Former Lancastrian

So obviously Covid is over or is it?
Now my twisted sense of humour dictates that I am laughing at the scenes at Pearson airport. Who could not have foreseen this happening as well as the line up's at Passport and Service Canada offices.
Thankfully I am not travelling out of the country anytime soon and my passport still has 2 years left on it.
Imagine a traveller from the UK having to deal with Heathrow then a 7 hour plus flight then arriving at Pearson and if unlucky then spending another 3 hours on the tarmac before allowed off and then off to see CBSA.
Absolute madness I expect.

bats

Oh don't. We were talking about this the other day as we have to travel south in July. We were discussing whether it would be better to fly from the Islands and have a stopover or to hope Pearson has improved by then. It's a shitty airport at the best of times and last time they sent us off to another line with our dog and we had to wait ages there with the barking pet dogs until a CBSA officer came over and checked our paperwork and sent us on our way. Pretty sure we werent meant to be in that line up with a service dog.

dbd33

Why wouldn't you fly from Buffalo? Stay overnight at the Holiday Inn and they'll park your car for a week. The whole deal is cheaper and less hassle than YYZ and you can go for wings

bats

We've done Buffalo before and it was fine but there aren't any direct flights, We are considering flying from Syracuse but it's Frontier Airlines which makes me think it will be staffed by people in fringed jackets wearing stetsons,

PS I don't eat wings, all that skin and gristle, yuck

dbd33

I've survived Frontier, last flight the announcer was a scouse, but Syracuse is hard to get to and scary when you're there. I suppose the local delicacy might be more palatable than wings, skunk or raccoon, or similar.

If one choice was Syracuse, I'd look at Detroit, cheap parking, lots of flights, soul food or Mexican before the flight.

bats

That's 5 and a half hours from us non stop and we don't do non stop driving anymore. Or road trips, agh, what a misery, The choice seems to be Pearson and hope that they change whatever it is that's causing chaos. So that's pretty doubtful. We fly Porter with a stopover, or we drive. driving is boring but the border crossing is easier and better for the dog but not particularly kind on the humans.

dbd33

That's one of those "faint hope" things, isn't it? Like detained at her majesty's pleasure.

Former Lancastrian

Well unless given a whole life sentence order most detained at her majesty's pleasure have a release date. One could argue that the security line up's also have a release date but no guarantee the plane you are waiting to catch will still be on the ground once released.
I wonder what the % of people are who do the following
Oh great I am vaccinated so I can fly again. Wow that looks a good deal $1200 one week all inclusive leaving in 3 weeks I am booking it. What do you mean it is taking so long to renew a passport I need it now and don't be criticizing the fact that I never bothered to check my passport validity before booking.

Yes eventually it should get better just don't ask when.

dbd33

I have only used the Toronto airport since 1981. Every time I've been there it's been organized as if it's the very first day of operation. It may have been better before 1981 and it may be better one day but then Lord Lucan may ride by on Shergar.

It used to bother me, it got me down that it was quicker to drive to Chicago than to queue at the airport, but I've grown to accept chaos there as being charming in a way. They could contract out the management to the BAA or one of the American airport authorities and have it all run smoothly but those plucky Indians just keep plugging away hoping that somehow, someday, there will be a happy passenger. Robert the Bruce, spider, that sort of thing.

bats

We've decided to drive down. It's the best way really we've done it a few times but a few years ago.

OrangeMango

I was actually recently in London LHR and security as well as immigration was a real breeze. British, Canadian, US, Australian and Singapore citizens can also use the automatic gates, whilst EU citizens have to queue for a bit linger, but it's nothing compared to Pearson.

I've read about this chaos at YYZ Pearson airport. Long queues for those departing and long wait times, at immigration for those arriving, plus sitting on the tarmac for many hours prior to arriving.
I think lawmakers haven't understood that passengers should spend the minimum amount of time at airports to avoid any Covid infection. Immigration and the CBSA is probably totally understaffed, to deal with checking vaccination certificates.

Is this only Pearson airport or all other airports as well?

Would it be a credible choice to fly from Billy Bishop to the US and then onwards to Europe and vice versa? I've tried looking at flights where I can connect from Europe, coming into Toronto Billy Bishop using Porter airlines? However it doesn't seem to be possible to book on a single trip?

Any ideas on this?

Gozit

Best is to fly into BUF/DTW and drive to Toronto if you want to avoid YYZ.

Or, fly into YUL (Montreal) and take a domestic flight to YYZ.

I am flying back to YYZ on Saturday and am debating booking a dummy connecting flight to get me off the plane faster in the event of a delay.

OrangeMango

I did that once, KLM to Montreal and Westjet to Toronto, arrived at the domestic terminal, everything was "a breeze". This was a couple of months before the pandemic.

So the domestic terminal at YYZ is not affected by these issues at all?

Gozit

One would assume not as the current backlog due to all the persistent covid checks and resurgence in demand is for international travel, not domestic. There is no customs check, arrivecan, or anything on arrival from a domestic flight, that would all be done in YUL.

OrangeMango

Yes, that would make sense. And in YUL and the other international airports they don't have that problem at all? like keeping planes for hours on the tarmac? or endless queues at immigration? It's really only YYZ?