Toronto Pearson Airport Passenger Reviews and Toronto Airport Traveller Reports   No Star Ranking Awarded         Add your Toronto Airport Review   Toronto Airport Star Ranking

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Toronto Pearson Airport customer review :  6 August 2011 by E Lee (Canada)

Customer Rating :  1/5

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I don't expect a friendly service from airport staff but expect at the very least professionalism. Customs officers are rude. I have to go through this airport at least 4 times a year and you are met with very long lines. Not a positive first impression for those visiting Canada.

Toronto Pearson Airport customer review :  2 August 2011 by Don Romano (Canada)

Customer Rating :  1/5

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The US Customs at Toronto Pearson Airport is ridiculous. Too many travelers and too few US customs agents. Plan to wait up to 2 hrs. While you wait, you'll notice that most of the US Customs kiosks are empty. That's because the US government refuses to staff it properly. If the US refuses to staff their customs service properly, get rid of it and we can check through customs in the US like every other country. Save money and time. Enough is enough.

Toronto Pearson Airport customer review :  29 July 2011 by L Nasman (USA)

Customer Rating :  2/5

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Returning to Ohio through Toronto. Stood in line for US customers for over 2 hrs with hundreds of others, we were moved to different lines with little apparent organization. No toilet facilities easily available. Half of the customs stations were not occupied. After spending about 30 seconds with a customs official we were passed on to security. The security check was reasonable for these days. Made a long run to our gate where thankfully the plane was being held. All together a very unpleasant experience.

Toronto Pearson Airport customer review :  26 July 2011 by Monique Bosch (USA)

Customer Rating :  1/5

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Today at YYZ I waited in the customs line for over 1hr. It was out the door, snaking around the departures terminal. More than half the customs counters were closed. When I arrived at the customs officer he took my fingerprints, then said there was problem. The machine would not read my fingerprints. He gave a yellow card and told me to go to the secondary customs area. I waited for another hour and realized I was going to miss my flight. I complained until they finally agreed to review my case. The customs officer stamped my passport and I just made my flight. Had I not complained and refused to sit down I would have endured missing my flight and would have been forced through that customs line again. This is not the way passengers should be treated.

Toronto Pearson Airport customer review :  21 July 2011 by E Martinez (Spain)

Customer Rating :  3/5

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Avoid this airport if you are making a connection between a transatlantic flight and the US. We had a very long wait of 40 mins to collect our luggage, along with nearly another hour to get through customs and security. Several passengers had very short connection times and they were only called to jump the line when there was only about 25 mins left to catch their flights.

Toronto Pearson Airport customer review :  9 July 2011 by D Glass (USA)

Customer Rating :  1/5

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Our last trip was an Air Canada flight from Madrid-Boston with a connection through Toronto. Whole trip was great, with the exception of the connection through Toronto. The line at customs was as far as the eye could see. With so many people trying to make their connecting flight, there was pushing and shoving. When we finally made it through customs, picked up our bag just to move it across the room onto another belt, and got to our terminal, we noticed that the airport was clean and modern. Nevertheless, officials need to do a better job so to handle crowds safely!

Toronto Pearson Airport customer review :  29 June 2011 by A Rossiter (Canada)

Customer Rating :  1/5

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The signage is awful. The Continental rep admitted it was impossible to find the Continental check-in because of the signs. The parking garage is a nightmare. Write down your location because you won't find your way back without it. The exit signs are appalling - I drove around until I found someone who knew how to get out, and followed them.

Toronto Pearson Airport customer review :  19 May 2011 by G Waterer (Canada)

Customer Rating :  1/5

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Our family arrived last night into Pearson Airport - two of our party had wheelchairs ordered-we were advised to be the last off the plane. As it turned out, there were 11 people requiring assistance - only 1 wheelchair attendant came to transport 11 people - there were no golf type carts to be seen! Finally, my sister and I pushed my Mother and other sister while carrying our bags as the poor fellow could get no help the long way to customs. We saw many people just standing around - reading books and chatting. Finally we saw a cart - he had been told by his supervisor that he wasn't needed! For an airport the size and what should be high calibre of Toronto they do not have sufficient or organized handicapped transport. They were all unhelpful and very lazy.

