CLE-LHR layover in Toronto question

Hi. I am doing a transatlantic in Oct. We are flying over a few days early to enjoy a few days in London. We decided flying all day instead of overnight will be a much better option for us.

After trying to find OW flights each way, we are not finding any deals at all. Princess air is offering the outbound flight that we have been watching and a good flight on the way home for 1/2 the price of just the OW we have been watching.

But here is my main question. We are looking at United flight operated by Air Canada from Cle to LHR on 10/22. We have a quick layover in Toronto, 1hr and 8 min. Will I need to go though any kind of customs or immigration? Will that be enough time to change planes that early in the morning.

Thank you for any help you can offer.

I am assuming you will be flying to LHR on AC868 which departs at 08:55 from Terminal 1. You will be arriving at Terminal 1 so the connection is doable but tight as long as the inbound flight is on-time. You will need to clear Canadian passport control before heading for the departure gate. Most US gates are in the same pier but separate from the international departures gates. Some of the US gates that are primarily used for places like CLE are in a smaller pier that was originally a temporary arrangement. I believe the walking distance is longer from those gates than if the "normal" gates are used. You will need to go one way from your arrival gate to get to Passport control and then all the way to the opposite end of the pier to the international departures gates. There are moving walkways to help you along plus there are also golf cart vehicles to assist those with mobility issues. All of that to say, if you end up with less than an hour between flights, don't walk slowly.

We are flying to LHR in August on AC868 and I have been watching if the flight is leaving on time, and it is. That flight has been pushing back very close to the scheduled time , every day. That is important since the scheduled arrival in LHR is 9PM, just 3 hrs before all of the trains to central London shut down for the night. A significant delay leaving YYZ could mean missing the last train and an expensive taxi ride. We are planning to use the Tube to get to our hotel.

Hope this helps.

When you arrive in Toronto there is a "Customs A" and "Customs B" area. I don't remember which is which. One is labelled as "International Connections". That is the one you want to go to. It is extremely quick and the line up is maybe one or two people. Since you are not staying in Canada they don't have much in the way of questions. The customs people will let you pass through directly into the international concourse. The checked bags are automatically transferred.

Thanks for your responses. It sounds like if everything goes as planned, we should be able to make that connection.

Thank you so much.