Connecting to US through Toronto?

ottawamom

The "Air Miles" Lady
Joined
Mar 9, 2005
Leave yourself plenty of time to make that connection.

Last week I had 2:50 hour as a connection gap when flying through Toronto. Lots of time you would think. Our flight from Ottawa was an hour late leaving. Then we had to go through US security. At the end of a long line which disappeared after we made it through (just bad timing). Then behind the same group of people to clear US customs. We made it to the gate with 20 minutes before boarding. Just enough time to grab a sandwich before our next flight.

There were a number of people who had to bring their short connection time to the attention of the workers. Some of them were ignored others were allowed to skip the line. One woman traveling with two younger children who was ignored might have missed her flight. A number of us just told her to butt into the line in the hopes that she might make it. I hope she did.

Ours was likely a worst case scenario. But they do happen. Not all airlines are great about putting you on the next flight if you miss your connection.
 
Yes,it does happen.Was there a sale flying with AC or westjet that you went via toronto,assuming you went to disney?I find it so much easier,faster and cheaper flying from ottawa,usually using United,and connecting in the U.S.Doing customs is a breeze in Ottawa and then it's hop off one plane and hop on the other.
 
When we connected through YYZ on our way to MCO last year, we had 1.5 hours, which I thought would be sufficient at 6am. Not at all the case. We were on time, went straight to security and customs and got to our gate to head to MCO part way through boarding. No time to stop and pee, no time to stop and grab a coffee. Our connection this time is 3.5 hours. I'm hoping that's more than enough.
 
Yes,it does happen.Was there a sale flying with AC or westjet that you went via toronto,assuming you went to disney?I find it so much easier,faster and cheaper flying from ottawa,usually using United,and connecting in the U.S.Doing customs is a breeze in Ottawa and then it's hop off one plane and hop on the other.

Not Orlando this time. Going through Toronto was our only option.
 


Wow! we have a 3 hour connection through Toronto from Ottawa to MCO this time and I figured it would be enough. it's actually 3 hour layover both ways through Toronto. fingers crossed!!!:flower1:
 
You should be good. Our flight was delayed an hour out of Ottawa to Toronto. Having the 3 hours means I didn't have to panic as others no doubt were doing. I just wasn't expecting to have to go through security a second time even though we never left the "secure zone"

I just wanted to give a heads up to fellow travelers.
 


I hate the Toronto airport and try to avoid it at all costs (especially for international flights). We did have a direct flight down to Orlando next month, but Air Canada apparently cancelled that so I chose to connect through Montreal and avoid Toronto.
 
Let me know how that goes. I'm looking to that as an alternative for non direct flights.
My family and I are heading to Orlando in March 2020 but due to cost and fear of what the weather could be like in Ottawa (which is where we normally fly from) and Toronto during March break we are flying from Syracuse.....
 
Good idea. I've flown from Syracuse many times. If the weather is looking ?? you can always go a day ahead and stay in a hotel.

I'm thinking for our next big trip to Orlando (8 people) we will be driving to Syracuse or Rochester and staying overnight and then flying out. It will be less expensive (even with the hotel and gas) than flying out of Ottawa.
 
FWIW, during the winter, we pretty much only fly direct and pretty much only fly from Syracuse, Ogdensburg or Plattsburgh. I believe most (all?) of these discount airlines don't actually leave the planes in the Northern climates so there's less issues with icing (i.e. Allegiant and Frontier fly Orlando to Syracuse or Ogdensburg, land, deplane, refuel, replane and then return to Orlando so it's not staying overnight in sub-freezing temperatures).
 
We had a terribly stressful time at YYZ September 9th, also connecting through YOW on our way to MCO. We had just under 2 hour layover, no checked baggage only carry on. Our original plan was to stop by Wendys and grab a bite to eat but I decided last minute it was too early (about 730am) for a burger and I was worried about upsetting my stomach (also we could get chic-fil-a at mco instead).

