Montréal Airport

✅ Verified Review | Third rate. Absolute chaos! We joined an ever-expanding snake of people to get to security: this took 2 hours and is unacceptable. It was a holiday weekend but why were so many passengers scheduled at the same time? I will try my very best to avoid this place and would advise others to do the same.

❎ Unverified | We arrived from an overseas flight and everything was surprisingly fast and easy - no lineup at all at the passport control with the automatic passport control kiosks, very efficient customs duty service. It took less than half an hour to get out and that's only because we had to wait a little bit for our bags. There was a bit of an issue with renting a car but we didn't have a reservation so it took some time to find an available rental. Overall, very happy with the arrival process at this airport.

✅ Verified Review | This is the third time I have experienced a new pathway for connecting flights from NY La Guardia, to Halifax at Montreal Airport. Connecting passengers are diverted to a separate customs area, and once complete in there, arrive automatically in the connecting gate area, without having to go thru security again or pick up luggage! I understand this is only for Air Canada flights, but what a difference it makes. Because delays are usual these days, connections are often tight and line-ups at customs and security can be daunting with tight time frames. This has made such a difference! It is finally a truly customer-centred response. Yay for Air Canada in instituting this. It also means I do not have to discard my water bottle and buy another one after security. Question: can you please institute this thru Toronto, too? And also going in the other direction - Halifax- Montreal - La Guardia. Going in that direction to the US, I go thru security in Halifax, and when I go thru customs in Montreal, I have to go thru security again to get to the gates to US. Please do more of this kind of thing that helps customers!

❎ Unverified | After travelling numerous times through Canada including Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, Halifax and St. Johns, I found the Montreal airport to be shockingly outdated and unorganized. It should be embarassing that Halifax has a nicer more efficient airport given the fact that the city is 1 tenth the size of Montreal. The signage was so poor that you literally have to walk around in circles looking for your gate. The walls are plain and white. Although the airports of Halifax and Ottawa are smaller, they are at least aesthetically pleasing and have affordable options for food. Paid $39 in Montreal for a pint of beer and a poutine, ridiculous. If you have to choose a place for a connection in Canada, go with Toronto which has a ton of shops and restaurants and is actually nice. Montreal airport is an embarrassment knowing that it may be some people's first impression of Canada.

✅ Verified Review | One of the worst airports in the developed world. There was a two-mile long line to get into the airport with no reserved lane for taxis (the cab driver told that it was always like that). There was a 40 minute waiting time for clearing security (even if I went through priority lane, just to find it took some time because it was poorly indicated). The terminal was overcrowded with very little seating. Air conditioning was almost absent. Third rate shopping and eating/drinking. No Wifi. A miserable experience.

✅ Verified Review | Arrived into Montréal Airport at 15h from Barcelona and was in a long line of over 1000 people waiting 40 minutes to get through passport check by 5 agents. Arrived at the baggage carousel and it took 70 minutes from the plane's arrival to receive my bag. Why? The carousel was full, very few people were picking up their bags from the carousel from the 4 flights listed, and the system was only letting new bags trickle on, as people picked up their bags to create clear space. Nobody from the airport to fix the situation. Some passengers took matters into their own hands and started to arrange bags on the carrousel to make more room for new bags. It's embarrassing being a Montreal resident with a welcome to visitors like this! I'd like to understand why this is allowed to happen and what is being done to improve things?

Arrived on schedule on BA 95 from London. It is a longish walk from the gate to the immigration and cleared the immigration using the NEXUS machines, all fine to this point. But then we all had to wait for well over 2 hours for the luggage to arrive. Several announcements were made for the bags to arrive in the next 15-20 minutes, did not happen. This is not the first time the bag handling has gone so wrong. This is my home airport and I travel quite a bit - very disappointed.

✅ Verified Review | I passed through this Airport (Dorval) 12 times in 2016, 8 times in 2015 and 10 times in 2014. 50% of the time I missed my connections as the stupid layout of this airport forces you to go through security again after arrival from an international flight. The security personnel from CATSA in Montreal is tedious and very slow and must be trained to be extra unfriendly. I never experienced such incompetence and unfriendliness and I travel a lot.

✅ Verified Review | London to Montreal with Air Canada. The flight was great, staff helpful, everything on time. However my nightmare started when I arrived at Montreal airport. Hundreds, possibly over a thousand, travellers were disgorged from planes from everywhere, arriving at the same time. We were in a kind of holding pen at the top of the steps, before being directed down the steps to form the endless cattle queue for immigration. There were pregnant women, families with small children, yet there was no order to allow these more vulnerable people to go to the front of the queue. I waited for 2.5 hours before getting through Immigration, and by that time the luggage carousel had stopped and luggage was strewn all over the floor. So on top of the insult of waiting a ridiculous amount of time, I then had to hunt down my luggage. By the time I got outsided I was furious, exhausted, and appalled to put it mildly. My holiday at my daughter's place did not start well. I did try and voice my complaints when I found the almost hidden complaints desk, and was told by the weary officer that this was "due to lack of resources", and that they can't find the staff to train to operate as Immigration officers. Out of the 10 plus booths, only 4-5 were occupied at any given time. I am sure the Government can – and indeed should - find the resources to ensure that at least during busy periods the immigration desks are fully staffed. I travel to Heathrow often - one of the busiest airports in the world - and yet have never ever experienced this kind of debacle. Whilst queues there are long they move quickly as the immigration stations are always fully staffed. I spoke to several people during those long 2 plus hours in the interminable queue, many who were in Montreal for the first time. Some vowed to never ever go come to Montreal again; in other Canadian airports the story had been much more positive. If Montreal is trying to entice more tourists, then this is definitely not a good look at first base, and leaves a very bad taste in the mouth. In December I will be again traveling to Montreal to visit my daughter and family, but am absolutely dreading having to go through the hell of customs/immigration at the airport. The powers that be need to urgently lift their collective game and make my and others experience at Montreal airport a pleasant and memorable one, not the nightmare that hundreds experience I am sure on a regular basis. I noted that there was an item about this in the Montreal Gazette a few days after my arrival, so my experience was not an exception. The excuse that it was a busy weekend, end of school holidays etc, just doesn't cut it. Airports the world over experience end of school crowds yet manage to keep things flowing. Wifi was a complete joke too.

✅ Verified Review | As airport machine check-in didn't work for my new British passport (very inconvenient), I needed manual check-in. I asked one of airport staff for assistance. Despite having a Silver Star Alliance member card, I was refused business class check-in (priority check-in) and was sent to economy class check-in, where there was the longest queue and I spent 50 minutes. It was very inconvenient. Lufthansa says that their Silver Star Alliance card does give privileges for priority check-in. However they do not recognize Silver Star Alliance member card at Montreal airport. Traveled on 2 Oct flight AC 864.