I was today advised by a person who is in the know, that it is a really bad Idea currently, for anyone from the uk to fly via the US to Canada.

Apparently, they have been holding Brits for up to 6 hours on transit to Canada.

I was going to book for February via Newark, but I will now go via St John.

What do people think of the Air Canada planes?

I have always flown Air Canada and never had a problem. Last year I flew with them 5 times and everytime seemed better than before. I think you will hear good and bad reports about them but at the end of the day your flight does depend on the crew onboard that day.

Second best airline I've flown with after Icelandair.

Aye, need plenty of time for the lay over if u go via US, as you'll have to fill in the I-94 visa waiver etc, get printed and have a mug shot taken, as well as needing a machine readable passport, so it is a major hassle if you have to do it.

Yeah, I'm not looking forward to the next time I have to go to our offices in Chicago. When I went a couple of months ago I breezed through immigration coming on a small continental flight just like 1.4 hours from Toronto. So I landed at say 8am and was in the office for working at a reasonable time. However now I presume I'll probably have to fly the night before or something otherwise I'll not make it out of the airport in time to do anything usefull if I fly the same day.

Most probably, but then it does depend on the airport and the time that you fly, if it's the only flight at the time, then should be quick, but if there's like 4 flights landing at the sametime, forget it *l*

Surely you preclear in Toronto.

Shows you it was like 5am when I flew there. Yes the INS do their whole schmeil at Pearson and you just arrive in the airport there in Chicago and are in the departures area and don't go through again. So I guess it would depend how busy the INS preclear was at Pearson. Would suck to miss the flight because of a huge queue. Maybe it will require checking in earlier?

I traveled with Air Canada from Toronto to L.A, and I must say, I prefer the Czech Airlines (CSA).

Hi Liftman,

we flew with Air Canada in Feb this year, flight was good there and back, had bit of delay when we stopped at St. John's and didn't see the cabin crew for a long time ended up having to find one to get a coffee. But they were very good and friendly with our 4 year old son. Also we had lots of room as the plane was half empty.

Haha, the half-empty plane is good!!!

Would much rather go for more legroom with Air Canada than seat back TV's (and cramped legroom) of British Airways! Have always found AC very good customer service and on time and if you look hard enough, competitive rates too.

This is a good site as it checks lots of travel agents (but check to make sure you get the direct route)...
http://travel.mobissimo.com/travel/search_airfare.php

Do you think it is a bad idea for me to fly to the US for a week (I was going to see my girlfriend and would be landing in Washington D.C.) and then on to Canada from the US with my student visa to study in Canada?

6 hours? Sounds like a scare story. What were they doing with all the other nationalities?

Having said that, the need to clear US immigration (even if in transit) is a good reason not to transit the US if you can avoid it. If they're busy when you arrive you'll wait like everyone else, and you won't find any 'fast-track' for those with an urgent need to get another flight. I've experienced a 2 hour wait and a missed flight at Los Angeles, for example.

If you can pre-clear it's not so much of an issue. The reason for this is that departing passengers tend to arrive in a more even profile which keeps the queue down, compared to what happens when three 747s arrive at once. Even worse if the 747s are coming from the Middle East, India or Latin America where they will take ages to check each passenger.

There is no US preclearance in the UK. You'd have to fly out of Ireland, which has the only preclearance facilities in Europe (and I don't think you can fly to Newark from Ireland). There is pre-clearance at most major Canadian airports (you'd have to check - for your specific destination) for US bound flights.

Jeremy

Be wary of the girlfriend issue at US immigration, but that's another matter. In principle I can't see any reason why your idea is a bad one.