Toronto Airport - Experience Terminal 3 versus Terminal 1

[AlbertaCruisers]

We normally choose Westjet over AirCanada based on pre-pandemic experiences. For our flights last year, Aug, Oct and Dec (to Fort Lauderdale and the last to Tampa), relatively last minute for all of those flights Westjet changed our flights so we were flying the day of the cruise, which I don’t do (too much risk with the Edmonton connection), so for all 3 we ended up flying with Air Canada.  Everything was generally fine and I’m now less worried about booking Air Canada in the future.  We had delays, but we also just had that with Westjet (AirCanada flight delayed 3 hours waiting for people to load our bags and then our flight crew timed out. Westjet delayed over 2 hours because of flight crew issues).
 

I like the experience connecting through the Air Canada terminal in Toronto much better.  For the way down to Florida, there is a separate security area and customs area for connecting passengers so we were not in the huge lines that the people starting in Toronto airport were experiencing. Also, on the way home, US to Canada, the connecting passages go to a separate customs area and never leave the secured area, so you don’t do security again. The lines in the connecting area in that terminal weren’t that bad.  Even without Nexus, the connection time was not too bad. 
 

We just came back from the Celebrity Equinox in Fort Lauderdale on Westjet. On the way down, in the Westjet terminal on Saturday morning at 6 am, you leave the secured area and are out with all of the passengers. There is no separate connecting area. We had Nexus, so we were fine and everything went quickly, but the regular security and customs lines were huge. Without Nexus I would have been concerned with only a 2 hour connection.  On the way home on Friday night around 5:25 pm, there was a customs hold and only connecting passengers were able to leave the plane. I’m not sure how long the others were held on our plane.  There is no separate area for connecting passengers in this terminal, you go to the main customs area, through baggage (we did not have to pick up bags Westjet US to Canada but some flights do), then out, upstairs and through regular security. The first line to get into customs was one line, they didn’t care if you were Nexus or not. We waited in that line for about 40 minutes. You then go to the customs hall where the regular passport line was huge (I’m not sure how long that took, but it didn’t look good). There was no one at the Nexus machines so we were done and out of there in minutes. The regular security line was also huge but again Nexus was fast. Again, on Friday night without Nexus, US to Canada, I’m not sure that a 2 hour connection would have been enough time.  With Nexus the entire process took us right around 1 hour. 
 

[em-sk]

6 hours ago, AlbertaCruisers said:

We normally choose Westjet over AirCanada based on pre-pandemic experiences. For our flights last year, Aug, Oct and Dec (to Fort Lauderdale and the last to Tampa), relatively last minute for all of those flights Westjet changed our flights so we were flying the day of the cruise, which I don’t do (too much risk with the Edmonton connection), so for all 3 we ended up flying with Air Canada.  Everything was generally fine and I’m now less worried about booking Air Canada in the future.  We had delays, but we also just had that with Westjet (AirCanada flight delayed 3 hours waiting for people to load our bags and then our flight crew timed out. Westjet delayed over 2 hours because of flight crew issues).
 

I like the experience connecting through the Air Canada terminal in Toronto much better.  For the way down to Florida, there is a separate security area and customs area for connecting passengers so we were not in the huge lines that the people starting in Toronto airport were experiencing. Also, on the way home, US to Canada, the connecting passages go to a separate customs area and never leave the secured area, so you don’t do security again. The lines in the connecting area in that terminal weren’t that bad.  Even without Nexus, the connection time was not too bad. 
 

We just came back from the Celebrity Equinox in Fort Lauderdale on Westjet. On the way down, in the Westjet terminal on Saturday morning at 6 am, you leave the secured area and are out with all of the passengers. There is no separate connecting area. We had Nexus, so we were fine and everything went quickly, but the regular security and customs lines were huge. Without Nexus I would have been concerned with only a 2 hour connection.  On the way home on Friday night around 5:25 pm, there was a customs hold and only connecting passengers were able to leave the plane. I’m not sure how long the others were held on our plane.  There is no separate area for connecting passengers in this terminal, you go to the main customs area, through baggage (we did not have to pick up bags Westjet US to Canada but some flights do), then out, upstairs and through regular security. The first line to get into customs was one line, they didn’t care if you were Nexus or not. We waited in that line for about 40 minutes. You then go to the customs hall where the regular passport line was huge (I’m not sure how long that took, but it didn’t look good). There was no one at the Nexus machines so we were done and out of there in minutes. The regular security line was also huge but again Nexus was fast. Again, on Friday night without Nexus, US to Canada, I’m not sure that a 2 hour connection would have been enough time.  With Nexus the entire process took us right around 1 hour. 
 

