Thought I should report back on how things went. Flew out of YVR yesterday morning to SLC, then from there to DCA. The process at YVR was relatively painless and far more pleasant than at airports in the United States. We got there at about 4 AM for the 6:00 SkyWest flight. None of the check-in counters were open yet, but they did have a large digital display indicating which counter was for which flight. Naturally, most of the stupid Americans didn't read the display, so when a line began to form at the counter for the SkyWest flight, EVERYONE rushed over to line up, only to learn 5 minutes later that they were in the wrong place. (Fine with me, moved us up to third). Check-in was routine and we were told to go line up in front of the entrance to the duty free shop, which opens at 4:30 AM. There are two lines there, so we were first in the left-hand lline. The shop opened on time and we dashed through without buying anything so as to beat the herd to the US Immigration line, since those folks don't open until 5 AM. Once again, we were first in line, had our passports scanned and our customs declarations stamped. From there you next proceed to the US Customs desk, where we simply handed over the customs declarations.

We then headed to security, which was far more pleasant than in the US. I had to take off my blue blazer, but I left on my watch, belt, and shoes and was not hassled (nor did the alarm sound). Ms1995hoo's jewellery caused the alarm to sound, but a quick wanding (without "assuming the position") was sufficient to satisfy the security folks. For some reason, however, I was required to take out both of my digital cameras and my cell phone for them to use an explosives swab (not to demonstrate that they worked, but only to swab them). The girl who did the swabbing was a bit rude, and that was the ONLY negative about the whole experience, but it was early enough in the morning that I didn't feel like arguing, especially given how much more pleasant all the other security folks were compared to the TSA. After I put the cameras away we headed to the gate, which is a long walk so we got there around 5:15 or so. There is NO line for the Airport Improvement Fee that I had read about. Guess things had changed since the information I was given.

So, in retrospect, we were all left scratching our heads at why YVR says that it is so important to arrive two hours early for an international flight when nothing is open that early, but on the other hand, we were kind of glad we were early because we managed to beat everyone through the lines.


Oh, one other note. On the way out to Alaska on August 6, when we went through security at DCA, I didn't take off my shoes and the man at the metal detector said, "Let me see the side of your shoe." I held up my foot--I was wearing Rockport topsider-style shoes with about a quarter-inch sole--and he said, "OK, come on through." Of course, the metal grommets on the shoe set off the alarm so I went ahead and tossed them on the x-ray belt rather than get wanded, but I was happy to see SOMEONE from the TSA doing it right. The guy was actually very pleasant, perhaps because there was NO line (11:20 AM on a Saturday).

EDIT: Also forgot to mention--on the way out, we were connecting in ATL (DCA to ATL, then nonstop to ANC) and we originally had only 40 minutes to connect. So when we got to DCA I called Delta and got us moved to the 12:05 flight. Somehow neither of us got the SSSS even though the change was made less than an hour before the 12:05 flight left. Sometimes miracles do happen!