We went straight over through security which was a bit disorganized but didn't take too long, then we went into the customs pre-clearance; so the first line for using the machine and getting a ticket was about 10-15 minutes, not bad. Then we went into the second line to see an actual customs agent, things here were at a snails pace, only I think 4 of the wickets were open and at least one of those was reserved for the NEXUS lane. The machines were selecting people for "random additional screening" by printing an x on their ticket printout, they were to go to a separate line and came and gone far before we got halfway through the line. Behind us the line grew exponentially, there were't enough queue ropes so they had to start looping people around in the machine check area, looped around that area 5 times!!! Thank god we didn't stop for Wendy's because we would have been stuck in that; our boarding time came and we were maybe a little further than halfway through the line, the family infront of us who were on the same flight as us started freaking out and the father went to one of the ladies working the machines multiple times to see if something was going on, if they could get more customs agents, if they could somehow skip ahead since their flight was boarding but she said no to all of the above. Eventually we did make it to an agent and spent less than 30 seconds with him, we were only asked "business or pleasure". Ran to our gate along with that other family and others behind us, they ended up having to delay the flight for 40 minutes because of so many people being stuck in that line.

You would think that they would have the numbers of how many people are going to be coming through for flights around that time and staff accordingly. After a horrible experience at YYZ in June I really didn't want to connect through YYZ but the original flight I wanted connecting through DTW sold out in economy before I was able to buy tickets.

We have flown MCO - YOW direct before, does anyone know which days of the week WestJet or Air Canada travels direct? Oh, and I'm definitely going to try to get NEXUS for next time.
 
Depends on the time of the year. Air Canada used to fly year round on the weekend. I'm not sure if they have cut this back a bit. WestJet used to fly direct Mid-October - end of April. Unfortunately there is no easy way to look and see other than plugging in a bunch of dates. There used to be a function on each of the airlines websites but I can't seem to find it at the moment. I will keep digging and see if I can find it.

On a side note I hear Montreal is a little easier making connections.
 
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Now I'm getting nervous LOL. We have a 2 hour and 45 minutes layover connecting through Toronto. We are going to have a toddler and carseat in tow. Fingers crossed it goes smoothly. We did have a direct flights at one point but they change the time and it just didn't work out. Only one direct flight per week from Halifax in November
 
We have never had a stress free experience connecting through here. It’s terrible, but unfortunately our best option unless we want to land at 8:30, eating a whole day with travel.

The Toronto airport is the reason we signed up for Nexus! Hope it saves us next time.
 
We have flown MCO - YOW direct before, does anyone know which days of the week WestJet or Air Canada travels direct? Oh, and I'm definitely going to try to get NEXUS for next time.

Uggg, I hate Toronto airport SO much. Unfortunately even booking a direct flight from YOW doesn't guarantee it will stay that way. We had a direct flight early morning on Saturday, November 9, but unfortunately they cancelled the direct flight. We had to choose between connecting in Toronto or Montreal. I chose Montreal. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well lol.
 
Now I'm getting nervous LOL. We have a 2 hour and 45 minutes layover connecting through Toronto. We are going to have a toddler and carseat in tow. Fingers crossed it goes smoothly. We did have a direct flights at one point but they change the time and it just didn't work out. Only one direct flight per week from Halifax in November
That's the same length I had but our flight landed and hour late, so we ended up with 1:45 in Toronto. We took a bathroom break and had time enough to get a quick bite. You should be fine. In posting this I was hoping to warn people about trying to make a 1:30 connection through Toronto. So many things can go wrong (and do these dasys).
 
Uggg, I hate Toronto airport SO much. Unfortunately even booking a direct flight from YOW doesn't guarantee it will stay that way. We had a direct flight early morning on Saturday, November 9, but unfortunately they cancelled the direct flight. We had to choose between connecting in Toronto or Montreal. I chose Montreal. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well lol.
The MAX 8 plane situation is throwing all flight plans into a tizzy at the moment. It will be good when they are cleared to be put back into service. We may actually see some deals as the airlines will then have excess capacity they need to fill.
 
We have never had a stress free experience connecting through here. It’s terrible, but unfortunately our best option unless we want to land at 8:30, eating a whole day with travel.

The Toronto airport is the reason we signed up for Nexus! Hope it saves us next time.

We are still waiting for our Nexus applications to be reviewed (still says "pending review"). Can't wait.
 

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