 

It has been that way for several years.  Air Canada has a much bigger focus on international and in for the last 10 years or so they have been very focused on connecting passengers from the US to/from Europe.  End result is they have invested with the airport authority in making international connections in Terminal 1 as effective as easy as possible.  

 

WestJet has been more focused on growing their domestic market and have not pushed for the types of renovations that Terminal 3 would need to have to support that.

 

I find the service generally comparable between both.  Air Canada has the edge when it comes to international operations. 

[Fouremco]

7 hours ago, em-sk said:

Air Canada has the edge when it comes to international operations. 

For a Boston-Montreal cruise pre-pandemic, we decided to drive to Montreal, leave our car at the airport and fly to Boston. After the cruise, we'd taxi to the airport and drive home. West Jet didn't offer a single Montreal-Boston flight. Instead, we would have had to fly to Toronto and wait for a connecting flight there, a combined flight more than twice the distance and three times the duration. Air Canada offered several quick and easy direct flights.

[Froufie]

So glad to hear about the Air Canada 'experience' - I am already stressing about my flights this week - with a 3 hr connection - but both AC flights (Ottawa/Toronto/Orlando) - hoping things go well and we don't sit on the tarmac or have any other issues.  

 

My only backup is another/later flight to Orlando at 6 pm (assuming there are seats available should I have to do that instead of my 1:20 pm flight!)

 

Fingers and toes crossed! ...and hoping I can stop worrying and get some sleep tonight! 🙂

 

Edited May 9, 2022 by Froufie

[AlbertaCruisers]

12 minutes ago, Froufie said:

So glad to hear about the Air Canada 'experience' - I am already stressing about my flights this week - with a 3 hr connection - but both AC flights (Ottawa/Toronto/Orlando) - hoping things go well and we don't sit on the tarmac or have any other issues.  

 

My only backup is another/later flight to Orlando at 6 pm (assuming there are seats available should I have to do that instead of my 1:20 pm flight!)

 

Fingers and toes crossed! ...and hoping I can stop worrying and get some sleep tonight! 🙂

 

Just make sure you follow the connections signs. I think they are purple. In the Air Canada terminal it felt like we walked forever, but just keep following the signs!  Good luck!

[Froufie]

21 minutes ago, AlbertaCruisers said:

Just make sure you follow the connections signs. I think they are purple. In the Air Canada terminal it felt like we walked forever, but just keep following the signs!  Good luck!

thanks so much - yes I was checking out the Pearson website and did find out about the PURPLE connection signs - let's hope my arrival flight is not delayed and I have enough time for my short little legs to get me where I need to go!  LOL

[em-sk]

5 hours ago, Froufie said:

thanks so much - yes I was checking out the Pearson website and did find out about the PURPLE connection signs - let's hope my arrival flight is not delayed and I have enough time for my short little legs to get me where I need to go!  LOL

 

If you do start to run late just let the people running the line know.  Like most airport, they will move people to different lanes or the front if needed to ensure they make their connection.  

[Froufie]

Thanks - will definitely speak up if it looks bad enough! 😞

 

[dawnvip]

I make every effort to avoid YYZ, regardless of the carrier, whenever we can't get a direct flight (which is very common from Vancouver). Calgary = great, Montreal = no problem, Seattle, LA and Denver = sure!

 

[cmich068]

11 hours ago, dawnvip said:

I make every effort to avoid YYZ, regardless of the carrier, whenever we can't get a direct flight (which is very common from Vancouver). Calgary = great, Montreal = no problem, Seattle, LA and Denver = sure!

 

 

Yeah, I did the same when I lived in Ottawa. If I was going south I would intentionally fly the US carriers to have my connection stateside instead of YYZ. 

[Froufie]

last cruise in March we 'avoided' Pearson by going through Montreal - issues both ways despite a 3 hr connection time! 😞

 

[*Miss G*]

Depending upon the itinerary, I’ll use Billy Bishop over YYZ anytime.  YYZ is a nightmare. In every way.

