Complaints about Customs
 

Just curious about everyone's complaints about CBSA (Customs/Immigration), specifically at Pearson T1.

Welcome to FT :)

I've never had any problems with CBSA at YYZ period.

Thanks. Considering the apparent demographic of FT, I think most people here know what to expect and understand the need for all the checks. The queues in primary are rarely a problem, unless you're unlucky enough to show up at a time when the airport Gods have allowed a number of delayed flights to disembark at the same time as several early flights. Even then, we try to clear everyone out ASAP.

Welcome to FT.

Many here are nexus users so they won't have any major complaints.

I can't recall ever having a problem with CBSA. They do their job. You can't really complain about that.

There are times I wish there were a few more of them just to speed through the process a little faster and spend less time in line, but one can't exactly fault the workers for lack of workers!

Sometimes they seem a touch surly, but I mostly fly AC so I'm kinda used the attitude. ;)

Out of curiosity CBSAguy, what kinds of complaints do you hear most?

I generally found Canadian custom officers spend more time with each passenger than many other countries, especially for returning residents. Even US pre-clearance is faster sometimes.

I love the Australian style, check your PP, stamp and go!:D

Not too many actually which is why I was curious. There is, of course, the odd angry person who's just had a bad day or bad trip and is angry about the line-up or about being sent into Immigration or Customs Secondary for further examination. Personally, I always try to calm him down before he leaves. I think about his family who I really don't want to take the brunt of his anger when he gets home.

The biggest problem there is with people who cannot complete their declaration cards properly. People miss the home address section. Other people forget to sign it. A lot of people cannot differentiate between the terms "resident" and "visitor" and end up filling out the wrong, or both sections, often with contradictory information. Another thing: if the answer to a question is "no" or "0", that has to be indicated. You know the list of yes/no questions (firearms, food, currency, etc.)? For some reason, many people fail to complete that, informing me that they didn't fill it in because the answers are all "no". And about 15-20 per cent of the passports I see are not signed. This may add 30 seconds to an examination, but multiply that by umpteen people, add in the travellers who do not speak English or French along with the parents travelling alone with their young children without a consent to travel letter, and you begin to understand why it sometimes seems to take forever. Don't take this as a complaint of my own, but rather an observation.

If I did not have the Canpass, and now the Nexus card, honestly, I would be driven to the edge. 75% of the time when I have been in primary, the procedure has been fair and at least "neutrally polite" (but never friendly), but the other 25% have been stories out of a police state, and is, in my mind, unacceptable. There are a number of your colleagues for whom the phrase "power corrupts" is completely applicable, I am sorry to say. Remembering that for every re-entry to my home and native land, there has been at least one entry to a foreign land, it is striking that I can not think of a single example where my entry to another country was difficult or met with rudeness, but have several very unpleasant stories to tell about my countrymen (and women) who are the first Canadians a visitor must face. To the OP: it is brave and refreshing to even hear you ask, and I hope that if your true values lean towards customer service, you will rise high in the ranks of one of our countries national embarassments and have a positive impact. GOOD LUCK!

There was a long list of complaints directed at the CBSA on the mileage run thread last year: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=722163 thought the majority of them took place at other places outside of YYZ T1. Perhaps the OP can shed some light on some of the complaints seen there.

It's YUL where the problem is, not YYZ.

Your co-workers need to learn about mileage runs.
If a person leaves the country for an overnight to Europe or where ever, that isn't automatic grounds for a trip to the back room.

Use the search feature here to find some past complaints from posters.

I do most of my border crossing at YVR, occasionally YYZ. I've never had a bad experience with either Cdn or US agents. Not even the guys with the dog who stand at the airplane door when we disembark from Asia. Or the four DHS guys who busted a passenger as we disembarked in ATL after preclearing in YYZ.

Now if someone could provide a rational explanation of why the CATSA people have to check your boarding pass four times in the space of 50 feet we might be getting somewhere.

To be fair, TSA does the same.