In Toronto, if you tried to go out, and re-enter, you'd have to clear customs first, and then make your way upstairs again (going through the NEXUS line and security checkpoints). In addition, there are several escalators or stairs to climb before you reach the upper level.

The US connection queues can be lengthy at the end of the Hammerhead F pier. Late afternoons are quite long, from what I've seen.

Perhaps the more experienced flyers can share their advice, too. I'd love to know too, if there are better ways to transit through YVR (I always have to run in order to catch domestic or transborder flights).

FYI...Pre-check would not have helped you on this trip, as it will only work on purely US domestic itineraries.

thanks for the help...

yeah I know pre-check wouldn't have helped me but it would have felt much better to zip through somewhere at least once ;)

From today's NYTimes:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/10/07...tml?ref=travel

The parent is discussing exiting and then going Canada -> US as if their trip originated in YVR. In his scenario they certainly don't have to clear customs first, as they've never left Canada:

FT Canada is a wealth of information, but one place it is a Gong Show of mis-information is around connecting through Canadian airports that aren't YYZ or YUL. The experts for a given airport live in the city in question so they've never connected through it, and the people who can explain about connecting never reply to the threads because they don't live in the city in question :)

TSA Pre✓™Expands to Canadian NEXUS Members
 

From TSA's website:-

http://www.tsa.gov/press/releases/20...-nexus-members

Before everyone gets too excited ....pre only works for domestic USA travel. I assume most on this AC board will be flying Can/Usa and vice versa... and it will not work for those flights....if they could change that part then i think they would really have something!

You will be seeing that change in the near future for Canadian travel. The agreement that provided for Canadians to participate in Pre, also provides for it to be extended to transborder flights.

Is this to happen at the same start date of nov 15?

Neither the AC site nor the AP profile page allow for this information to be provided at the moment. I presume that after Nov 15 one will be able to add the PASS ID info to reservations.

There has been no indication of AC becoming a PreCheck-participating carrier, so I doubt they will come on-line by 11/15.

I wouldn't presume. Currently, the participating carriers are only US, UA, DL, AA and Alaska. Don't think I'm missing any. So even those flying B6, Southwest, and other US carriers can't participate yet. Doubt this will happen until (and if) passengers traveling on transborder flights begin to be eligible to use pre-check. There's absolutely no point to AC being a participating carrier at the moment, as there are no AC flights carrying passengers who can use pre-check, currently.

I suspect this part, if it comes, will be later. I suspect if this was happening with the Nov. 15 change, it would have been referenced in the press release. I'll very likely be traveling from a pre-check airport to YVR the week after Nov. 15, so I'll certainly report if I get the magic three beeps.

I posted an April or May 2012 news release a few months back about Canada and the Netherlands announcing some reciprocity between CANPASS and Privium/Flux Alliance. Agreement was supposed to be signed in June and implemented in October (this month). I wrote to inquire and got this


Guess it'll meet the same fate as the 10-yeaars passport. :rolleyes:

I'm the person who has posted and crosses there all the time... sorry I didn't see this til now, I'd have suggested you return via Wolfe Island and the Horne's Ferry to Cape Vincent. Pretty and no long border lines because the Cape Vincent ferry is so small. :)

Good to know for next time I head up that way, but I ended up heading to Ottawa, which is a very photogenic city. I won't clutter up this thread with pictures, but here are links to a couple of my favorite views of the beautiful city:

[1] [2] [3]

I then ended up skipping Toronto and instead heading east to New Hampshire to enjoy a day among the fall colors in the White Mountains. That's one of the most beautiful places I've seen east of the Rocky Mountains, especially this time of year. 1,500 miles of driving in four days, but it was quite worth it. :)

Also, to keep this post at least slightly on-topic, here's a picture of the location of the NEXUS office as seen from the SkyDeck tower just after the border crossing. It's in the little strip mall-looking thing above the ski-chalet-looking building with the green triangular roof. Hopefully this helps someone else find it easier than I did...