FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Canada officials say vaxx req for visitors, random testing to end by 30 Sept.2022
Old Jul 26, 2021 | 9:25 am
  #1363  
under2100
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 376
I flew into YVR last night (Sunday). I took my own advice (upstream in this thread) and chose to arrive from SEA on AC8094, although it took some effort to work that leg as the final flight of my trip. I am non-essential, non-Canadian, non-PR, fully vaccinated (in Europe), eligible to enter under the current rules. I had the Walgreens ID NOW test result, completed Arrivecan, and pre-registered with Lifelabs. I also paid to select a seat near the front of the (all economy) turboprop, although the plane only holds about 75 passengers, so even disembarking near the end is probably not too bad. On this trip, the flight was completely sold out, as compared to two weeks ago, when it was half empty. However, just as before, when we landed, the arrivals hall and testing center were completely deserted, as there are no scheduled international arrivals within the previous hour before our landing. They were subdividing arrivals into Nexus, non-vaccinated non-Nexus, and vaccinated non-Nexus. I happened to be the first person to complete Nexus formalities, so went straight to the officer who was very friendly. She just asked why I'd been away, and sent me on my way in a couple minutes. After the customs hall, the testing queue was divided into pre-registered and non-registered, and there were plenty of staff working for the few people in either half, so I went straight to a booth to complete the testing admin, which just took a couple of minutes. The testing tents were similarly empty, so I got my sample taken in a minute or so. I asked some of the workers along the way whether it had been busy earlier, and they all said yes. I asked the final guardian who were segregating non/quarantines what percentage of people were exempt, and he just said 'lots'. I asked if that was over half, and he said yes. He then complained about how it was way too busy with the number of passengers arriving, and he was very tired from all the work and was not looking forward to it getting even busier in August. Anyway, until the flight schedules change in the future, I think that at the moment, the 6.44pm arrival is a good one to pick into YVR if you want to avoid the crowds.
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