avgeek9995

I am flying in 2 weeks and connecting in YYZ to USA. Family and i flying business class, but no Nexus. If you happened to notice, was the priority line for security opened for AC business class passengers?

avgeek9995

I am flying in 2 weeks and connecting in YYZ to USA. Family and i flying business class, but no Nexus. If you happened to notice, was the priority line for security opened for AC business class passengers?

yyzsfoflyer

Apologies if this reply gets duplicated. Yes, the priority line for business class was open. However, once you get past security, the nonNexus/Global Entry line was quite backed up.

avgeek9995

Thanks! Guess having priority security will at least help with reducing some security wait times...still 2 weeks out, but low key hoping customs line may be shorter by then.

emcampbe

Any idea if the priority line still accepts Amex plat cardholders, or is it just Business/AC elites? I've got an Amex plat (US-based) which I assume would have used to get me in that line, but I'm not 100% sure, and never needed it before because...well, Nexus.

avgeek9995

Also connecting through YYZ to USA in 12 days. Have not done the process of connecting to USA since 2019, so a bit rusty. Do connecting pax go to the same security line/customs as non-connecting pax or are they seperate? Flying business, so should have priority security access, but a bit nervous with all the horror stories i have been reading.

Adam Smith

There's a separate security screening for connecting pax.

mlbcard

Did this yesterday around 7 am. I was able to go through without Nexus/Global Entry within 45 min (no checked bags). However, from talking to others, within 30 minutes after that, it went nuts. Long lines and disorganized. Pretty much every flight to the US was delayed while waiting for connecting passangers. We sat on the plane at the gate for an hour while they waited for more passangers and messed with baggage.

AC really needs to stop providing short (less than 1 1/2 hrs) connections to the US. It's ridiculous to have every flight late because of preclearance. In this covid environment, I don't want to sit on a plane filled with passangers for any longer than I have to. It especially sucks if I'm in the plane longer at the gate than in the air.

Cryotia

Does anyone know why there's such a discrepancy between the CBP Preclearance wait times reported on the website (https://pqt.cbp.gov/report/YYZ_1/10-11-2021) and the horrific reports in this thread? Is it bad data collection or are meltdown mornings rarer than they actually are?

emcampbe

clearly, that’s not updated. It’s certainly possible meltdowns are less frequent than reports imply, but those times just can not be based on facts. Given I haven’t used pre-clear at since the start of the pandemic (will this week, though), I’ve been consistently traveling between YYZ and the US for the better part of 3 decades, and I’ve never ever seen a 0 minute wait time. Back in the day, non-peak times, sure, maybe just a few minutes, but never 0 (as in, walk right up to an officer). Never. Just not possible.

On the other hand, I believe wait times at CBP have been relatively less now (at least pre-pandemic) than they were 5 years prior, as they changed the flow of things. When you did customs, then security, security had few lines, since everyone was coming through customs and the backlog was there. There is currently still somewhat of a backlog at customs, but with security first, a significant part of the wait is there. I’d suspect Global entry has also somewhat cut the regular queues down over the past multiple years.

Covid obviously changed things again (not for the better, faster or easier), so things are presumably worse again. Coming into YYZ from US on Sat., it was a mess, and I was much faster than a lot of others due to Nexus. I won’t lie - concerned about the time it will take to get through in Thurs.

sydneyracquelle

Those government records are not reliable. Last week at the land border the frequent update said it would be a 3 minute wait and it took 45 minutes.

xray

AC737 YYZ-SFO last Sat posted 1h delay Fri night with departure changed from 8 am to 9 am.

I got to YYZ at 6:40 am because of the new checked baggage deadline 2h prior. A bit of a lineup at AC Priority checkin - who decided to combine Special Services there ?

Priority security was open and fast with lineups for regular security extending back to police station area. Lineups were separated by flight number -

Huge backlog in customs area if you didn't have global entry/nexus...

We boarded close to scheduled time.

Our flight delayed another 2h waiting for people to clear. One passenger said he had arrived at 5:30 am and barely got to gate for 9 am. We pushed back close to 11 am...

Not good ! Same delays have been happening all this week...

rankourabu

How is it that United manages to get their flights out on time in the morning from the same terminal with the same supposed customs issues.
The 8am EWR and 8:50am ORD have not one delay all week.




So its either, they are leaving pax behind, or this is not a YYZ problem.

xray

Interesting.

I will have to say that I'm watching the rolling delays for that same YYZ-SFO flight in much more comfort from my hotel room as I'm scheduled for the return SFO-YYZ flight. Won't be rushing to go to the airport for sure...

emcampbe

I was flying ex-SFO on UA on Sat to YYZ via ORD. We came back to gate for medical emergency, and was debating whether I would miss connection and just have them put me on AC instead. Glad I didn’t. Checked flight status before and the noon AC SFOflight at that point (about 7:45am PT), AC noon flight was showing delayed until after 2. Hadn’t even left YYZ yet, so figured it might leave later (I never bothered to check after that). Ran to make my slightly delayed connection at ORD.

this is one reason (of many) I avoid AC when possible. Tomorrow, going home via an AC flight to DEN first, so we’ll see how that goes. Have plenty of buffer in DEN to connect if I need it - this was the best timed for arrival for me, which is the reason I did it given I had a large connection buffer. Been checking the 9:15 DEN flight and it typically seems to take off between 10 and 11. This morning, 10:56. Meanwhile, UA sent an 8 and 10 am to EWR early, as well as a 9am to ORD on time. So definitely seems to be a AC issue.