I’ve been debating to go to Toronto since Canada reopened to fully vaccinated Americans without quarantine. My wife is from Toronto so she has a lot of family there, including her mother and sister. Before the pandemic, we would visit every couple of months but we haven’t been in almost two years.
Natalie’s not comfortable traveling with our two little unvaccinated kids and one of the big reasons is that she doesn’t want us to be caught up in any long lines at the airport. FYI: All of us but our two-year-old have NEXUS, which would alleviate the long lines. When COVID hit, we were in the process of getting Olivia her NEXUS pass and she’s just waiting for an interview. Unfortunately, you can’t use the NEXUS lanes unless everyone in your party is an approved member.
I’ve been toying with the idea of going just for a night so I can help my mother-in-law with some household chores and take advantage of Air Canada’s elite status match (here’s more on that). However, I just got a new passport and when I went into my NEXUS account to update the passport number, it wouldn’t accept it because my last name is spelled with a space on one of my documents so I’m not even sure I can use the NEXUS lanes and it’s next to impossible to get it corrected remotely.
Then, I just saw a disturbing tweet this morning from Toronto’s Pearson Airport (YYZ), which is the reason for this post: “Afternoons and evenings are busy times for arrivals at Pearson. If you’re flying into the airport during these times, be aware that the process for international arrivals could take 1-3 hours due to additional COVID-19 health screenings. https://t.co/Nohsa5l2mP.”
Yikes! And if that wasn’t bad enough, Journey Woman tweeted: “If you’re flying to the US the lineup is enormous. I’ve never seen it so long. Come at least 3 hours ahead or you might miss your flight. International line is much faster!”
If you don’t have NEXUS, it looks like you could be in YYZ for hours on both ends of your trip so plan accordingly and travel on off-peak times and days whenever possible.
I flew from Toronto to New York ( La Guardia) 3 times in the last 2 months. Each time, my flight departed at 9 in the morning. Arriving 3 hours early was a definite necessity every time! I have never seen lines like that all going to the US. Do not dream of 6 feet distances! The wait time, at about 8 pm. upon arrivals in Toronto took 2 to 3 hours, as well. Arrivals from all over the world, not just US are accommodated in the same space at that time. The lineups test your nerves, but the actual “check out” with your arrive Can and negative test in hand, takes just 3 or 4 minutes.
Skirt: It’s not BS at all. We flew from ORD on Labor Day weekend to TO and upon arrival it was total chaos. It was impossible to find a line for the kiosks, as there were just so many people milling about. Then trying to find the line to clear Customs/Immigration was equally confusing and jammed. International arrivals (non US) were not allowed to deplane.
I just flew again from ord to yyz and it took me less then 10 min from the plain to the up express.
This article seems made to spread misinformation. The Nexus card is not something that is used only in Toronto or that is causing issues to travelers in Toronto. If you have problems with your Nexus card, you have problems in all Canada (which includes more cities than just Toronto) plus in the US. If you have problems with your Nexus card, sad to say, it’s your personal problem, I wouldn’t title an article “Toronto Pearson Airport Warning”.
About the waiting times, they are probably not even compable to the waiting times at most US international airports. Lines at the customs in the US have always been extremely long and I missed my flight a couple of times because of that (until I learned to keep at least 4 hours between flights if I need to go through US customs).
Yes you can bring family without a nexus card with you when going through security in the nexus line up, no you can’t use the nexus machines in the nexus line in customs unless everyone in your party has a nexus card.. long lines at one end or another if someone is missing a nexus card..
It is a complete b.s. I have been flying from Chicago to Toronto a lot lately, and never waited for more than 5 min. Just Google search for Pearson airport waiting times.