Originally Posted by
CZAMFlyer
You don't need to find a staffer waving a card; they find you. As you descend the stairs or escalator into the main immigration hall (past the waterfall & spindle whorl), there will be several people in bright blue YVR vests intercepting you with CANADA printed on the cards. If you missed them, maybe glance up from your phone. These staff meet all eligible flights.
You need not use the NEXUS lane, although it's definitely an option for those members. There's a separate bank of the regular PIK kiosks to the far right of the hall reserved for the Int to Dom (ITD) customers. They generally have no lineup and are as quick as using the dedicated NEXUS line. If you have NEXUS, you have the freedom to choose between the fastest line.
The process remains faster than exiting normal or taking the Level 4 corridor at the right exit of the baggage claim hall.
For those claiming the process is "a mess", think about the growth that AC and YVR have experienced the past few years. Spend some time at the airport learning about the construction underway to complete the ITD process within the terminal without the need for buses. Offer any helpful suggestions on how you'd have foreseen the situation, and/or how you'd improve upon it. ITD passengers save an average of 24 minutes in connection time (latest figures to January 2019), but perhaps those averse to messes might wish to spend that time in a nice zen-like walk along the old route through customs and a subsequent bag drop and rescreening.
Totally your choice, either way.
Respectfully, the fact that you even need to type this post shows that the process is an utter disaster. I have no idea how the airport operations work, nor does any frontline YVR or CATSA employee know, nor is there is any signage explaining it. All I know is I go to the airport, I get shepherded through endless boarding pass checks and re-checks (staffed by people who cannot explain what I am even lining up for, nor where this pathway will take me, and sometimes must run after me because I walked by while they were staring at their phones), elevators, escalators and hallways... only to end up getting spit out right into the landside area of the airport! 5 times and counting this year.
When the process works, I will not have to know or care how YVR airport operations work. I will simply be able to follow clear posted signs that do not change by hour of the day and day of the week as in every other major airport on earth. It will not rely on someone personally waving me down and directing me in contradiction to the actual signs, leaving me to guess if they actually know where they're directing me since they are never able to explain it in complete sentences. It will not involve contradictory instructions from employees standing within arm's length of each other.
One day this system may work. It does not today.