The YVR Transborder to USA Experience?
 

First time on WS, and first time in YVR in maybe 15+ years.

YVR/SFO in Premium

a) Airport arrival time? 12:35pm flight departure
b) How strict are the hand luggage police? I may be checking luggage if it is an issue. Does that modify "a"?
c) Does TSA Precheck do anything @ YVR?
d) Are there any lounges open in the USA departures area? (Either paid, other airline, accessible with DL status, AX or PP card, etc.)
e) Will the inflight experience make me want to schedule all of my flights, no matter where in the world, via YVR to experience WS on a frequent basis? ;)

Disclaimer: haven't flown to the US since a couple years before COVID hit, but here's my two cents:

a) YVR is a US pre-clearance facility, so you should arrive early enough to account for having to pass through customs. Generally, the recommended time is 2 hours prior to your flight, but I often do 1.5 hours without much issue, even with a checked bag.

b) WestJet is not very strict at all with carry-on bags, but of course, YMMV. As long as you are within a couple inches of the dimensions on their website, it won't be an issue with 99.999999% certainty... especially if you're in premium. If your flight is full, they will often request volunteers to gate-check bags free of charge, if you so desire.

c) TSA pre-check is not recognized in Canada, so no... but Premium gets you into the priority security lane (follow the marked NEXUS lane), so that is essentially equivalent. Sometimes the person scanning your pass at security will not be aware, so be sure to ask them if they direct you into the regular lane.

d) The only issue with having a dedicated pre-clearance terminal for US departures, is that lounges located in the true "international" terminal are not accessible, and neither are the domestic lounges. AFAIK, there are only two lounges in the US terminal, a closed Plaza Premium lounge you can access via top-tier AMEX cards (that has no estimated date of re-opening, and is shite anyways...) and an AC Maple Leaf Lounge.

e) YVR is a nice airport, and I could see people maybe wanting to connect through YVR if going to Asia/elsewhere in Canada, given its relatively low passenger loads, ease of exploring the surrounding area for long layovers, etc... but WS really doesn't offer anything special over any other mainstream carrier, IMO.

You'll still have a relatively okay experience, but their lack of lounge access for customers, even paying premium fares, is lame. Their on-board product is slightly lacking behind their major competitors like AC... they don't have seat-back IFE (app-based, tablet provided in Premium). The only saving grace, is they finally made Premium a proper 2-2 layout within the last few years, rather than a 3-3 with middle seat blocked. Haven't tried the food in PY on a 2.5+ hr flight before, so cannot comment on that.

The carry on baggage policy is on the website and it is reviewed and must be acknowledged at time of online check in. As noted above, if you don’t see an agent at check in, then they might ask for volunteers to check bags at the gate if the flight is nearly full of full. If you try to bring baggage into the cabin that isn’t within the carry on baggage policy, the flight attendants may ask you to check the bag anyways.

Looks like the plaza premium lounge is still closed? Still no estimated re-open date?

The YVR TB Plaza Premium Lounge is undergoing a much-needed renovation and expansion. Projected re-opening date is mid-late November.

Seems like the lounge opened early as of today and is currently accepting passengers according to YVR’s social media pages. Looks absolutely stunning and is a huge upgrade to the previous lounge. If anyone is flying TB at YVR in the next few days, please share photos and datapoints!

That is wonderful news! Should be there next week.

Was only in there for 10 minutes. It was packed, very busy and very little open space so even though there were open seats it seemed extremely crowded. Felt more like a very fancy cafeteria than a lounge. Sorry no photos or data points, I didn't have time.

a) Right now, because of extensive labour shortages, plan to arrive at YVR 3hrs from departure. During that time of day there will usually huge lines everywhere.
b)The luggage experience at YVR is quite good. Most of the time they aren't strict with carry on luggage and even if they do bug you some polite negotiating will do the trick.
c) TSA precheck doesn't have its own line but you can use the Nexus line, just ask the worker there.
d) Don't even bother with the Plaza Lounge, the Starbucks is many times cleaner and nicer. The AC lounge can honestly be decent but is usually packed to the brim.
e) The WS inflight experience is definitely laid back, but nothing special. The planes aren't crazy new and many do not have ANY inflight entertainment. Some of the flight attendants are very very nice and really make you believe the Canadian stereotype, but others can be plain rude. YVR however is a very nice airport and really chill.
Hope you have a good time in Vancouver, it really is a beautiful city to fly over.