Security issues at YVR (2022)
 

Speaking of CATSA, has anyone else in YVR flying J (w/o Nexus or anything else) been sent through the regular line at the C gates? Happened to me twice now, and when I went through a few minutes ago there was a plethora of people complaining about the same thing. Tried to enter through the “trusted traveller” queue and was told to go to the general line.

Yeah, a few times, and then I point to the "Priority Security" part of the boarding pass and they let me through

No, but I make sure to have the "Green YVR" sticker on the bp.

Tried that, scanner people didn't want to hear any of it. I ended up nicely asking the line attendant that tells you what line to go to, and she told the scanner people to get their .... together and to stop sending priority passengers in the general line.

Where does one get this sticker? Wasn't provided at check-in.

The AC priority desk definitely has a stash of the green stickers. I assume the same for WestJet and maybe the other domestic carriers (they're currently stationed at the international lobby). A staff member has to apply the sticker on manually and if they forget I'd try to remind them. Before I had status I found that the general AC bag drop desk had some spare stickers, but that was pre-covid, and for a good chunk of 2020 and 2021, the green sticker scheme was suspended so I'm not sure if those desks are fully stocked with the stickers once again

I have always gotten them at the AC Priority desk post-pandemic, sometimes the agent might need to steal some from a colleague at a different desk.
Agree with asovse1, check-in agents might need a reminder since they assume alot of elites have Nexus, which negates the need for the sticker.

Never tried general AC bag drop so can't tell for that one.
Have also gotten it from the AS and CX counters during the pandemic, but the Green sticker isn't as useful (in line-cutting) for the US departures compared to Domestic C security.

For those who stay on the Fairmont Gold floor at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel the night prior to their flight, one of of the benefits is a voucher for the priority security lane (remind the Fairmont Gold concierge to give you one when checking out) regardless of your status/class of service.

If anyone encountered a closed-off stanchion in front of C gate priority security today between 9:45am and 10:00am, I apologize for being the cause. I had to occupy the CATSA scanner person as they escorted me to lightly dump my container of soil curbside. :D:D

I stand corrected, didn't get the sticker today.
Check-in agent used a Yellow Highlighter for the "Priority Security" on the bp and that still did the trick.

Just be glad you didn't go through the C security this morning.

All Kettles got sent to A/B security, C was reserved for Priority/Nexus/Global Entry and still easily took 30-45 mins to get through.

Even with a later departure you may want to go give yourself more time than normal for security. I’ve flown out of YVR twice in the past 8 days and the security checkpoint at the AC (C) concourse has been closed and all pax were going through the WS side (A&B). It’s very poorly organized and even with Nexus I was about 25 minutes getting through.

If you do store a bag don’t assume you’ll be able to check it close to minimum deadline and go to gate.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...lays-1.6436560

Speaking of security issues at YVR, CBC is reporting that the airport is warning passengers to leave extra time to clear security because they are severely understaffed.

Pre pandicdemic it was A&B checkpoint closed from 19:00. Everyone going through C pier.
Not sure why the swap.
A couple nights ago the security lineup stretched across the domestic terminal well into the international check in area.


The passenger in the article had a 9:05 departure. That's one of the busiest times of the day.

9:00 is a great time to show up for late morning departures though.
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went through yesterday around 10:00am. Both areas were open, but there was no priority or nexus line at C. There was a sign up indicating they had limited staffing and indicating priority/Nexus line was at A/B. Even though it wasn’t terribly long line I headed to A/B which was a mistake. The priority line got you closer to the front of the regular queue with no dedicated lane..

They have those horrible auto feeding machines and they were handling the exception lane oddly. Unlike Toronto where they handle exceptions in order you were supposed to know to line up in a second queue if you had an exception and then describe all your trays so they could go searching. For the second time on this trip had the exception queue halted while a passenger tried to bring in a liquids way over the size / quantity limit. Yesterday a man had 1L of milk he bought for the flight which he was reluctantly willing to give up but he had a vat of body cream that he insisted was not a liquid and argued for a good five minutes before asking to leave so he could check it.

In Toronto, on my out, a woman brought her whole medicine cabinet in a giant toiletry bag and went shopping from it to decide what she’d rescue and squeeze into the CATSA baggy while everyone waited.

clearly the kettles are travelling again and have forgotten everything they might have known before. Going to be a fun summer. Would hate to see what busy looks like.

Ugh. Sounds like I may have to get to the airport really early for my upcoming AC108 flight. If only I could sneak through the INT screening instead.

"After all, (he says in his best kettle voice to the CATSA minion), I am going to ZRH!"

Fat chance, I know.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...edc438fdfe.jpg
Domestic security line at YVR stretches all the way back to Air France.

