*A Flyer

airoli

No problem. Check your bags through to LAX. When arriving in YYZ, just exit landside (as you will have to anyways) and go into the city. By the time you come back, your bags will long have been delivered to and their picture taken for US Customs.

Go back to the entrance to the connections to US area and follow the regular process from there. The picture will show up at the customs officer's screen, and once your through your bag will be released to go on your LAX flight.

*A Flyer

airoli

To go from a Canada arrival to a US departure, everybody has to proceed landside and then follow signs to a special "connections" entrance to US pre-clearance. It's behind the check-in rows. Because it is landside, it is in principle accessible to everyone, but they scan your boarding pass at the entrance to verify that you are indeed on a connecting itinerary. So keep your inbound BP as well to be sure.

(This being said, I don't think that there would be any issue with you using the standard local-origin pax entrance to US preclearance.)

:D!

What is the point of having a different "connections" entrance and "local-origin" entrance?

airoli

1) Shorter CBP waiting times enabling YYZ to sell shorter connection times to the US, thus driving hub traffic
2) Special holding area ensures that connecting pax with checked bags don't get to meet with a CBP officer until their checked bags have arrived in CBP system and are ready for inspection, if required.

JimInOhio

I don't remember the domestic to US connection flow at YYZ as ever being "landside" in T1. When they scan your boarding pass and check your passport when going from domestic arrivals to US departures, they are in essence making sure you have a way out of the international arrivals area. When you go through that checkpoint, you are now co-mingling with arriving passengers from Europe, Asia, and S. America... all of whom have to go to one of two places: Canada immigration or US immigration. It would be really good to have a passport in hand when in that crowd.

airoli

Hm. From many, many YUL-YYZ-US connections on Air Canada, I do.

What JiminOhio describes sounds a lot like the domestic => international connections flow ("E gates").

To the US, you need to follow signs to the "F gates", which point you out through the doors next to the security check-points by the Tim Hortons / under the MLL. Once landside, right up the escalator, past the Starbucks on departures level and to the US connections area behind the check-in. You will need to re-clear security again after US CBP.

Pearson Airport Connection Guide >

Seat13F_AC_CRJ

How long have you been travelling through YYZ? For years, going "landside" was the only way to make a domestic to US connection.
--
13F

JimInOhio

Last week.

JimInOhio

The connection guide is totally misleading. Step 3 is mis-labeled though the instructions are correct. You follow the signs for USCBP but you go through security first, followed by the "holding area" if you have checked baggage, and then to USCBP. From there it's straight to the gate.

JimInOhio

Here's a follow up from the transborder MLL....

Arrived D gate this morning.
Followed signs for E and F gates (Intl and US) which is an escalator up from the D gates.
Go through BP scanner which opens a subway-like gate to let you through to what is essentially the start of the E concourse.
From there, you can proceed directly to E gates or go through a door toward F gates (which I believe then co-mingles you with Intl arriving passengers connecting to the US).
Go through connecting passenger security screening.
At that point, you're asked if you have a checked bag. If yes, you wait for your flight to be processed. If no, go immediately to US-CBP.
There are two streams for US-CBP: one for connections and one for those originating at YYZ.
If you have GE or Nexus, those two streams converge to one line for "interview" (do you have any food?)
Exit US-CBP and now you're in the F gate area.

airoli

@:-) Interesting. This is definitely new from what I experienced as recently as last year. They must have redirected the pax flow not to go landside any more. Thank you for sharing. No change for this part.

JimInOhio

Best part -- made it from Gate D1 to the transborder MLL in 20 - 25 minutes. That's with GE otherwise it would have been significantly longer.

JimInOhio

And here's the reverse process at T1 from earlier in the week:

Arrived high-F gates (regional jet concourse for USA flights)
Followed walkway to Intl arrivals which brings you up a couple of escalators to the upper level of T1
Follow sign to D gates. I think if you have an E departure, you just go to your gate
Entrance to D gates, scan boarding pass with agent standing there.

Here's where I don't really know what's happening. Can you only proceed if you have an onward boarding pass with OSS? Not sure and I didn't ask.

Agent lets you into small Intl to Domestic immigration desk on the upper level of T1 right at the E and F concourse.
Immigration clears you and you head toward the D gates, still on the upper level
Long escalator down to ground level where you board the bus to the D gates
Get off bus and go up one level to D departures -- no need for security rescreening

I mentioned above the OSS BP issue. Certainly not all Intl arrivals qualify and therefore the agent at the entrance to the transfer immigration desk must be sending some of the connecting passengers to regular Canada immigration after which they would be landside and then have to go through security.