Toronto Pearson Airport customer review :  28 February 2011 by Richard Millard (USA)

Customer Rating :  1/5

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Avoid this airport for transborder Canada - US connections on Air Canada. Rather than going through US customs at your point of departure, you will need to travel some distance to reclaim your baggage and take it through customs and security. This shouldn't be much trouble, but the facility is poorly designed. On my transit through YYZ, there were long lines at each step. Unclaimed bags were scattered all around the claim area. The Nexus line was closed until passengers complained, and then only one iris-reader was available! On top of this the US border staff offered a rude demeanour. It was a mess from start to finish, and once into the gate area, choices for places to eat are very meagre. I've avoided YYZ despite frequent transborder travel though I had wanted to think it had improved. Clearly it is still someplace to avoid. Take a US carrier and you will not have to transit YYZ.

Toronto Pearson Airport customer review :  30 January 2011 by L Lat (Canada)

Customer Rating :  5/5

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Toronto is my favourite airport to have a layover at. It was very easy to navigate, very modern, very clean, and it had numerous restaurants and shops to choose from. Everything went by very quickly. For a busy airport, it was very well managed.

Toronto Pearson Airport customer review :  4 January 2011 by B Scott (USA)

Customer Rating :  5/5

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Flew MUC-YYZ-ORD on AC on 1/2/11. It was a bit of a hike from our gate to luggage retrieval - although it would depend on arrival gate. Ours was about the longest walk, and still only about 10 minutes. Nice bright open airport. It was nice to walk to customs where you could see the rest of the airport. We had to go down stairs and it almost looked like we would enter Canada, but then a left (not that easy to notice) led to an escalator up to US baggage claim for connecting flights. This was a long wait (about 30 minutes) but then through a passport control line (not bad) and security. International flights connect in the same passport control room with people flying from Canada to US, but there are dedicated desks. The line (a maze) moved pretty fast, and so did security. For US passport control, there were few questions or hassles. After security, you go down to the part of the airport for US flights - decent selection of food options. If you can't fly nonstop home from US, would highly recommend connection in YYZ instead of other US east coast getaways.

Toronto Pearson Airport customer review :  26 November 2010 by Jack White   (Canada)

Customer Rating :  3/5

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On arrival, why are there no separate lines for Canadian citizens?. Such lines are the norm in just about every other country I have visited. The last time we arrived it took close to one hour to get to Immigration The officers spent a large amount of their time helping arriving foreign passengers fill out their landing cards.

Toronto Pearson Airport customer review :  31 October 2010 by Denis McKee   (Canada)

Customer Rating :  3/5

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As a Toronto resident I have very mixed feelings about Pearson airport. Last week I met my daughter returning from Iceland. At least 75% of the signs had some or all of the lighting out, including the lone washroom sign. Four of five Arrivals displays were on half power lighting. Her arrival to exit time was quite reasonable on a busy Friday evening. In March, we waited at the International arrivals for my daughter coming from New Zealand. Discovered belatedly that NZ flights with Air Canada are considered to be domestic arrivals because they go through customs in Vancouver, even though they remain on the same plane! Arriving passengers are expected to have Canadian coins for the baggage carts - an embarassing way to treat visitors. Food services are limited but priced the same as in the city. Parking is very expensive. Lots of limos (pricey), hotel shuttles, regional and city buses (inexpensive). A clean, reasonably well run terminal with little charm.

Toronto Pearson Airport customer review :  4 October 2010 by J Hart   (UK)

Customer Rating :  3/5

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Arrived from London Heathrow to T1. Not a lot of facilities upon arrival, just 3 identically small cafes and a gift shop. Needs to improve transport to city centre. However, clean and spacious.

Toronto Pearson Airport customer review :  23 August 2010 by B Diener   (Canada)

Customer Rating :  4/5

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Over the last couple of years YYZ has improved its facilities. It's spacious and efficient. The line ups at check-in and security are generally acceptable. However it's a pretty boring airport. Fortunately YYZ is currently my homebase but if you have a longer layover you could get bored. The public transport to/from YYZ requires some improvement in my opinion.

Toronto Pearson Airport customer review :  2 July 2010 by J Tung   (UK)

Customer Rating :  1/5

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Horrible service and confusing airport. Arrived from London Heathrow and was directed through 3 security checks, including one luggage check. Very rude airport staff and immigration officer and in case if you are transiting to other airport please allow extra time (2 hour minimum). Apart from that the airport (Terminal 1) was clean.

