As long as your NEXUS card shows Canadian or US citizenship, you can use it at the Air Canada check-in counter at SFO as well as at the NEXUS machines at YVR. You would then proceed to the domestic wing at YVR. At YVR, look for CATSA's Priority clearance line - they will accept your NEXUS card there too.

From today's (21 March 2013) Federal Budget:

Not sure if this is specific to land crossings on in general, but hopefully we'll see NEXUS terminals start popping up a little more throughout Canada.

It's all part of the Border Action Plan announced by the two governments a few years ago. So, in other words, status quo. They will keep chugging along. They did already integrate a bit of Nexus with the Global Entry system and they are allowing Nexus to go through security screening on a priority basis. So, that's all part of it.

But let's be honest for a second, they can implement as much as they want at the border, but if the NEXUS lane is only a few hundred metres long and the line up is a few kilometres, it doesn't really matter all that much until the very end.

I've actually had horrible luck getting NEXUS accepted at check-in in SFO (and only marginally better at YYZ), so I'll be sticking with my passport for that.

For the transfer at YVR, can I use NEXUS without leaving the secure area, as I make my way to a domestic connection? That's the only thing I'm unclear about.

Thanks

No. You can use Nexus to avoid the queues at CBSA, but you'll still have to clear security again prior to boarding your connecting flight.

For those waiting to get conditional approval the following is my processing time:

Applied on February 26
Conditional Approval on March 20 (22 days)
First open appointment at YYZ is mid-July (however, was able to reschedule to a March 26 appointment this morning)

At MCO, the AC desk wasn't having any of the NEXUS, and made me get my passport out, but when I offered both NEXUS and Passport to TSA, they took the NEXUS and left me holding the passport.

I think it's them, not us :p

I'm not sure I'm brave enough to leave my passport at home for an air connection. Nexus may indeed be valid, but in my experiments I've been asked to show a passport almost every time anyway.

Okay I think that answers my question, even though I still don't think I've been clear with exactly what I mean.

When I connected from a domestic flight to a transborder at YVR, there was no GE option for preclearing customs for connecting passengers, and I wasn't sure if going the other direction would have the same setup (a separate area for connecting passengers), or if I'd just get dumped out in the main area, and have to go through like a new passenger.

And the GE machines *were* functioning? Just a few hours before your post, they seemed to have caught whatever bug was infecting the Nexus machines. We were all re-directed to a human queue, with enough time for me to pull out and complete my trusty spare declaration form.

What airlines are you flying for each leg?

Quick question.

Does NEXUS offer any special benefits when flying domestically within Canada, such as priority security clearance, or usage of crew line, or anything like that?

Yes.

Nexus moves you to a shorter queue at the CATSA screening point, but you still have to do everything else the same as everyone else, e.g. removing shoes if flying to the USA etc.

There's no option like the TSA's Pre✓ whereby laptop stays in bag, shoes stay on etc.

AC for both. I guess I assumed that was obvious given that this is the AC forum :)