QBK

So, earlier this morning, I'm cooling my heels in the Maple Leaf Lounge at YUL, waiting for United Express to ORD. Boarding is at 11:30 (for a 12pm flight), so at 11:29 I head to the washroom, figuring I'll stroll down to the gate and board at 11:40 or so.

As I open the door to the washroom, the lounge guardian comes on the PA: "Are there any passengers here for United flight XXXX? You need to go to the gate right now; your flight is departing!"

"What the...?" I think to myself, as I'm running.

Onboard, the FA explains that the aircraft got in early. And if the flight crew is on the ground more than 90 minutes, they have to go through customs... so they decided to leave 15 minutes early instead. Somewhat to the surprise of the F pax in the lounge.

Anybody run into this before? I'm curious how often it happens.

aluminumdriver

That's correct. If we're planned to be on the ground less than 90 minutes, we don't clear customs. Why we try not to be too early that puts the 90 minutes in jeopardy.

AD

mre5765

Fascinating tid bit. Since I'm rarely at transborder terminal with a lounge (though the pay lounge at YYC is worth it if I get through CBP early) I've never hit this.
Dangerous. That puts you inside 20 minutes. If you aren't in the boarding area at 20 minutes you can lose your seat due to early departure, or because everyone in the boarding area gets boarded well before scheduled departure.

SFO777

Agree. Way too cavalier for me, especially since the MLL is a long walk to the regular UA YUL gates.

QBK

Good point (and good advice). I've tended to assume that I'm safe at 20 minutes, but -- as this experience demonstrated! -- that's not reliable. I'm thankful that they paged the lounge.

There's just something nice about not spending any time in the boarding area, though...

bagelstan

Seriously, the YUL UA gates and the MLL are at the exact opposite ends of the transborder terminal. And because of the way the "new" customs hall dumps into the space, the only people-mover in the entire space goes the wrong direction. Frustrating, to say the least.

rankourabu

All 6 of them

emcampbe

hmmm..., as a frequent traveller to Canada, I had no idea on the 90 minute part of the rule. I see you used the word "planned", just wondering exactly how that works. For example, if the aircraft is scheduled to land at 10:45, and depart at 12:00, but lands at 10:25 instead, that means either the crew has to go through customs, or leave 5 minutes early?

I think too, IIRC, that none of the crew can leave the aircraft during the layover, correct? So if one FA decides to wander off the plane, the entire crew need to clear customs.