Toronto Pearson Airport customer review :  21 June 2010 by Janet Monk   (Sweden)

Customer Rating :  3/5

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Arriving tired fom Vancouver we were horrified to find that there was an inordinately long taxi queue and it took 30 minutes to get a taxi while an officious official was waving taxis away who wanted to pick us up! On leaving Toronto after several days in your lovely city we were held up for a very long time by inadequate security arrangements. What a bad impression we were left with!

Toronto Pearson Airport customer review :  24 May 2010 by F Mah   (Canada)

Customer Rating :  4/5

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I had to use terminal 3 on a recent trip. Arrived on westjet. Bags out in seconds. Check in area was clean and spacious. Security fast, and the gate area is fine. Return customs was fast, bags came quickly. Check in area was empty, strange for 5pm on a friday. Security was fine, and many food outlets in the domestic area again. Everyone says this terminal is dated, but compared to US airports, it's great!

Toronto Pearson Airport customer review :  27 March 2010 by R Baker   (Canada)

Customer Rating :  2/5

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Security confused and erratic as usual. Finally made my way towards gate 110 area only to find the news blaring out from the overhead TVs. Not only was this intrusive, the commentary was in French and thus unintelligible to the vast majority of passengers.

TORONTO AIRPORT customer review :  18 March 2010 by James Crichton   (UK)

Customer Rating :  3/5

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Used Terminal 3 and found it to be a typical North American Airport, not much to do landside and nothing airside. WiFi costs $10 and not really worth it. On arrival immigration was fairly quick and efficient. Baggage handling was okay inbound, outbound loading delayed the flight. Check in with Thomas Cook nothing short of Abysmal, long lines and untrained staff, never even had the usual security questions asked.

TORONTO AIRPORT customer review :  9 March 2010 by Maureen Russell   (UK)

Customer Rating :  2/5

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Arrived at Terminal 3 to find that my husband and I had to queue for over 1 hour to get our luggage! Our passports were checked no less than 3 times - getting off the plane, customs and immigration counter even though we not immigrating. Told it was a privilege to enter Canada on arrival. We were treated impolitely - not one thank you or welcome, directed by a finger, shunted to immigration control for questioning (for those studying, working or staying 6 months +). We were just visiting for 18 days. Will not be returning for another "privilege" to Canada after the interrogation process.

TORONTO AIRPORT customer review :  19 February 2010 by Rowen Baker   (Canada)

Customer Rating :  2/5

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Departed Terminal 3 on 14 Feb. Check in poor - 40 minutes to get to the desk with Thomas Cook. Security fairly quick, but not very reassuring. Went to International Departure area. One crowded, dirty, scruffy bar / restaurant with ear splittingly loud "music". For a City which prides itself on it's image, this area is a disgrace.

TORONTO AIRPORT customer review :  29 November 2009 by G Ma   (Canada)

Customer Rating :  3/5

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The airport (T1) was new and clean. The check-in lines did not take a long time. However, the walks from the point you enter the airport until you get to your flight is extremely far. Which, for seniors, it is not that pleasant. The waiting areas where kept clean. However, you must pay for wifi which I found quite shocking. Overall, I would rate the airport 3 stars.

TORONTO AIRPORT review :  17 November 2009 by I Maciver   (Canada/USA)

Customer Rating :  4/5

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Toronto has matured significantly with the demolition of two older terminals and the Term 1 more or less fully on line. Though the old names remain Term 1 and 3. Reasonable shuttle between Terms. But indeed depending on arrival gate you can have a long walk (some moving sidewalks) - benefit being most times your bags are on the carousel when you get there. Food is good. Go to Tim Hortons if only a coffee, donut, soup or sandwich will suffice. Prices are close to outside the airport. Lots of hotels adjacent to airport. Bus service, taxi and Limo to get downtime. This is the weak link- no train, subway nor LRT- (express service) - solution keeps being a govt promises. There is now a cell phone lot. Customs hall is large - and signage (ie 'EXIT') could improve significantly. Drug/Contraband dogs are used - particularly for flights from Jamaica . Departing is easy other than during peak times (use e-ticket and carry-on to speed up). Security is very good - 'greeter' gives preliminary warning and plastic bags so you can be through in minutes.

TORONTO AIRPORT review :  8 November 2009 by D Gill   (UK)

Customer Rating :  5/5

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Immigration arriving in the country from New York was fine. The queue moved and we had a jolly young man who made us feel at ease. While leaving for New York, we went through an American run immigration sector and that felt very much like American immigration (rude staff, long, slow queues, etc). It's only an issue if you fly to America otherwise you get the good Canadian run immigration. There weren't many places to eat but everything is signposted and clean and I enjoy going to Toronto airport.

