more options. You also get to pre-clear customs and passport control in Montreal which is nice, makes your connection much simpler.
Edit to add: Since I just noticed you're NY based, the Adirondack train from Montreal to NY is ridiculously slow, but very scenic. Via Rail has a connecting train from Quebec city
Ya, 5:20am is rough!! Since you'll have a car, you could consider flying out of Montreal instead. It's only 2.5 hours drive. From Montreal, DL flies several times a day to JFK, LGA, ATL, DTW (and once or twice a day to MSP). So you'd have way more options. You also get to pre-clear customs and passport control in Montreal which is nice, makes your connection much simpler.
Edit to add: Since I just noticed you're NY based, the Adirondack train from Montreal to NY is ridiculously slow, but very scenic. Via Rail has a connecting train from Quebec city
Last edited by Mountain Explorer; May 31, 2016 at 11:06 pm
Jun 2, 2016, 6:13 pm
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Sydney, Australia
Programs: QF, VA, CX
Posts: 87
We considered asking if we could change our flight to fly out of Montreal but decided to stick with YQB as I would prefer not to be driving from Quebec City to Montreal on the day of the flight n case of any traffic problems along the way and if we went there the night before that's less time we can spend north of Quebec City on the last day of our road trip.
We're actually from Australia and will be staying in New York for a few days before heading home. Rather than being upset about the flight change we're looking on the positive side so we're looking at the flight change to the 5.20am flight as an opportunity that will effectively give us an extra day in New York since we should now be at the hotel around 9am rather than 6pm. We'll ask them to mind our bags during the day since we won't be able to check in that early.
Before we booked the flight we looked at the train as well but I read some negative reviews about that service so we decided to go with the DL flight, which at that stage was going to depart at 2.15pm.
Thanks for your comments and suggestions.
We're actually from Australia and will be staying in New York for a few days before heading home. Rather than being upset about the flight change we're looking on the positive side so we're looking at the flight change to the 5.20am flight as an opportunity that will effectively give us an extra day in New York since we should now be at the hotel around 9am rather than 6pm. We'll ask them to mind our bags during the day since we won't be able to check in that early.
Before we booked the flight we looked at the train as well but I read some negative reviews about that service so we decided to go with the DL flight, which at that stage was going to depart at 2.15pm.
Thanks for your comments and suggestions.
Jun 5, 2016, 6:31 pm
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Sydney, Australia
Programs: QF, VA, CX
Posts: 87
I've received a flight change notification email from DL last night advising that the departure time of DL3816 has changed from 5.20am to 6.00am so that's a slightly better departure time!