YYZ Check-in Time
 

Has anyone had a recent experience checking-in and going through US Customs at YYZ ? I'm hearing some horror stories of 3-4 hour waits to clear at some US airports due to cutbacks. I'm on a 3:15 flight from YYZ on a Wednesday in first class. Any suggestions as to what time I should check-in ? Is there a priority security line at YYZ ?

Other than a wait in the morning for the actual security lines to open, the customs/security process didn't exceed 30 minutes.

There was (is?) a priority security line but both areas moved quite quickly.

Global Entry is quite possibly the singe greatest travel related invention in the past decade.

There is priority security at YYZ but that won't help you getting through US CBP. Everybody is equal there. :D

I have never experienced any problems in the afternoon, usually it is rammed in the mornings because they only open relatively shortly before the first bank of flights and then - surprise, surprise! - you get long queues.

My experience is that there is no point in turning up more than 2h in advance - if there is a massive queue they will not let you even join it until about 1-1.5h before the flight anyway!

I believe there are priority security lines for NEXUS and AmEx Platinum card holders. I'm not sure if a Global Entry card would work in lieu of NEXUS. On the other hand my US-issued AmEx Platinum card was always accepted, even though on the signs to the priority security line only Canadian-issued Platinum cards were depicted.

YYZ being a US airport?

Other than the scrum at 4:00 a.m. for the 4:30 opening of the US immigration, I've never seen much of a crowd for US preclearance in Toronto.

Of course even at 4:30 a.m. I use Nexus or Global Entry so there is a separate line with 12 people in it vs. the line with 1000 people in it for regular entry. I have always marveled at the size of the 4:30 a.m. line but people all seem to board if they arrive at the airport properly.

There is a priority line for NEXUS for sure, and there is another one as well but I am not sure of the qualifications. Even with NEXUS at 4:30 a.m. I am usually first for security regardless of security line. But I have seen a priority sign just as you enter the security zone and another for NEXUS so that must mean something good for elites or J/F passengers, you'd think.

There is an Admiral's Club, not the greatest but checking in early could allow that and lessen your worry-meter for the time.

Did you look at the GTAA web site to see what they say on this matter?

Took me 45-60 minutes at 6:30 am last month.

In the last couple of months I have taken early morning and lunch time departures on AA out of T3 and each time minimal wait for Immigration and security in the regular line. Took 20-30mins max in my case.

I took a flight to DCA with Air Canada in January using T1 pre-clearance, and that was a NIGHTMARE. It was an early morning departure, and because T1 has way more US bound flights, the lines were long, it took over an hour to be processed.

I think it depends on the departure time, but in general T3 is normally very quick as the number of US departures is smaller + most planes are just regional jets.

Hm. Not being eligible for NEXUS I can tell you that recently preclearance has become a right nuisance. All the flights before 10am I have taken in recent months we were either delayed or they left some people behind, still stuck in the queue.

And arriving early simply doesn't help: once I arrived at YYZ at 6.30 for a 10am flight (mixed up different reservations). Because the queue was so long they wouldn't let people until shortly before their flight: I saw this fluctuating between 60 and 90 minutes. It then still took me a whole hour to get through the queue once I was in it.

CBP officers with their usual sloth-like working speed sure didn't help, but they were way understaffed.

If you have Nexus/GlobalEntry, you are golden as it will take you less than 5 minutes to go from airport door to security. T3 doesn't seem to have a dedicated Nexus security lane, so things can get a bit backed up even with priority stamped all over your card. But in my 25+ trips over the last 12 months from T3, I don't think I've ever waited more than 10 minutes in the security line ever. At customs, the average was 20-25 min and max was closer to an hour..which drove me to apply for my Nexus/GE and now it's a breeze.

Can GE card holders use the NEXUS kiosks? They require an iris scan not fingerprints

They weren't much better when they were "fully staffed" either.

YYZ Check-in Time
 

If you have Global Entry or NEXUS, you bypass the line and approach a machine. There are 2 GE machines and 2 NEXUS machines. If you don't have a NEXUS card, you can't use the NEXUS machine. If you have a NEXUS card, then you are also enrolled in GE and you may therefore use either. If you use NEXUS, you will use the shorter security line. The same privilege might also be extended to you if you use Global Entry, but I am not sure about that. If you have neither and your flight is earlier than 10am you will quickly understand why we are all recommending GE and NEXUS.

T3 has a regular security line and a Priority line, for NEXUS/GE, aircrew, diplomats etc.

Actually the volume of big jets bound to the USA from T3 is huge. Charters on Westjet make up a lot of this. Such flights are invariably scheduled early morning to inconvenience pax as much as possible. Hence the massive morning kettle call. Scheduled flights to New York and Chicago, on legacy carriers, are small potatoes.

Thanks for all the replies. I applied for Global Entry but unfortunately I won't have the card in time. My question concerning the priority security line seems to remain unanswered - is there a priority security line for those traveling in first class and/or have AAdvantage Platinum status but who don't have NEXUS or GE? Fortunately my flight is in the afternoon so I won't have to deal with what appears to be chaos in the early morning.