Toronto Pearson Airport

Not Verified | I found YYZ Intl Airport to be a very friendly, kind place. The check in was quick and simple, so I got in pretty early. The gates all featured seating with restaurants and iPads. The duty free section was very busy, but as it was 9.30 pm at night on a Tuesday, and in the middle of summer, I didn't know what to expect. The restaurant selection was very good, but as all airports, pretty over-expensive. The cleanliness of the washrooms was extremely questionable, but the cleanliness of the terminal was incredible. My gate was not one of the newly renovated parts, so it did not have iPads or seating; but I found a very close restaurant and seating, however, my only source of entertainment, my phone died. But luckily, the terminal provided not only a standard Canadian/American outlet, but a USB port. Now, for the boarding. The boarding was very organized, and I was very surprised that the entire lot of passengers was boarded in under 20 mins. Overall, I enjoyed the experience and if you get the opportunity to transit there, I would recommend the airport.

✅ Trip Verified | The place is set up very backwards. You have to go through security and customs twice if you are on a connecting flight. Security and customs takes forever and the people working it are very rude. They are not willing to put any effort in helping you and are out of patience when you try to ask them. I arrived two hours early and still missed my flight due to security, customs, and no help from the staff. Also outlets for charging are few and far between and rarely work. Small choice for food. Avoid this airport I’m never coming back

✅ Trip Verified | This airport is the biggest dumpster fire of an airport I have ever experienced in my life. The security checks are the most time-consuming process that is redundant with staff that literally seem like they are in a competition to see who can move the slowest or form the biggest line. They are rude, they don't care if you have a short layover or any special circumstances, they just don't care. Everything is extremely overpriced, the "free internet" doesn't work most of the time. This airport is a cluttered mess with staff that act like they are doing travelers a favor by showing up. They are nasty, indifferent people that need to find other work. There's literally nothing good I can say about this place. Will never travel to or through Toronto again.

Not Verified | You always should be aware, that Canada counts itself as an industrial country, that is a member of G7 and has one of the largest economies in the world. However, you wouldn't believe that, when entering and flying from Toronto Pearson Airport, that falls much behind the airports of Kinshasa, Asmara or somewhere else in a non-developed country. The airport tries to be modern (or sees itself at least this way) and automatizes everything from Check-In to baggage drop-off, but as it frequently happens, the loss of human beings is paid with chaos and confusion. You even have to print out your baggage tags yourself - if you are used to that as Canadian, this might be okay, but as a foreigner you first get lost at this airport as there is no competent or helpful staff to support this. Due to that automatic nonsense it is for example not possible to drop off your baggage earlier than three hours before your flight - that is well-known from airports in Africa, but in other airports, e.g. Frankfurt, you can check in and drop off your baggage already 24 hours before. In Toronto they only try to sell their airport lounges (only online of course, because at that time you don't know what you have to expect) and when you arrive at the airport, you cannot use them (although booked per hour), because you are not allowed to drop off your baggage - needless to stay that the run-down state line Air Canada does not inform you about that before. I could follow now with the absurd long security queues, the unfriendly personnel, etc., but other reviewers have done that already.

✅ Trip Verified | This airport is the worst. It looks shiny and new but is filled with employees who are way too relaxed, don’t care, and have a “waiting to retire attitude”. A front line Manager at Air Canada is a perfect example of someone who clearly doesn’t care about his job. This is a person who is supposed to be a leader and help you but instead has the monotone attitude that should never be customer facing. I could not imagine having someone so uninspiring be a front facing representative of my company. I guess airlines hire bad people knowing you don’t have a choice and it doesn’t matter.

Not Verified | The queues from plane right through to baggage were horrific. At one point at the top of a moving stairs the congestion became quite scary. Getting through security was an absolute nightmare, one person to help everyone. Document process machines wouldn't work. It was really really hot in the terminal, pure hell. To cap it off by the time we got to baggage claim we had to search for our bags which had been taken off the conveyor belt and were left in the middle of the floor. It was 2 and a half hours before we got out of the airport. Never ever again will I fly into Toronto airport. Very bad organisation, more staff needed.

Not Verified | Lines at T3 to clear customs were ridiculously long, confusing and no matter what passport you have or if you were connecting or not everyone is in the same line. Hardly any staff to offer guidance. Nightmare.

Not Verified | I heard about how the airport was terrible before. It was true. The officers were aggressive, some of the staff were not helpful at all. The signs which lead to the gates were sometimes not clear, so I got lost. This airport is the one I would like to avoid from now on.

Not Verified | Ridiculous queues at USA security. Only 4 agents checking people through. Flights delayed while waiting for people to get through the lines ups. No facilitation of airport staff to prioritize people by order of departure times.

Not Verified | Checking in was chaotic, as are most airports, but on this trip this was our 5th airport and it was the most disorganised. The check in machines didn’t work so we then had to join the queue for “assistance”. Then a member of staff went along the queue asking for anyone for the London flight to join another priority queue, which we did. Two customers at the front started arguing and the staff who had dealt with them were then taken off line, leaving less desks open. Then the longer queue was being called and the priority queue was ignored. At last we got to a desk and the clerk said sarcastically that they were about to close check-in in 5 minutes and we were lucky! Really? Having stood staring at the staff for half an hour while we queued, and having arrived well within the two hours, we didn’t feel that lucky! We then headed for the gate. There is no central area to wait prior to the gate, you are sign posted straight to the gate where there is very little seating, and certainly not enough for a large flight. At the gate, there was the usual boarding chaos as there is at all airports. Can’t review shops or food as we didn’t get the opportunity, and didn’t log into wifi.