emma69

Update, flew a week ago, Sat am, checked bag in at priority check in line, and walked straight through security and immigration, super quick, super easy, was very pleasantly surprised!

mtomo

You got 2 options:
- follow the signs to the new In-Transit Preclearance zone, or
- the old way - exit to the public area and re-enter between aisle 9 and 10
either way you will have to go through security
In my opinion, it's better to fly Canada-USA-USA - that way you only go through security once, rather than Canada-Canada-USA.

Bear4Asian

I flew Tororonto to JFK last week. I was flying Delta in First class and Nexus/Global entry.

As I recall

Checked my bag
Took my bag through the door and immediately drop it on a conveyor
Nexus line on left side of the hall
Eye scan and get receipt
Put briefcase in the plastic box (added cell phone and coins) on conveyor to scan and walk through the scan machine
Go stand in the line to talk to officer

All of this took less than five minutes

BUT

1. The officer at the scan conveyor pushed the box, I assume to speed its short journey to the scanner. The box came inches from falling off the conveyor. I caught it myself and straightened it. Whew! But I had $5000 worth of camera equipment in the briefcase. The officer's cavalier attitude was shocking. She even laughed.

2. I got to the line to talk with an officer (I had checked that I brought some food) and there were NO officers in any of the booths. There was no one visible in the entire room which I assume is supposed to be a secure room and highly monitored.

I waited a few minutes and one officer showed up.

I guess you could say that I got through pretty fast, but it was a surreal experience.

taenkas

Hi, I am thinking about booking my next Flight EU-USA with Air Canada and connecting in YYZ. From the online resources (Security Wait Times at YYZ and Preclearence Wait Times published by CBP) it seems like the process has very much improved. If I travel without any checked luggage also the wait time for the scanning of my bags should be eliminated.

Are there any recent experiences from YYZ? My arrival at YYZ would be around 12:30-13:30 on a Friday.

THX, T.

ffsim

I went through this process yesterday at exactly the same time you're asking about. It was by far the worst of all my experiences with the new process, and it was still over in about 15 minutes. The longest bottleneck is security as there's no priority or Nexus / Global Entry lane. the conveyor area behind the x-ray machines is also relatively short, so it doesn't accommodate quite as bins as I've seen elsewhere.

This was also my first time going through with checked luggage. I didn't have to wait in the holding area as my name had already shown up on the screen, but I guess it could be a little frustrating for someone who's rushing to catch a flight only to end up being held before seeing a CBP officer because their bag hasn't been processed yet.

taenkas

Hi ffsim, thanks for your feedback! So in retrospect would you prefer to go through YYZ or clear CBP at your final destination in the US?

Antonio8069

taenkas, regarding your question, how does one get to choose?

My next cnx. is in late December............hoping by then they manage to get wait times below 15 minutes!

ffsim

Clearing CBP at final destination in US is not an option for most flights out of Canada, but based on what I've heard about the passport control delays at some of the US's major airports, I'd definitely fly through YYZ.

taenkas

Thank you guys, your feedback makes me more confident that going through YYZ is a good alternative for me!

Deathray

I am going yeg-yyz-ord in a couple of days and have some confusion about the transborder process.

I've intentionally booked a long connection so I can meet up with some family at yyz. Am I going to run into problems if I have bags checked through but don't actually go through transborder security and pre-clear until 4-5 hours after my incoming flight arrives? Will the bags be flagged or offloaded of anything?

Am I better off having the agents in yeg only tag through to yyz, collect and recheck?

Thanks.

JimInOhio

I, too, will be making a Europe to USA connection through YYZ. I did this a couple years ago and I recall the process being:

Scan passport (and boarding pass) after arrival
Wait for baggage to be processed (electronic notifications of flights and passenger names)
US CBP interview (have GE)
Canada security screening

It seems the procedure has been changed up since then with security right after arrival from Europe followed by waiting for notification of bags being processed. This makes sense as it's wasteful to wait for your bags to be processed when the time could have been spent waiting for security screening.

A couple questions:
Is my description of the procedure change accurate?
Does my little laminated GE card give me priority security screening in these Intl to USA connections?

Thanks.

ffsim

I've never done Europe -> YYZ -> USA so I can't speak to the procedure for such a connection, however, I do want to clarify that this thread primarily discusses Canada -> USA connections.

For Canada -> USA connections, you go through security first (no priority screening), then electronic kiosks (Global Entry and regular), then waiting room while luggage is handled, then CBP officer. I have no idea if you're directed to the start of this exact process as an international arriving pax, so someone else would have to chime in.