Vancouver Airport

As I prepared for an overnight flight from YVR to YYZ I entered the security screening area. There were 15 people or so in front of me and - it took me over 30 minutes to go through security! The queues were moving so slowly because of the inefficient and poorly managed security screening area at YVR. While security screening is within the mandate of CATSA it is the YVR airport's responsibility to co-ordinate this process with CATSA so that travellers have a pleasant journey departing the airport. That was not my experience this time and has very rarely been my experiences at YVR. Apart from the security screening there was one food store (Tim Hortons) open that evening in YVR Domestic Terminal. A major airport like YVR can and should do much better. The check-in area feels quite small and cramped compared to other airports. YVR should be looking to Singapore Hong Kong Seoul or even London Heathrow airports for inspiration.

A terrible airport. Signs now direct passengers from other Canadian cities transferring to flights to the USA through international arrivals where they are herded through narrow hallways into a long line that merges with the line for passengers from other countries transferring to US bound flights. The wait time to get through screening was over an hour for us. There was no priority line and one team of catsa personnel operating one xray machine with I estimated a thousand people lined up waiting. Once through screening arriving domestic passengers end up in a separate line for US pre-clearance with no access to global entry or nexus machines. The whole setup seems designed to maximize delays and make nexus unusable.

I am sure it is probably a fine airport for those not transiting to other flights. For those that are I can only confirm what is in the other reviews. Completely incompetent organisation of mass transit couldn't care less attitude on the part of the staff - who appear to be woefully under trained in either their job role or customer service. Do not under any circumstances take a booking with a short turnaround. You will miss your connection. If I was forced under duress to put myself through this again then I would allow at least two hours. It is too painful to list all the mistakes but I will share one. You are in a queue with probably let's say 150 people all of who have come off a long flights and just want to get to their connecting flight. Would you expect passengers arriving on internal Canadian flights to make their own way to the front of this queue and "merge" in with the existing queue? That's what these idiots asked passengers to do. Not of course that they actually sent a member of staff to help them. It was a tribute to those in the queue already (and who had been for nearly 45 minutes) that they didn't have a go at the poor saps who had been sent to "merge in". Politeness prevents me from sharing what I really thought of the managers and staff at YVR.

We flew out of YVR last week to Hong Kong on the CX early morning flight (0200). No complaints with check-in or even the speed of security lines but where it did fall down was that despite the number of flights departing for Asia the duty free shop shut down at 0100 just as we got to it. Everything else had shut so no chance of a coffee or anything. If flights are departing at that time of the morning pax have a right to expect some kind of service. In the end was just glad to get on the plane and fly out. Pity really.

My son and I travelled through this airport 2 days ago on a Monday morning. What a nightmare. So poorly organized when there are large volumes of travelers. We lined up to check our bags and then we had to get in another line to put our bags onto the belts then another line for security and another line for US customs. It took us about 1.25 hours to get through all of this. I have travelled around the world extensively and this airport is very poorly organized. There should be no need for you to put your own bag on the carousel.

I really like YVR so far it's my favourite in the world. Every one working there are very nice and always trying to help travellers. The structure of the airport is very nice the theme of the airport itself is the First Nation culture of British Columbia. You don't even feel like you are in an airport but more or so a museum of BC First Nations culture. I really recommend Vancouver as a place to visit as the airport is amazing with very close accommodation and the city is great in itself.

On Sunday evening 6 April I found myself 500th in the Security screening queue. Staff were incapable or unwilling to resolve the problem. There was no Business Class or Nexus line.

There are some beautiful First Nations art pieces in the airport and a nice train to take to downtown but other than that this is an exceedingly overpriced airport with very high landing and take-off fees which mean ticket prices are far higher than nearby airports. Service can be very slow and it is crazy busy always. You really need to arrive 3 hours early and expect your baggage to come out at least a half hour after landing or more. And just forget about transiting this airport. What does it say that anyone with a choice will fly out of Bellingham (BLI) or Seattle (SEA)?

I hadn't planned on writing a review until I read the other submissions. YVR is a world class airport and I've seen a few. Many options for eating all at local prices wide open space water features art etc. Never had an issue with attitudes at security or anywhere else but of course my expectations are low as they would be at any security or customs checkpoint - just smile and nod. The Canada Line link to downtown is perfect. I think some of the negative reviewers have never been to LAX.

So - I've read through most of the critiques here and am left in disbelief. The comments leave me wondering just how often the people writing here travel. How many international airports have you traveled through? I have been a frequent global traveler for 30+ years and could easily list a 100 airports that don't come close to YVR.