Customs wait at YVR
 

My parents are flying into YVR from the US on Saturday afternoon, for a cruise leaving on Monday. When they called a restaurant to make reservations for Saturday night, they were told it could take them 4 hours to get through Customs.

Has anyone been through lately, and know if this is what they should expect?

Thanks.

All depends on what time their flight arrives but I doubt if it will take anywhere near 4 hours. Maybe 2 on a very bad day when there are lots of flights coming in from Asia but not during the evenings.

Thanks. I didn't think it could be that bad. They land at 3:30 in the afternoon, and were hoping to make a 7:30 dinner reservation.

Shouldn't take more than an hour, or 1 1/2 hours at that time. There are flights coming in from Europe at that time as well as various U.S. flights so that might slow then down. Despite how long it takes to clear immigration, they'd have to wait for their bags to come out anyway (can be lengthy depending on airline).

I flew into YVR on Sat. 8/16. My flight arrived at 5 p.m., I spent 25 min in line at Immigration, five min to get my bags and walk out through customs and was in the waiting area by 5:30 p.m.

However, when considering if you can make your dinner reservation, remember the weekend traffic on Granville into the city centre can be bad. I started using Cambie a few years ago and am much happier for it.

Worst times are between 11am - 2.30pm
 

Worst times to clear immigration at YVR are 11am -2.30pm, and around 8-9pm everyday. Worst are Thurs-Sun.

Best times to arrive are 5-7pm. Hardly anyone!

Who ever gave the suggestion that getting through customs can take 4hrs is definately out of his/her mind. Even during the YVR peak hours (10am-2pm), the maximum time it should take from Plane to greeting lobby is 1hr. The only time I can remember taking 4hrs to get through was 9/11 when a chunk of flights were diverted here.