bromleygirl

Does anyone have any experience of flying into the US from London via Toronto? I have found a great fare on Air Canada but there is only just over 1hour between landing and getting on our connecting flight to Minneapolis.

Would I need to collect our luggage and clear customs at Toronto or would we be treated as though we were a connecting flight with no need to go through immigration and to actually clear immigration and customs in Minneapolis? I guess I'm wondering if we need to do it all in Toronto how long collecting our bags, going through immigration and getting our bags to the transfer desk would be?

If anyone help with my questions that would be very helpful.

Jerseygirl

Yes you will go through US Immigration at Pearson Airport. Before that I think you will have to clear Canadian immigration/customs.

ian-mstm

What if your flight is 15 minutes late? That gives you only 1/2 hour to clear US customs and immigration before boarding (they close flights 15 minutes prior to takeoff). Not enough time... not nearly enough time.

There are direct flights from LHR to MSP... I suggest you try one of them. The peace of mind is well worth the extra money. Otherwise, give yourself at least 3 hours between international flights.

Ian

Jerseygirl

Good point. I've read that you may have to change terminals too...which will add on more time.

md95065

I did a trip like this on Air Canada once a few years ago.

1 hour between flights isn't nearly enough time to be sure that you will get your connecting flight - in fact you are pretty much guaranteed to miss it unless your inbound flight arrives really early and the outbound flight departs late.

You will have to:

• collect your luggage
• clear Canadian customs and immigration
• transfer to another terminal
• clear US customs and immigration
• go through a security checkpoint

in order to make your connection

If there are other later flights to your final destination you might want to risk it - you could get lucky and just manage to make the connection, or else you will miss it and hopefully get rebooked on the next available flight. Note, however, that if you are on a really cheap ticket your priority for getting on the next flight may not be particularly high - in that case it helps to be a frequent flyer with *lots* of miles on the airline in question - that way they will at least be polite and apologetic when they tell you that there are no flights until the next day ...

bromleygirl

Thanks for all the replies everyone I've just checked back with Expedia and the special fare is now no longer available however, saying that based on the responses I think it just not would have been viable and we would have missed the connecting flight. Why do airlines offer these schedules which are unrealistic without factoring in the time to go through immigration, customs and change terminal and immigration again? I think we'll be taking the direct flight

ian-mstm

I'm guessing it's because their concern isn't the actual flight... but that they appear to offer inexpensive fares so that they can advertise as such. If no one can actually use the flight, it's a win-win situation for them.

Ian

RoadWarriorFromLP

According to this, some flights landing in Toronto at Terminal 1 don't have to clear Canadian customs when transiting to a US flight. Air Canada uses that terminal.

http://www.gtaa.com/en/travellers/ai...rline_listing/

As noted, though, you do have to clear US customs in Canada (not in the US).

If the both legs of the flight are part of the same ticket, then a delay at customs isn't your problem. If you miss the connection, the airline should get you onto another plane, so ultimately you will get to your destination.

Because computers make mistakes. The algorithms used to book fares based upon the lowest price are looking for empty planes to fill, and that fare was available because they were trying to fill one of those planes.

Flights between the US and Canada are in many respects treated by the airlines as domestic flights, and the customary minimum connection time for those is about one hour. The computer may not have accounted for the fact that while a US --> Canada flight clears customs at the end of the flight, a Canada --> US flight clears customs prior to departure.

ian-mstm

No, they don't. Although the programs they use (written by humans, I might add) sometimes don't take into account everything the program needs to deliver an accurate connection plan.

Ian

cindyabs

That is one of my pet peeves as a travel agent-on the one hand the airlines present these improbable schedules as "legal" connections, and on the other hand we have access to minimum connecting times for the same airports. I have been told in no uncertain terms by the airlines when I question this, that they wouldn't sell it if it weren't possible. Yeah, well 35 minutes to connect in Atlanta with luggage or kids in tow would surely not be my recommendation.

That also points out a pitfall of online booking-to an untutored traveler who is looking only at the price- period, it can be a real roblem. Some years ago when I was doing corporate travel for an international British company with a division office here, one of the VPs had a secretary who fancied herself a travel agent. I constantly had her going behind me and checking. :curse: The defining moment came when she came up with a fare two hundred dollars lower than I had for a trip for her boss to the UK. I looked at it, and then asked her if she had noticed the tiny detail, that he would have a 5 HOUR layover in Charlotte and did she think he would thank her for that.........

RoadWarriorFromLP

Well, thanks for that dose of pedantry. "Computer" was meant to be shorthand for "software developed by humans." But irrespective of the semantics, this point -- "If no one can actually use the flight, it's a win-win situation for them" -- was inaccurate.

The airline doesn't "win" anything from this arrangement. If anything, it inconveniences the staff who have to figure out how to get you to your destination, even though there was a plane that had already been assigned to you.

If you miss a tight connection, the airline will have to juggle things to put you onto its next available flight. The airline gets no benefit whatsoever by booking connections that cannot be made, only to have to devote more manpower to fixing it later.

The Horticulturalist

I was looking for flights yesterday to Atlanta in August, so not a cheap time to travel at all. BA flights have gone un in the last few days and are now over £600, the Air Canada flight via Toronto is still on Expedia for £396, and about £400 on the Air Canada site. They have nice new planes aswell which makes up for the detour

I would call them if you can't get the connection time you want, they might be able to help you.

Here is a helpful link about connecting via Toronto Pearson into the USA:

http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelin...yyz_ca_us.html

I think we are going to go with them as it's a whole lot cheaper than the other carriers at the moment.

Jerseygirl

Is the handling fee Expedia charge included in that price?

bromleygirl

I tried the Air Canada website and the fares are actually a lot more than what was advertised on Expedia. I think I'm just going to go direct as travelling with 2 children I just don't think that I can deal with trying to naviagte Toronto is such a short space of time.

Folinskyinla

Hi:

I did this once -- in 2000 for a trip from LA to Tel Aviv and back. The arrangement was through a consolidator who advertised in the Los Angeles Jewish Journal -- I was already using the internet to book travel, but this paper ad from a Travel Agency in Cincinatti was the way to go!

That said, my return flight had a 3 hour layover. It took me about 45 minutes to clear both Canadian and then US customs/immigration. Your bags will be off-loaded. It should be noted that at the time, we were not at a particularly busy time.

Do note that if you make a stop in the US, you will clear US immigration/customs at your FIRST US stop -- however, you MAY not have to take your bags through the terminal -- they are often rechecked right outside of the customs hall. [I say "may" because airlines and terminals differ].