I'd say 90 minutes is enough time, 2 hrs if you want to be comfortable
There's not much of any express lanes at YVR for U.S. pre-clearance. AFAIK, there isn't even a U.S. citizens line for immigration. From there, you go through customs, drop checked bags off and then through security (which is usually the 2nd bottleneck after immigration).
Cruise (or ski in season) crowd isn't that much of an issue now. It's usually on weekends but at 0815 this past Saturday (prime time for cruise departures in the past), the departure area was spookily quiet. My partner said there were only 8 people in line for immigration (she used the fast pass so avoided that short line) and was from curb to gate in 10 minutes (or much less). If anything, you'll run into the Monday AM business crowd but then again, it is summer.
Originally Posted by
Travels2mch
Do they still charge the departure tax when you are flying out of YVR? I think it was CDN$10. It was a pain, one more stop in addition to check in, security, customs, immigrations, bag check, pay to leave.........
Yes, but it's collected in the ticket now. No avoiding it if you're transiting.
