Question: Transfer overnight at YVR — US citizen
Sep 24, 2020, 2:16 am
#31
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And only part of the risk is CBSA.
If staff at the gate in your origin city don't let you on the flight, the CBSA call center's opinion is irrelevant. Same with AC's call centre.
You really want to avoid the overnight.
As a data point, I was almost denied boarding on HKG-SFO earlier this year with a Canadian passport. The only reason they let me on was that I could produce a green card. Canadian citizens do not need anything other than a passport to enter the US, but the gate staff did not know this and didn't care to look it up.
Rules and policies do not matter. Don't make this difficult for yourself.
If staff at the gate in your origin city don't let you on the flight, the CBSA call center's opinion is irrelevant. Same with AC's call centre.
You really want to avoid the overnight.
As a data point, I was almost denied boarding on HKG-SFO earlier this year with a Canadian passport. The only reason they let me on was that I could produce a green card. Canadian citizens do not need anything other than a passport to enter the US, but the gate staff did not know this and didn't care to look it up.
Rules and policies do not matter. Don't make this difficult for yourself.
Sep 24, 2020, 5:52 am
#32
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- Passengers are allowed to transit from international-to-international terminals at their arrival airport in Canada;
- Passengers must arrive and depart from the same airport within a reasonable timeframe (i.e. 24 hours);
- Passengers must remain in the secure area/airside, meaning leaving the airport is not permitted.
- Transiting passengers are not permitted to connect domestically to another Canadian airport prior to departing Canada (e.g. CUN-YYZ-YVR-NRT) is not permitted);
- For clarity, passengers who are considered in transit are those that do not have to clear Customs (CBSA) and formally enter Canada in order to pick up their baggage to travel on a subsequent flight.
As Cow correctly notes, if an Air Canada employee reading this policy decides to deny you boarding, "but a CBSA person told me on the phone it was okay" will be worthless.
Sep 24, 2020, 6:20 am
#33
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Okay yeah with that policy, just don't do it.
You would need an AC employee (or more likely contractor) to violate AC policy in order for this to work. It's not happening. Find a way to get into the US on your arrival day.
You would need an AC employee (or more likely contractor) to violate AC policy in order for this to work. It's not happening. Find a way to get into the US on your arrival day.
Sep 24, 2020, 6:59 am
#34
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Cow, to be fair, they wouldn't be trying to violate this policy until they'd arrived at YVR, so at the very least it would likely be an AC employee rather than an overseas contractor, but all that does is raise your odds that they'll know the rules from 9% to 19%.
Sep 24, 2020, 7:06 am
#35
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...or, get used to the idea of sleeping on the floor of the terminal for your overnight layover.
Cow, to be fair, they wouldn't be trying to violate this policy until they'd arrived at YVR, so at the very least it would likely be an AC employee rather than an overseas contractor, but all that does is raise your odds that they'll know the rules from 9% to 19%.
Cow, to be fair, they wouldn't be trying to violate this policy until they'd arrived at YVR, so at the very least it would likely be an AC employee rather than an overseas contractor, but all that does is raise your odds that they'll know the rules from 9% to 19%.
Sep 24, 2020, 7:07 am
#36
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Nice they make that possible now to stay airside overnight (I didn't know they could do that, and I'd be surprised it would work for transborder), but presumably that means keeping your mask on all night why you try to sleep, since you're just sitting on a bench in the open terminal? That doesn't sound like an enjoyable overnight experience. I'd still try to change flights.
Sep 24, 2020, 7:11 am
#37
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No, AFAIK the sleeping-overnight thing only works when transiting from a US-->CAN flight to a CAN-->International.
...then again, if you were scheduled on a legal connection, and your international --> CAN flight was delayed to the point that you missed your connection to the US, they'd have to figure something out.
For YVR, at least currently, the LAX/SFO/PHX/PDX/SEA flights are all scheduled to depart about 2 hours after AC's TPACs get in, which suggests they've thought about how to minimize these occurrences.
...then again, if you were scheduled on a legal connection, and your international --> CAN flight was delayed to the point that you missed your connection to the US, they'd have to figure something out.
For YVR, at least currently, the LAX/SFO/PHX/PDX/SEA flights are all scheduled to depart about 2 hours after AC's TPACs get in, which suggests they've thought about how to minimize these occurrences.
Last edited by YOWgary; Sep 24, 2020 at 7:16 am
Sep 24, 2020, 10:44 am
#38
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No, AFAIK the sleeping-overnight thing only works when transiting from a US-->CAN flight to a CAN-->International.
...then again, if you were scheduled on a legal connection, and your international --> CAN flight was delayed to the point that you missed your connection to the US, they'd have to figure something out.
For YVR, at least currently, the LAX/SFO/PHX/PDX/SEA flights are all scheduled to depart about 2 hours after AC's TPACs get in, which suggests they've thought about how to minimize these occurrences.
...then again, if you were scheduled on a legal connection, and your international --> CAN flight was delayed to the point that you missed your connection to the US, they'd have to figure something out.
For YVR, at least currently, the LAX/SFO/PHX/PDX/SEA flights are all scheduled to depart about 2 hours after AC's TPACs get in, which suggests they've thought about how to minimize these occurrences.
Sep 24, 2020, 10:59 am
#39
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AC26 is unusual in a number of ways, yes.
Keep in mind that AC does not have to confirm your eligibility to fly an itinerary to *sell* this ticket, but they will check before they let you fly it, and by all *published* rules - in other words, anything an airport agent will be able to refer to - this is an illegal connection unless you're a Canadian citizen or PR, or hold a visa of a type that makes you currently admissible.
Keep in mind that AC does not have to confirm your eligibility to fly an itinerary to *sell* this ticket, but they will check before they let you fly it, and by all *published* rules - in other words, anything an airport agent will be able to refer to - this is an illegal connection unless you're a Canadian citizen or PR, or hold a visa of a type that makes you currently admissible.
Sep 24, 2020, 11:05 am
#40
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Hopefully the overnight works out for the OP, either with rules changing, or AC not cancelling the flight....
What sucks is that when AC does cancel the flight, the OP is stuck with unrefundable tickets for four, if the family is unable to fly this.
Sep 24, 2020, 11:57 am
#41
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Admittedly getting AC to do that may be like pulling teeth, but with sufficient insistence they will end up doing it.
Sep 24, 2020, 1:41 pm
#44
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Sep 24, 2020, 1:46 pm
#45
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I was hoping that too. More than 10 years ago, I was on AC flight. But my SFO to YVR flight had a mechnical problem and was delayed for 1.5 hours, which means that I will miss my transpacific flight departing at YVR. So I talked to the cabin crew and asked to be put on UA nonstop flight. And AC let me do that and rebooked me to the UA flight.