B748i

I'm curious if there's any legal or other unforeseen limitation to this plan, other than additional time and expense:

Take a train from PDX to YVR. Taxi or something over to the airport. Fly to Asian destination. Reverse for the return trip.

Will this effectively avoid the TSA? I assume so, but they might be in YVR for all I know.

Is there any legal problem with this plan? Any other problem with this plan? Does Canada have their own TSA-like procedures?

Tanic

If you like TSA you'll love CATSA! They wear smarter looking uniforms than TSA, but aside from that, not much difference. YVR has MMW NoS too, so you'll feel right at home.

neko

Assuming that you can enter Canada legally, there is no problem with flying from Canada to a third country.

Flights from Canada to the US are under US control (US "pre-clearance").

For Canadian domestic and (non-US) international flights, the Canadians also use virtual strip search machines and intimate physical searches as in the US. Some people say their experience is that these searches are less frequent and/or less abusive in Canada; others disagree.

As far as flying to the US from outside the US or Canada, some countries have special areas or procedures from US-bound flights, others seem to do so only for US airlines' flights to the US.

You may want to consider driving to YVR rather than taking a train, since TSA also searches people traveling by train in the US, though currently consistently than airports. (Also Amtrak is not the most reliable...)

alanR

I'd take a ship somewhere then fly. The US has too much influence in Canadian international travel policy.

FriendlySkies

CATSA is not nearly as bad as the TSA, IMO. On my various trips to Canada within the past twelve months, they have never been using the Porn-O-Scope, even if the checkpoint was deserted.

B748i

hmmm. Thanks for the replies.

So if CATSA is TSA's little brother, I wonder what the remaining options are to fly transpac without being groped.

I have another idea.... drive to a little airport with no TSA and fly a route which has only airside TSA-less transfers... Possible?

I'm mostly concerned about the groping, the scoping is much less of a concern to me.

I have considered driving as well, but one-way car rentals can be quite expensive, yes? And, the driving itself might be quite a drag. However, the train could be many hours late from what I understand, enough that I might need to have a planned stay in Vancouver for a night or two between train arrival and plane departure to be safe. But with CATSA this may not be any advantage anyways.

Where could you take a ship to, to catch a flight to Asia?

And what's with the TSA on trains? They afraid somebody's gonna fly a train into a building next? Sigh.

Wally Bird

I have been using YVR for international flights for the past few years - it's no further for me than SEA. In all that time (c. 12 flights IIRC), I have never been patted down and was wanded just once, otherwise the security check was completely painless. Well, except for the line-up.

The MMW is usually not in use IME. CATSA staff are nowhere near as obnoxious as their TSA counterparts.

Getting from PDX is going to be a bit of a pain though. I'd probably drive to Bellingham Airport, park, and catch the direct coach to YVR from there.

Mabuk dan gila

Living in San Diego I have crossed over to Tijuana a few times and boarded the AM flight TIJ-NRT and connected from there to as far as CGK. No TSA, No groping. No strip search scanners. Bottled terror water IS allowed even though the route flies up over California where terrorists could presumably do whatever the nefarious thing is they do with bottled water.

Of course the times I did that I took the San Diego Trolley to the border but lately TSA has been sighted at San Diego Trolley stations violating commuters also.

FliesWay2Much

I would do a cost trade and decide your level of risk. The site in my signature line (TSAStatus.net) or the sticky here on FT are great resources. Actually, according to TSAStatus, PDX is a clean airport as of late May -- no Cancer Machines -- so, maybe we just answered your question. Even at PDX, you can't be certain you won't be selected for a frisking and/or a gate rape. But, it looks as if you'll be OK, and, flying from there will probably be the cheapest option.

CelticPax

There's always the risk of a gate grope at the airport where you transfer. If you could somehow get a flight that stopped to pick up more passengers at another airport, that would be about the only 100% safe way. Just because you're on the secure side, doesn't mean you're free.

TSA has also been on highways checking cars with backscatter vans on at least 2 occasions.

average_passenger

I love it!! Americans are moving their business to another country to avoid the TSA!! I've heard some bad stories about CATSA but the people that I know that frequently fly to Canada say that CATSA is much better when compared to the TSA.

@alanR - I am tempted to take a little boat to another country just to fly internationally. Heck, I'd sneak into Mexico to fly out of their airports!!

mre5765

Flights from Canada that cross US air space or might cross US air space are subject to TSA oversight. The airline will send your into to the TSA for pre-approval.

average_passenger

Maybe we should all take a boat to some South American country or just sneak into Mexico. Does the DHS care when Americans sneak out of the US?!!

Mimo

I've moved to Mexico and am happy to report that when I fly, I no longer feel like I have to wear a grope-defense super-coverage bra, go into a bathroom before security to empty my pockets and hide my wallet deep inside my carry-on, or prepare myself psychologically for being yelled at.

Mabuk dan gila

US FAA has oversite authority for sure and I'm sure CBP gets APIS information but AFIK simply overflying US airspace doesn't get TSA's grubby little mitts involved at any substantive level. Certainly the times I flew TIJ-NRT it was completely devoid of any TSA style shenanigans despite the fact that the flight path parallels the California coast from TIJ to just north of Los Angeles where it then gets in line with the rest of ex-LAX TPAC traffic, flying directly over California land up to at least to the Bay Area before going over water again. That's a 772 fully loaded with "feergn" looking passengers, mostly without US visas, heavily armed with bottled water and toiletries not sealed in anti-terror baggies and who's genitals have been neither visualized or groped. I'd think if TSA had any say in the matter they would put an end to that terror menace and since they haven't I'd say it's because TSA has no authority to tell Mexico what to do. I presume the FAA could take direction from the TSA and tell Mexico what to do on TSA's behalf, but apparently they haven't except for flights that are actually bound for US airports.