Originally Posted by
Adam Smith
First time I've had OSS coming back from Europe today. Should have just gone through regular immigration and re-cleared security. Long line at CBSA - how the .... are there still no NEXUS machines? (Which supposedly they do have at T3's OSS) - then a long wait while they packed the bus full, even though there was another empty one sitting right behind it. Prime time for arrivals for Europe, yet fewer than half the CBSA desks were manned.
I still don't see why they can't just let us in the same corridor that outbound pax doing D-I connections use. That wouldn't do anything about the CBSA mess, but at least would eliminate the sometimes ludicrously long wait for the bus.
I did a lot of Europe last year, and am always connecting to YOW so ITD OSS, and I agree with you completely. The lack of Nexus machines and the weird bus timings make the connection timing hard to figure out; sometimes you get a short line and a quick connection and you're through from E to D in 5 minutes, other times it is 20+ minutes.
Coming back from a non-OSS destination last week I was forced through the main customs call in YYZ for the first time in a while. Connection was very tight due to late inbound (gate agent met me deplaning and said if I ran she'd call ahead, so I went for it) and between Nexus and re-clearing security I was less than 20 mins from gate to gate and made my flight to YOW.
My gut feeling based on a lot of connections in YYZ is this: the ITD OSS method can be considerably faster, but it is not consistently faster.
I am guessing that dual-purposing the D to F/E corridor would require more renovation as they'd need to have some sort of controlled way of funnelling people back that way from E and F gates through CSBA. The F/E end of that corridor is already a gong show as it is, requiring half a dozen YYZ employees directing traffic and scanning boarding passes.
The sad part is that YUL is better because OSS just dumps you out at the domestic gates. But then I have to deal with a less desirable connection schedule to YOW and the prevalence of Q400s with small bins on YUL-YOW connectors that won't take my 22" rollboard.