YVR question
 

Doing a MR and will arrive from DEN on UA at 9:15 p, leaving at 6:00a the following day to SFO on UA as well. All on one ticket.

Would prefer not to shell out money for a hotel for just a couple of hours, plus at that time of the year it will be very cold outside. Can I stay airside at YVR?
How does that work with the trans border situation?

Any insight will be very much appreciated.

You can't stay airside. When you arrive, you'll be in the international arrivals area before clearing Canadian immigration. From here it is not possible to access any departure gates and there is nowhere to sleep. It is a segregated area that serves no purpose except to contain travellers who have not yet cleared immigration and customs. You will have to go through immigration and you will not be able to go to the US departures area until the day of your flight (because US CBP will not let you through). US preclearance opens at 04:30 each morning.

You can sleep landside. There should be no trouble with airport security as long as you can show an onward ticket the next day.

Another option is to head over to the River Rock Casino via Skytrain which is only a couple of stations away. The risk is that the first trains back appear to start at around 4:48am from Waterfront station and will get you back to the airport at 5:15am. I suppose you can cab it back too.

I'm also curious if there's anywhere to squat at the Fairmont Airport.

Your best options for a cheap hotel will be Travelodge, Ramada or Days Inn in Richmond. You can find these hotels for $70CAD/night or less in low season and they all have free shuttles to/from the airport. Nothing fancy, but clean and safe.

I sincerely thank all of you for your input. Since I am on my way to SIN I only have summer stuff to wear, so as this point I am planning on toughing it out in the terminal landside. It's only a little more than six hours, I think it's doable. The Fairmont showed as unavailable and if I read it correctly, it's past security, so not reachable for me. Thank you again, it is really helpful.

Just to be clear: You will be landside for the night, and the Fairmont is landside.

Wouldn't be too useful to have a hotel after security :)

A fairly quiet area to spend the night will be near the US Departures Check-in counters, beside the stairs up to the Fairmont.

The washrooms are just to the left of the United Airlines check-in desks.

I must have read it wrong then. However, didn't surprise me as for example the SIN transit hotels are all before immigration.

Thanks for the tip, will make my home near the U.S. check-in counters. Very valuable information, thanks a lot.