airoli

This is definitely doable. You'll spend a fair bit of time on the 747 into the city, as road construction is the usual mess and there will be lots of traffic. The bus can be crowded and hot.

On the way back, though, it will be smooth as by ~9pm, traffic should have died down and the buses should run normally.

I'd suggest getting off at the first stop (Lionel Groulx) and walking around Griffintown (Rue Notre-Dame) for good food.

Of course, it's up to you to decide whether you want to spend all that time going to and fro, or prefer hanging out at the airport (the AC Intl. lounge is ok and would be open until ~9pm).

vincewy

Well looks like it's a bad day to be flying and transiting at YYZ and YUL (Nov 15th and 16th). All AC flights delayed between 1-2 hours so I may just have enough time at the airport. My driving on 401 was also stressful.

I was planning to go to Chinatown in Montreal and enjoy Little Sheep (actually Fat Sheep) spicy hotpot, well, finger crossed now if I manage to make the connection smoothly to begin with. I've also noticed TK flights out of Canada have been full frequently, even in J, that's why you rarely see deals out of YYZ and YUL, Y and J alike.

Now I presume I'll be stuck at/around the airport, any shopping malls and/or good places to eat around Dorval?

airoli

The restaurant at the Marriott is pretty decent.

There are a few nice Italian restaurants along the 40 north of the airport, but it's a fairly long taxi ride all around the perimeter of the airport (Aut 520 to 40) to get there and back which with snow and traffic is no fun.

The restos in Lachine by the lake are more of a summer thing...

smallmj

If you find yourself with a couple of hours to kill at YUL, you could always stand in line at the Tim Hortons near gate 3. You might get your order before the final boarding call.

At least that's the way it felt last time I was there.

vincewy

Despite the weather, the plane arrived on time and I was able to go to downtown taking bus 747, as expected, 1 hour. In fact, I could've made it with 5-hour connection. Funny enough, some folks on TK36 connecting from Toronto nearly missed the flight with tight connection leaving YYZ at 7pm (shortest connection sold on thy.com), due to heavy snow in Montreal this past Friday (winter has arrived) on top of evening air traffic congestions.

One thing no one has mentioned, if your carryon bag is still too big to carry around downtown, there's luggage storage right next to the taxi line at Exit 23. Regarding Tim Hortons by Gate 3, well, I went up to ML Lounge, not much better, it's so congested to a point I'd just hang around the airport's common area.

yyznomad