[1kaper]

On 5/10/2022 at 2:00 AM, em-sk said:

 

If you do start to run late just let the people running the line know.  Like most airport, they will move people to different lanes or the front if needed to ensure they make their connection.  

When we travelled in September they would not do this for a man in our line. He was going to miss his flight and they would not accommodate him. 
We, as passengers, did let him and another person skip ahead of us. 

[Froufie]

4 hours ago, 1kaper said:

When we travelled in September they would not do this for a man in our line. He was going to miss his flight and they would not accommodate him. 
We, as passengers, did let him and another person skip ahead of us. 

Wow - that is so upsetting - wonder why they would not move him up - glad that 'citizens' were more helpful than the airport staff ! 

 

[dawnvip]

Heard today - the Minister of Transport blames "rusty travellers" on the airport delays. 

An insult to myself who has recently travelled, so I invited the Minister to contact me so I could explain how Airport Managent gave a public "talking to" the CATSA agent for not redirecting the 2+ hour line up of people to the other security gates...

[iancal]

On 5/12/2022 at 1:43 PM, Froufie said:

Wow - that is so upsetting - wonder why they would not move him up - glad that 'citizens' were more helpful than the airport staff ! 

 

We have seen exactly this happen to multiple people at London Heathrow during security alerts and backups.  Not pleasant to say the least.  

[em-sk]

On 5/12/2022 at 6:54 PM, dawnvip said:

Heard today - the Minister of Transport blames "rusty travellers" on the airport delays. 

An insult to myself who has recently travelled, so I invited the Minister to contact me so I could explain how Airport Managent gave a public "talking to" the CATSA agent for not redirecting the 2+ hour line up of people to the other security gates...

 

i think the real story is CATSA ended up laying off staff during the pandemic and discovered that many of them found other jobs and did not want to come back.  Employers did not show loyalty to their people, and their people did not show loyalty back.  Add on that these are position where you come in contact with hundreds of people in a day.

 

The other interesting one is both major airlines (Air Canada and WestJet) were forced to shut almost everything down and build a new schedule from the ground up.  That let them re-optimize the schedule for connections in the major hubs like Vancouver.  End result is they have more flights leaving in banks at the same time.  That means more people going through security at certain peek time of the day and it is less distributed through the day.   

[bookbabe]

Interesting CBC article about the Pearson delays...

 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-pearson-airport-wait-times-1.6450780

 

[Froufie]

Happy to report that my recent 'connection' in Toronto went very smoothly - I was losing sleep and stressing over this so much!

 

Got on a 9 am Air Canada flight from ottawa - arriving pearson at 10:05 (to connect to a 1:20 AC flight to Orlando) - off by plane by 10:15 - then the walk to the 'holding' room' to await the 'luggage transfer' and my name to appear on the board (this is where I was held up for over on hour in Montreal!!!).  

 

At around 10:40 my name appeared so off I scooted - to Security - seemed weird and empty to me - was very confused but happy.  Did the scanning of carryons and then off to the Customs Hall!

 

Found the Nexus machines did my scan got my piece of paper and off to line up - seriously there were only about 10 people on the 'Nexus' side of the Hall and only 2 custom booths open - and just as I got to the front of the line - sorry - but the agents have to have a short meeting - everyone has to just wait!

 

So we did - I was freaking out a bit - but they did return (and at that point there were maybe only a dozen or so people behind me).....and the agent finally 'motioned' to me - showed him the paper and my passport and off I went.

 

,....and there I was at the F Gates - at 11:15?  HUH?  approximately one hour since landing - with absolutely no issues - doing the happy dance all through the airport and found a place to lunch at 11:30 and sat myself down - was so so so happy  (but just to add that only lasted a few hours as once on the plane we had maintenance issues/jacksonville air traffic control space issues and at 2:30 had to DEPLANE!!  I was so freaked out and thinking I would miss my cruise!).  They told us they would make a general announcement shortly and at 3 pm announced a new gate and departure at 6 pm ( a lie) - but around 7 pm were finally took off, landing around 10:30 pm - getting to hotel very late at 11:30 - cranky and tired but still happy I would make it to the ship next morning!).

[xcell]

I live in Toronto and I worried about taking WJ to go down to Florida because, unlike Air Canada, they only have a few flights and if one was delayed or cancelled, I might have missed my cruise. Air Canada has many flights so better chance of getting down.  These are strange times...

