Thunderroad

Did a search and saw some old threads on these connections, but in case the info has changed and because I'm also asking about Nexus and weather considerations, I thought I'd start a new one:

In a couple of months my wife and I will respectively fly RT, SFO-YHZ and NYC-YHZ, connecting through YYZ or YUL. Probably on AC all the way, but could be on UA (or a combo of the two). We're US citizens. We have Global Entry but not Nexus. A few questions:

1. Most connections times seem to vary from 1:45 to 2:15. Is this sufficient?
2. Any advice on whether it is better to connect through YYZ or YUL?
3. I've read that YHZ sometimes has fog problems. If that's the case, any times of day better or worse to depart there?
4. I assume that our Global Entry memberships will expedite our leaving Canada but without Nexus we'd have to wait in the regular lines while entering it. Correct?
5. If I'm reading the Global Entry website correctly, we'd need in-person interviews by Canadian immigration personnel to quality for Nexus. Any advice re how much of a hassle it is to set these up, how long the interviews take, whether we could do it in transit (on a longer layover), whether we could do it in Halifax upon arrival or before departure?

Thanks for any help!

tcook052

Moving to Canada forum for the non-Air Canada/Aeroplan queries.

Regards,

tcook052
Air Canada forum moderator

RangerNS

1. If that is the quoted time, its fine. Unless there is a some problem, and you would be taken care of, at least so far as the airline will get you to where you are going. If you have a firm deadline for some critical life event, "eventually" may not be good enough, however.
2. Probs the same for the connection, but the YYZ-YHZ aircraft tend to be slightly larger and thus more comfortable. But a couple in two adjacent seats in a e175 may be better then as part of 3 in a 321.
3. Later in the day is generally better.
4. Correct
5. Check the schedule. If you haven't started the process, then 2 months might not be enough to get far enough along to even book an appointment. The "interview", at least for me, was just the logistics of scanning. I don't remember there being more than 30 seconds of questions, if that much. Managing to squeeze that in while in transit may, given the appointment schedule, be neigh impossible.

mistermap

If it's a YYZ AC US to domestic connection, don't worry about Nexus. It's generally faster to follow the connection route (OSS) which lets you avoid going landside but has no Nexus. That should work for United to AC domestic too.

Thunderroad

Thanks to you both for the very useful replies!

Toronto1970

If OP has checked bags, sticking to all AC metal from the US connecting in YYZ or YUL is preferred to UA, since bags will be checked through. I believe with UA connecting to AC you will have to clear normal immigration to pick up the bags and put them back on the belt post-customs.

Thunderroad

Thanks again for all of the help, folks. It now looks like certain good itineraries might involve connections in both directions in YUL or YYZ of 1:10 or 1:20. (We'll just have carry-on bags, FWIW.)

1. Based on mistermap's information, is YYZ better for connecting from US to Canada domestic on out outbound flights?
2. Am I correct in assuming that since we'd go through U.S. immigration (albeit with Global Entry) on our return flights, that takes longer than outbound?
3. Is 1:10/1:20 cutting it too tight?

JimInOhio

For #2 (at YYZ) -- With GE, it doesn't get much simpler. You deboard the flight at YYZ, head to the connections security station for screening (hardly any line when I've been there but YMMV), bypass the luggage processing waiting room since you'll be carrying on, go through US CBP with probably no wait (since you're GE), then head to your departure gate. Depending on where the gates are, it could be as little as 20 minutes gate to gate and almost certainly less than 30 or 40 minutes. At least that's been my experience.

smallmj

If you are worried about short connections, my rule of thumb is to ask yourself, "What are the consequences of a misconnect?" The airline would get you to your destination, but it might take some time. There are many daily flights to YHZ from both YYZ and YUL so if you misconnect you'll probably get there with only a few hours delay unless you are booked on one of the last flights out.

You can check your return journey to see if there are easy solutions if you misconnect there. YYZ might have more re-routing options so it might be a better choice to SFO.

But overall, I wouldn't worry too much as long you meet the minimum connection times and don't have a time-sensitive event on arrival (like a cruise, important meeting, or wedding).

Have you looked in to a direct flight NYC-YHZ for your wife? Delta flies from LGA and United from EWR. Of course connecting might be cheaper. Also, don't worry about fog in YHZ. The airport is WAY, WAY inland and has ILS. It is also not very busy.

When I was booking a family vacation Flying YHZ-YUL-BRU, I purposely booked an earlier flight YHZ-YUL because a misconnect on the YUL-BRU leg would have put a real dent in our vacation plans. The extra hour or two that I spent in YUL saved me and my wife a lot of peace of mind. That extra hour also gave me enough time to stand in line at Tim Hortons in YUL - what a madhouse.

On the return leg I was happy to have a short connection in YUL even though I had to clear customs. I knew that if things went wrong there were many more flights home to YHZ later on the same day. A misconnect would have been a minor annoyance coming home, but a huge hassle going away.