TORONTO AIRPORT review :  22 October 2009 by P Iosad   (Norway)

Customer Rating :  3/5

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AMS-YYZ-AMS using T3. Extremely long walking distances on arrival through empty corridors. Border guards meet you halfway but the check is only selective (I saw them checking people's passports and got mine out but was just waved through). Immigration officer was polite but extremely thorough, wanted to know everything including why I live in Norway as a Russian citizen. Needing a visa to essentially everywhere makes one used to dealing with immigration, but frankly this was the most thorough interrogation I've ever had. The whole immigration/customs thing is strangely organized (you fill in a card that the immigration officer checks and then you give it to the customs people). Didn't have any luggage so can't comment. Nothing special on arrival (pretty much a cramped room with a convenience shop), and no ATM would take my card (also brushed away rather rudely by the person in the currency exchange booth who barked they only dealt with cash - well why do they have a PIN pad sticking out then??), so had to the take the bus which you can pay for with the card. Departure was smooth, printed out my boarding pass (on a computer with a really slow printer attached, not a proper terminal) and into security which was reasonably fast but slightly chaotic (one officer instructed me to take metal objects off and then another told me to have my "stuff" on me). Once inside, clean and tidy but nothing much of interest, a few bland shops and sandwich/pizza places (again had problems with my card!). Boarding OK, but they could do with a screen that is higher up or a better microphone: boarding is by row but everyone was trying to get closer to hear what they were saying, so it was quite a scrum. Overall an OK airport, not your OSL or AMS, but not worse than many big European airports.

TORONTO AIRPORT review :  14 October 2009 by D Liane   (Germany)

Customer Rating :  1/5

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I am German and I came to Toronto from Mexico. I had my ticket back to Mexico and also the one from Mexico back to Germany. When I arrived in Toronto I had to pass Migration and the guy from Migration asked me a lot of questions like why am I coming from Mexico and what am I doing back home in Germany for work - I was never asked so many questions in no other country I travelled to (and I travelled a lot). But he was very nice and finally let me pass. When I came to customs there were only two officers working because it was already 12am. I had to go with that lady officer and she started to ask me the same questions like the migration officer. She wanted to see all my tickets and why I am visiting Canada and then she started interrogating me - I felt like a suspect. After 1 hour of questions she did her job - like she is supposed to do. Checking my bags. Since she didn`t find anything because there was nothing to find she let me leave. She was just on a power trip - that`s all. This lady was a nightmare. I would like to complain officially about her. So if anybody can tell me where I can file the complaint please let me know.

TORONTO AIRPORT review :  6 October 2009 by B Mitchell   (Canada)

Customer Rating :  4/5

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Our departure to Paris Charles De Gaulle airport was on Air Canada at gate 175 one elevator/escalator level below the Maple Leaf Lounge. One of us had some mobility problems and they were good enough to provide us with a golf cart to take us to the gate area and we were OK from there. The assisted check in area was a dream compared to the regular line up queues. I noticed that the wheelchairs were larger than the normal 16 inch width and readily available without charge. CDG was a horror story in comparison - arrivals had to walk uphill for part of a very long distance to baggage/customs with no moving walkways, from Air Canada's area of CDG Terminal 2 (section 2A).

TORONTO AIRPORT review : 22 September 2009 by P Smith   (Canada)

Customer Rating :  4/5

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Pearson is a very good airport that is well designed, clean and bright. Terminal 1 is the highlight with Terminal 3 slightly older but adequate. Security clearance is generally quick and the are motorized walkways to help with the distances. Only negatives are baggage delivery time (which is embarrassingly slow), shop selection (OK, but not great), and the fact that the express walkways in the International wing have never worked (you see technicians there all the time).

TORONTO AIRPORT review : 15 September 2009 by R Humphreys   (Canada)

Customer Rating :  4/5

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Over the years I have used this airport more times than I care to remember. For the most part I have no complaints, except for one thing, baggage delivery upon arrival. Whether it is terminal 1 or terminal 3 that you arrive at, or on a domestic or international flight, you will find yourself waiting at the baggage carousel for at least 30 minutes, if not an hour to get your checked bags. Delivery often takes the form of a few bags followed by a long pause, then a few more, and so on. This airport really needs to hire more workers to perform this function.