[1kaper]

12 hours ago, Froufie said:

Happy to report that my recent 'connection' in Toronto went very smoothly - I was losing sleep and stressing over this so much!

 

Got on a 9 am Air Canada flight from ottawa - arriving pearson at 10:05 (to connect to a 1:20 AC flight to Orlando) - off by plane by 10:15 - then the walk to the 'holding' room' to await the 'luggage transfer' and my name to appear on the board (this is where I was held up for over on hour in Montreal!!!).  

 

At around 10:40 my name appeared so off I scooted - to Security - seemed weird and empty to me - was very confused but happy.  Did the scanning of carryons and then off to the Customs Hall!

 

Found the Nexus machines did my scan got my piece of paper and off to line up - seriously there were only about 10 people on the 'Nexus' side of the Hall and only 2 custom booths open - and just as I got to the front of the line - sorry - but the agents have to have a short meeting - everyone has to just wait!

 

So we did - I was freaking out a bit - but they did return (and at that point there were maybe only a dozen or so people behind me).....and the agent finally 'motioned' to me - showed him the paper and my passport and off I went.

 

,....and there I was at the F Gates - at 11:15?  HUH?  approximately one hour since landing - with absolutely no issues - doing the happy dance all through the airport and found a place to lunch at 11:30 and sat myself down - was so so so happy  (but just to add that only lasted a few hours as once on the plane we had maintenance issues/jacksonville air traffic control space issues and at 2:30 had to DEPLANE!!  I was so freaked out and thinking I would miss my cruise!).  They told us they would make a general announcement shortly and at 3 pm announced a new gate and departure at 6 pm ( a lie) - but around 7 pm were finally took off, landing around 10:30 pm - getting to hotel very late at 11:30 - cranky and tired but still happy I would make it to the ship next morning!).

 

 

I'm so glad it went well for you.  

[1kaper]

2 hours ago, xcell said:

I live in Toronto and I worried about taking WJ to go down to Florida because, unlike Air Canada, they only have a few flights and if one was delayed or cancelled, I might have missed my cruise. Air Canada has many flights so better chance of getting down.  These are strange times...

 

I always used to fly WJ.  I had a coworker tell me this was his concern with them as well and he always booked AC.  I never had an issue.  But now with the connection issue in Toronto I just wont book with them anymore. 
 

[Magicat]

Arrived last Thursday from LGA, waited on the plane for about 10 - 15 mins.  Took longer for the pilot to find a parking spot.  Once off the plane it was another 20-30 minutes or so to go through customs and outside.  Well up to where I had to take my random Covid test.

Leaving on Sunday morning, breezed through security.  Maybe we caught everything at just the right time.

[Froufie]

OMG - I forgot about the random covid testing - what a fluke I escaped it...

 

so when leaving customs (after nexus) you go to your right and there are TWO escalators taking you down to the luggage retrieval area.  - there is a 'barrier' between the two so you can pick one or the other 'line' to go down - I ended up on the right side escalator.

 

On the way down I noticed the right side escalator/the one I was on let you step off and you were off to find your luggage carrousel - but the left side escalator had these barriers/ropes up at the bottom, and forced you to turn the corner (around to the left of the escalator as you got off) and you couldn't just 'escape' to the luggage carrousels?

 

I thought that was so weird and was wondering why those people were forced into some other area - and when I got down I noticed all those people were now being herded into the random covid testing area!  So right side escalator - home free - left side - had to register and take a test (and yes there was one 'dissenter' and a few police officers holding him (her?) down on the floor while they ranted and raved about not wanting to take the test - most disturbing).

 

I guess that is how they are doing the 'random' testing now?  Or did I miss something?  LOL

 

[em-sk]

On 5/25/2022 at 3:39 AM, xcell said:

I live in Toronto and I worried about taking WJ to go down to Florida because, unlike Air Canada, they only have a few flights and if one was delayed or cancelled, I might have missed my cruise. Air Canada has many flights so better chance of getting down.  These are strange times...

 

Both airlines have similar number of flights into Florida. 

 

Air Canada has a partnership with United that also provides connecting options in the US.

 

WestJet also has a partnership with Delta that also provides connecting options in the US.

 

I don't think there is a substantial difference between the two.