aethevig

Hello everyone,

I have a somewhat unfortunate predicament (or a challenge, depending how you look at it); I’ll be transiting through YVR next Monday afternoon, flying in on a Lufthansa flight from FRA and connecting onto an Air Canada Rouge flight for HNL a few hours later. Since by the time I’ll land in YVR, I’ll be on the road for cca. 18 hours (with 9 or 10 more to go), I will probably be in desperate need of a shower and a shave, so a lounge visit will almost be a must.

The nicest option would probably be to use the Plaza Premium Lounge in the International part of the terminal, but according to the Plaza Premium people and YVR customer service, I won’t have access to it. Supposedly, my only two options are in the US part of the terminal; another Plaza Premium Lounge (which doesn’t appear to have showers) and the Maple Leaf Lounge (which apparently has them, but to which I won't have access, because I’m flying Economy with no Air Canada or Star Gold status). I checked with Air Canada to see if it's possible to purchase access for the lounge and they very kindly told me that generally yes, it is, but unfortunately not in my case, because my Economy ticket is not Full Flex.

So what I’m wondering is;

• is there any way I could visit the Plaza Premium Lounge in the International part (maybe before going through US customs)?
• is there some other way to get access to the Maple Leaf Lounge in the US part?
• is there perhaps a third option that I’m missing?

Thank you kindly.

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yyznomad

Regarding transborder departure MLL access, you can post here to make your request to be guested by someone

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-...m-mll-now.html

canadiancow

Yes, if you stay airside for your connection, you'll be dumped into the international departures area, where you'll have access to the lounges.

After your shower, you'll need to go through security and US pre-clearance.

yyznomad

From the OP, it looks like they don't have access to a lounge. So you are saying they have access to a lounge? They are traveling international to transborder.

BenSenise

is there any way I could visit the Plaza Premium Lounge in the International part (maybe before going through US customs)?

upon an international arrival, you will be herded directly to immigration and then i believe you need to pick up your bags. you are technically entering canada. you then take them to an area to send them on to your next destination. it's not like in europe where you can transit a country without entering it.

from there, you will either exit and go landside or go directly to US border control.. i see above that canadiancow says you can go to the international departures area but i thought this wouldn't be possible since you don't have a boarding pass for an international flight.

is there perhaps a third option that I’m missing?

how long is your layover?

tcook052

Actually no, as is noted in the last post in that thread and in that thread's wiki asking for lounge passes is not permitted. That thread is for gifting lounge passes only.

tcook052
AC forum moderator

yyznomad

Right, my bad. My apologies. OP! Ignore that second link.

Jebby_ca

1. No, you cannot visit the Plaza Premium International Lounge in the international departures area. As you are arriving at YVR on LH, you will proceed directly to the US Pre-Clearance area upon arrival by following the signs for USA Connections.

2. I'd post a lounge pass to you, but I don't think it'd reach you in a week. Maybe there's another FTer closer to you willing to part with a lounge pass, or someone who can guest you in at the YVR TB MLL...

After Burner

Yes, I would agree: that's a very unfortunate predicament!

There is. What I routinely do when connecting through YVR if the layover is 3+ hours is get a room at the YVR Fairmont. They have a day use rate that's very reasonable. PP Lounge and MLL are both pretty unspectacular.

canadiancow

The "directly to the US Pre-Clearance area" takes you right past the international lounges, unless it's changed since I last did an intl-intl connection there.

Jebby_ca

The last time I did an intl > US connection, I remember being channelled from the gate directly to the security area for pre-clearance.

When I did a CAN > US connection airside, I walked right by the Intl MLL.

canadiancow

Hmm I wonder if I'm confusing the two.

aethevig

Thank you all for the swift replies and advice.

That lounge request thread is a brilliant idea, it never occurred to me that that’s what it was for! And to think I’ve also been skipping its counterpart in the Miles&More forum for the last six years! Anyway, thank you for the idea, I’ll post a request and keep my fingers crossed that someone takes notice. Although I'm still not sure what to do for backup.


Are you sure about this? There was no mention of it in the reply I got from YVR customer care and I was under the impression my bags would be checked through all the way to HNL;


Thanks for the suggestion, but my layover is cca. two and a half hours and while it looks very cushy, I think it’s still a bit expensive for what would essentially be just a shower-and-go.

Also, thank you for rubbing it in : ) I wasn’t particularly thrilled when I realised it wasn’t actually Air Canada proper either, but I guess that's the price I have to pay for the price I paid. And compared to the UA 737 I'm taking back to SFO, it somehow doesn't seem so bad : )

By the way, this is a bit off topic, but it just reminded me; do they actually serve meals on the flight to HNL or is it BOB only? I know it’s to the US and it’s Rouge, but I thought since it’s a 6 hour flight…

BenSenise

no, i am not sure. i have never flown into canada to continue on a US bound flight. I've only flown into montreal or calgary to continue on to vancouver and even those have been fairly recent. although i did not have to pick up my bags, i understood that the rules had changed recently and that it used to be that you had to pick up your bags.

i know that now, when i fly YYJ to SEA to connect to LAX, i must take my bags from the carousel and then go through customs and deposit them once past. that's US of course.

Someone here should be able to tell you for sure whether or not you must pick up your bags in YVR for an international to US connection.

D582

As long as the bags are tagged to HNL, they will be transferred automatically. US customs has a system that allows them to recall the bag should they wish to inspect it.

When you go through the US connections path after an international arrival, it sends you down an escalator with a security checkpoint to your right. To your left, there will be an open door with an emergency exit sign. People connecting from domestic flights (via the international departures area) will be entering through there. In theory, if you walked that way you would end up in international departures. However, you probably shouldn't do that, and someone will probably notice.

There is an international connections path which would place you in international departures, however I'm not sure you could convince the Canada Border Agent to let you through that to access a lounge.

In the past, I have accessed the domestic area of YVR with a US boarding pass, by telling the security agent I was meeting someone there and would later go through the US connections path. I'm not sure if this is officially allowed/enforced as this was a number of years ago. Therefore if you went through the Canadian arrivals path, exited landside, and are able to clear security into the C gates (domestic), you could then proceed through the US connections path which puts you into international departures first and you are free to roam around there before going to the US area. This option would require two security checks though, and again, not even sure you could get through.

And then, regardless of all this, even if you could somehow make it into the international departures area, there is always the chance that the Plaza Premium lounge will not let you in anyways.

I think you are. INTL-US goes right to security. DOM-US goes to INTL first.