TORONTO AIRPORT review :  9 August 2009 by R Waterman   (USA)

Customer Rating :  1/5

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I was going through to Rochester, NY and had 3 hours to make the connection. I needed all of it. Plan on very long walks and shuttle bus rides. Clearing Canadian customs and immigration took 2 hours. I couldn't find my bags. They had taken them off the carousel and piled them up two carousels over. No baggage check when I picked it up. Grimy, ugly, inefficient, poor signage.

TORONTO AIRPORT review : 22 July 2009 : by G McGowan

Customer Rating : 3/5

T1. Huge new terminal for Air Canada and Star Alliance partners. Long walk when coming from US, clearing customs, rechecking baggage, clearing security and getting to connecting gate. I must give credit to airport security though as they could see my daughter and I were running to make our flight so they directed us to the shortest line. When transiting back to US, excellent signage to US connections except connection baggage claim could have been better marked. Also only 1 overpriced sit-down restaurant in the US flights section so eat before pre-clearing US customs.

TORONTO AIRPORT review : 8 June 2009 : by Alex Buenafe

Customer Rating : 3/5

Huge, brand new, very clean but very long walks. The security check to get to the international gate going to Europe had only two screening machines at that time. The queue and the wait (as we have to take practically everything off) was stressful. The departure lounge had nothing special about it, just expensive food, expensive bars, just plain bland. The best thing I like about YYZ is when I pick up my bags at the carousel, through customs, and out the terminal.

TORONTO AIRPORT review : 21 May 2009 : by A Annaport

Customer Rating : 2/5

It looks impressive from the outside, but inside it's a disaster (this goes for Terminal 1 and 3). It is a badly planned airport. Depending on where you're going, getting from the security check-in to your gate can take a really long time - endless, bland corridors that eventually take you to a gate area. It's the same if you're arriving from a flight - the walk to the baggage area can be really long. Inside, the staff tend to be surly or rude (with a couple of notable exceptions), and I really can't blame them, as the atmosphere of the airport would annoy me if I had to work there every day - it's loud, cavernous, and has bad air quality. Security check-in takes a long time. The services are okay, but again it depends where you are going - some of the gates to international destinations have next to no decent shops or restaurants - it can be an extremely tedious airport to wait in, which is not the case with many other major international airports. Baggage waits can be very, very long. Finally, this is the only major international airport I've ever been in that does not have basic shower services for passengers who are in transit. I believe you can access showers if you are a Maple Leaf Lounge member, but for everyone else there aren't pay-for-use showers, which is a huge oversight (and typical of the bad planning inherent in this airport). Then again, I suspect that if there were showers in this airport, they would be a disaster as well, so maybe it's a good thing there aren't any (the regular bathrooms can be pretty disgusting). The only good thing about this airport is that sometimes they have interesting art displays, which helps to pass the time.

TORONTO AIRPORT review : 23 April 2009 : by Tom Kingsway

Customer Rating : 2/5

Terminal 1. Beautiful design, but brutally inefficient! From customs line-ups (both inbound and outbound), to baggage, this is one of the most frustrating airports to go through. The layout is perfect, but it is so clearly mismanaged. A majority of my flights coming inbound had issues with waiting 15-30 minutes for ground staff to connect the jet-way to the plane. Luggage is another issue. It takes them so long to process, often 45-60 minutes waiting (even after clearing customs). Which leads me to another issue - customs organization. There are no designated lines for priority staff/passengers, there are never enough staff at peak hours, and when arriving into Toronto, there are no lines dedicated to certain passports ie: Canadian/EU/International/US/etc. At least the place is clean.

TORONTO AIRPORT review : 11 March 2009 : by P Herman

Customer Rating : 2/5

Have used Terminal 3 several times over the years. Beyond the spacious and airy Grand Hall where check in counters are located, the terminal is pathetic. The international pier (Pier C) has all the charm of a bus terminal, the food on offer is inadequate (pizzas, unappealing sandwiches) and yet incredibly expensive (I paid $13 CDN for a salad and small pastry). The sit-down-with-a-menu outlets are always very crowded at peak times. Toronto temperatures had reached 15 degrees one day but they obviously had the heaters on because it felt about 35 going through security and in the Duty Free area. The entire terminal should be relegated to low-cost airlines only. I had the pleasure of walking through the grand hall of the new Terminal 1. Impressive architecture, but I can only imagine the splendour ends after security there as well.