Nexus on the Air Canada side appears to be closed, the concierge told me to go through Nexus on the WestJet side, which had me through in about five minutes rather than the hour-plus it sounds like it's taking for regular security.

I've never seen it this bad even at Christmas.

Benefit of a monopoly. Customer satisfaction is not a requirement. Probably the source of my greatest anxiety in travelling again in times of Covid.

C security for nexus and priority.

Long lines for the others
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...5d062a110f.jpg
Lines all the way to international check in
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a1937a722c.jpg

YBang oh, you're standing "AT" C security, but they're still funneling everybody through A/B? That's, what, a 200-300 metre queue to the entrance of the checkpoint? Wild times

Correct, fortunately they had better informed staff for priority security today. Was not the case for me on Sat.

It was so long, I think C to A/B is approx 200 meters. Could not see the end.

How are the lines in the evening? I have an 11pm flight in two weeks, thought I'd show up early and hit the lounge.

According to CTV news last night, pretty bad, only YYZ being worse.

And a spokesperson (IIRC one of the federal agencies) said not to expect it to get much better anytime soon with shortage of security staff :(

Once you return to YVR, there are often line ups pushing close to 30 minutes for a taxi.

Why oh why did I agree to fly with a FOTSG on May long weekend?! :( Hoping a 9am Sunday departure helps, but will closely monitor updates here.

9am is a bit better when I travelled this past Sat. about 40 min. Starts getting insane from that.

Jeez, just use the Skytrain.

Not if you are headed anywhere not on/near a SkyTrain line.

So to clarify, currently they are flip-flopping A/B and C gates for NEXUS/Priority Lane? But sometimes there isn't even that?

Also just remembered first flight hasn't cleared J, so boarding passes won't have "Priority Security", so bags or not, guess we'll be stopping by the SE desk for green stickers! (Though I seriously doubt companion will be able to master carryon only, I haven't fully given up hope. :D)

Is it bad at night? Have an international flight this Friday at 11:50 PM. Three hours early recommended?

I had friends arrive 2.5h early for their 9:25PM flight yesterday (Tuesday) just to find out it was pretty empty. Not sure if one-off (they can't solve staffing issues that quickly so doubtful), or a time/day combo that ended up being perfect.

Security Wait Times at YVR- Early flights
 

Has anyone recently taken a 6:00 am departure from YVR on the domestic side?

What was security wait time like? OLCI told me to arrive at the airport at 03:30 am....which is cruel and unusual and I strongly suspect that they are just adding 30 minutes across the board irrespective of time of day.

I'm on WS 700 tomorrow at 6:00 and my normal practice (I'm now referring to "THE BEFORE TIMES") has been to arrive at about 04:30. I have nexus so that might sweeten the deal but OLCI wasn't able to upload my VAX cert. so I have to go to an agent anyway.

Thanks.

I don't think security opens that early.
There are 6:00 flights to the US. Customs opens at 4:30.
I suspect domestic security won't open until a similar time.

Yep.....

A look at the YVR departing flights site tells me there are only three non-AC domestic or other flights to the US at 6:00 then none until 07:00.
Two of those are WS (YYZ and YYC) and the other is Flair so arriving at 04:30 for a 6:00 am flight is a risk worth taking.

Does anyone have recent experience with early mornings? I have a 6am flight to YYZ next Thursday.

You can always take Skytrain just to leave the airport and get a taxi elsewhere, such as the casino. It would probably be quicker than taking a taxi from the airport.

Elsewhere, it was posted that Nexus/Priority only where being handled at the C security portal (only one lane?!) and the rest had to go through the A/B portal.

Dunno if there is really only one Priority lane open, but I'm not sure that this configuration really solves anything other than having more room to queue up for everyone else.

I guess I will see for myself next week. And I used to like being based out of YVR.

Depends on how much money you have and want to burn and what it means to you. $5 per person add fare (which I studiously and legally avoided paying by using Faresavers).+ base fare of $3(?).

Friday evening YVR.
19:45 & 20:45 C pier check points closed.
Very short waits at the B pier.

Wait times at YVR as alleged by CATSA are posted here: https://www.catsa-acsta.gc.ca/en/air...tional-airport

No mention of the Nexus/Priority line. It will be interesting to see how accurate they are.

I noticed that just in the time it took me to post this the times changed by 5-10 minutes, so hopefully it’s updated often.

What time exactly does CATSA stop letting green stickers go through priority security? I've always estimated, in my experience, it's around the time between the last transcon dayliners and the redeyes... so around 4:30/5:00pm PT.

Guess early AM's probably not bad most of the time? Or perhaps I got lucky.
C gate for priority / Nexus this AM took about 10 minutes @ 0645.