Vancouver Airport Questions -- Returning to USA from Alaska Cruise

[Ancon]

I know the CC Board has many expert Alaska Cruise travelers and we would greatly appreciate the wisdom of your experience traveling through the Vancouver Airport (YVR).   We will be a family of seven (with 2 grand children under the age of 10) flying non-stop from Vancouver to Boston on Air Canada.  Since we are flying out of YVR at 8:45 AM (the day after our disembarkation), it would be most helpful and less stressfull if we understood the YVR Customs/Immigration/Security process in advance.  The early morning departure means we will have to leave the hotel at 5 AM (via taxi) to get to the airport three hours prior to an international flight departure.  With small children in tow, you know the challenges that await us.

 

Sooooooo, our questions:  

 

1) Will we be able to check our luggage curbside (outside the main YVR terminal) or do we need to go inside to an Air Canada Check-in counter?

2) After we check-in with Air Canada, will there be a TSA Pre Check Line for security screening?  We all have KTN numbers.

3) What is the approximate wait time together through the security line?

4) Are there places to eat in the airport after going through security?

5) Will we go through US Customs/Immigration in Vancouver or after flying into Boston?  

6) Are there different lines for US Customs/Immigration, as only two (2) members of our group have Global Entry Cards?

 

Thank you all for any information/wisdom you can share.

 

Ancon

 

[martincath]

1) No - no curb check-in for US-bound flights. Due to prescreening logistics, YOU must drop your bags for US-bound flights (porters are around to physically move the bags for a cost if necessary). The distance to check-in from sidewalk is very short, especially if you tell the cabbie it's an Air Canada US-bound flight so he gets you to the closest set of doors.

2) No TSA in Canada! Folks with Global Entry then you can use the short security queue, but TSA Pre is as useful as a chocolate fireguard anywhere outside the US (but also see answer to Q6!)

3) From next to no time to an hour - but given you are arriving at 5:30am-ish, odds are high that even the 'regular Joe'

 security queue will be probably 10mins or less.

4) Yes - if you want to check which are in your part of the terminal you can see them all on YVRs website - just select US on the buttons, and each will list whether they are before or after security (there are also maps of the airport showing where checkin desk, security, preclearance etc. desks are located so you can be a bit familiar with directions & distances in advance)

5) Preclearance in Vancouver for flights at your time - so you will land like a Domestic flight, no need to go through customs or immigration as BOS.

6) Yes - but whoever is the parent/guardian of the children CANNOT take them through the short queues unless the child is also a GE holder (so if the 2 GE holders are the parents of the 2 kids, everyone will have to use 'Regular Joe' queues). Security will SOMETIMES let a couple or family into the short queue as long as they see one physical GE card (it's not guaranteed but you can ask, there's always a CATSA minion guarding the entrance to the short queue to you only waste a couple of seconds if they say No) - but at CBP every single individual, even infants, MUST have their own GE status so they can make use of the GE kiosks. Since everyone can use the regular kiosks the queue at CBP is rarely much of an issue these days - again I'd say you'd be waiting maybe 10mins at your early time of day.

 

Edit - I'd also suggest that you can slide your airport arrival back a little. Even a downtown hotel, the cab ride with be barely over 30mins at that time of day. 3 hours early is only needed when hordes of cruisers start clogging the lines - the earliest possible time they can arrive is 8am, so you will almost certainly find that being two hours early is an hour more than you need. With kids, waking them up too early then not getting breakfast until after security etc. is a recipe for crankiness - so I'd suggest aiming for a 6am pickup at the hotel, YVR arrival therefore ~6:30-6:40am; you'll still whiz through the queues and probably be sitting down to brekky by 7:30am.

 

Whoops - edit again! You will probably find this Passenger Guide very useful! Just choose on the dropdowns that you are Departing for the US on Air Canada, and it will walk you through all the steps in the right order.

Edited April 28, 2019 by martincath

[Ancon]

Perfect!

 

Thank you Martincath for taking the time and providing such a comprehensive response.  You answered everything and added valuable insights.

 

v/r

Ancon

[LF23]

This is really helpful, thank you!  It would be nice as a pinned post like the Trip Reports, as would @mapleleaves summary of Alaska info and links.