I probably passed through around 3:45 on Friday and the little CBSA transfer desk room was 3/4 full... took no more than 2-3 minutes to get through. I agree that Nexus kiosks probably wouldn't have made much of a difference. In my case, my interview was way shorter than my arguing with the Nexus kiosk.

Only if 'OSS' is marked on their boarding pass. Not always the case depending on the earlier carrier and if they participate in the OSS program or not.

Right, but ITD and OSS go hand and hand. If you are not ITD eligible then you are not OSS eligible because you have to pickup your bags and exit Customs like regular passengers.

1) It depends if 'OSS' is marked on the boarding pass. If the previous carrier doesn't participate in the program, then there is no IT infrastructure to print 'OSS' on the downline boarding passes.

2) Definitely possible. It is not a foolproof system. As others mention, there is nothing stopping a PEK-YYZ passenger who is not OSS eligible from handing something off to a DEN-YYZ passenger who is OSS eligible on the way to the Customs Hall.

This is behind not being "foolproof".

This is literally pointless and stupid. If a sterile and unsterile passenger can hold hands, neither of them are sterile.

Oh, I misunderstood you. I think I see what you're saying now. So it's not that starting in MEX alone would make someone ineligible, just that the carrier they would be flying from there might not be able to generate the proper boarding passes?

The only way I can see to solve this issue would be to build a separate terminal for people qualified for OSS. Is there any other option?

You don't need a separate terminal, just a separate arrivals corridor. The same way you have swing gates that sometimes go one way and sometimes another.

OSS corridor: at the end, you go through a one-way door to arrivals, or to the connection path
Regular corridor: you go to arrivals

And I'm not saying this is practical. But with the current system, everyone has OSS, so it's pointless.

Why not just dump people who arrive from "safe" countries into the departure lounge? If they were in transit this would enable them to board another international flight without any checks at all (why does CBSA even need to check INT-INT passengers?). Then provide routes for them to either go through OSS if they want to transfer to Canada domestic, or CBP preclearance if they want to go to the USA, or an exit route for traditional immigration and customs if they want to leave the airport.

If someone arrives from a "non-safe" country, send them into the arrivals corridor like all international arrivals are now. If they want to go to CBP preclearance they can do that, if they want to go to another international flight they can go through security, or they can go through the traditional customs and immigration procedure, reclearing security once landside if they want to transfer to Canada domestic.

Am I missing something, or would this pretty much solve all the problems with the current setup? It would require minimal building work. OSS and non-OSS pax wouldn't mix and thus couldn't swap items. There would be no need to make OSS pax get on a stupid bus with terminals that weren't designed for OSS like YYZ T1, just have them do the DOM-INT connections path in reverse. There would be no need to waste money on airport workers checking boarding passes and CBSA officers checking pax who will never enter Canada. There would be no need to worry about whether foreign airlines are capable of issuing OSS-marked boarding passes or not.

Obviously this would only work at airports like YYZ T1 or YYC where domestic and international departures are separated.

Even better than my suggestion!

I think the one issue would be CBSA. Because while I agree it shouldn't be necessary for them to be involved, they clearly care.

Yes, sorry, that is what I am saying.

I've never connected at YYZ before but noticed the special customs line for US-Canada connections the other day when getting off a flight from the US into YYZ. It looked like there were 2 CBSA officers and a bit of a queue (perhaps 10 people waiting in line). I didn't see a NEXUS kiosk in the connecting line but did not get a very close look.

I have an upcoming trip on AC from DCA-YYZ-YQM. I'll have a checked bag and will have NEXUS. Would it be faster to use the new connecting passenger line (is there still a bus involved?) or just go down to arrivals, use the NEXUS line and then back up to Canada departures?

I believe that the connecting line is on the far right and the NEXUS machines are on the far left. In between are the normal APC kiosks.

NEXUS is probably faster - no need to talk to an agent, just show the numbers on the receipt.

Also depends what gate you land at - last time I landed at F36 so there was an escalator that allowed me to go down directly to the NEXUS machines on the far left side of passport control. No need to walk over to the connections line.

Hmm. I remember one or two years ago that the connecting line was on the far left next to the Nexus machines. I guess YYZ and CBSA changed the format.

Are you required to use the Connections Line if you are a Canadian Citizen and connecting? What is stopping you from taking the regular line or the visitor line? I assume the diplomatic line is off limits because we're not diplomats... :p

We discussed this in another thread last week when they made some (temporary? ... permanent?) changes to US / Intl to Domestic connections last week. My post on it is here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28082540-post61.html

From the admittedly small sample size it was a bit faster than NEXUS and re-clearing security, and certainly less hassle without the security line. I'll be trying ti again next week.

Earlier in the month I flew BJX (Leon, MX.)-IAH-YUL-YHZ, first flight with UA, connecting to AC. UA printed boarding passes did not say OSS on them. Upon arrival in Houston I had AC reprint my boarding passes, and the AC printed boarding pass to YUL had OSS. Was a great surprise in YUL to straight from customs into the domestic/intl gate area, as when I flew through in the summer OSS hadn't been implemented.