Calgary Airport

In arrivals there are plenty of people in cowboy hats who can offer assistance if you get stuck with anything which is useful. You can buy a day pass for $8 from Mac’s convenience store. Unfortunately the bus is the only means of transport to downtown and express buses run every half hour to downtown. The departures area was more modern than arrivals and there were a good number of places to eat and shop after passing through security (no problems there). The airport itself is fine but for the lack of a direct rail link from the airport.

Recently flew into YYC on an international flight and then out again a few days later on a domestic flight - on the whole I found the experience to be rather good. I love the fact that they have the friendly greeters in white Stetsons it certainly makes you feel you have arrived somewhere different also love the fact that they help people with mobility problems or young children by giving them a lift on the golf buggies from the airbridge to customs. This was brought into sharp contrast on arrival back at Manchester with the ludicrous up and down stairs long and winding walk you have to do on arrival. The customs guys were certainly abrupt but no more than I had experienced in other parts of Canada - in fact they only asked us 2 quick questions before letting us through - other groups of passengers seemed to get far more of a grilling. Baggage reclaim was really fast signage to rental cars was easy to follow and I'd say we were completely out of the airport within 1hr of landing which is not bad at all. Flying out was positive too - had heard rumours that the security staff could be quite rude but if anything they were a bit too friendly. Decent selection of shops and food outlets and a great seating area with nice views of the airfield and the Calgary skyline in the distance. Very good experience on the whole.

Re B Cronin's comments on Calgary Airport Customs staff; I think this person is far too kind in their comments on these Customs staff! Fortunately I was a little quicker than B Cronin and was able to catch my thrown passport as it flew off the counter but was unable to understand the hostility engendered by our flying in from the USA rather than direct from Australia. The level of enmity was unbelievable. We will not make the same mistake again.

Decent airport with very good shopping options (primarily before security). Newest concourse D is quite nice. Some parts really showing their age - US departures area is utterly awful as are B gates. Also a total lack of any real services or shopping in the C (USA) gate area. U.S. Customs clearance wait times can be horrendous. Wayfinding signage is ridiculous awful horrible amateur in some places! Best example: exiting the customs hall. When the first batch of amateur signage confused passengers they put up more. That clearly didn't help so they put up more. Then somebody installed red LED signs with flashing words and arrows (which are just as poorly designed as all of the other attempts). Now someone else has tried to rectify by putting up handmade and laser-printer-ed signs. The signage is so bad that it's laughable but it's also a sad way to welcome people to Calgary.

Calgary Airport is an efficient airport and should allow rapid transit for visitors and business people alike. I have one problem which happens every time I arrive at Calgary and it continues to astonish me and upset me every time it happens. I arrive on BA flights direct from London once or twice a year. We are greeted by the friendly folk with the cowboy hats and then to the customs officers where the hell begins. Of my last seven visits I have been treated with a level of hostility abruptness and intrusiveness that leaves me flabbergasted. On Saturday the customs official tossed my documentation back at me it actually fell off the counter. On a previous two occasions I was sent to the 'back room' for a grilling. Beware not crossing a line with 'do not cross until called' sign (usually swinging to the side unseen). Even it there is no queue under no circumstances approach the officer unless they call you forward. On Saturday she seemed peeved to have lost the opportunity to berate me. Oh yes visitors to Calgary beware. For here you may find the most sour deliberately antagonistic unprofessional and deeply unhuman officials. If only the lovely citizens of this great country knew how some visitors were being treated in their name.

Our journey to Calgary and passage through Canadian Customs was happily achieved with no delays with no waiting lines and up to ten Canadian Customs officers on duty. Our return trip from Calgary to Philadelphia via Chicago was very trying for many reasons. We arrived at YYC at 2 pm two hours before our flight to learn that our flight was delayed to 5-20 pm. Although a sign stated that we were barred from entering customs until two hours before our flight time no one advised us that it would take more than ninety minutes to pass through US Customs and YYC Airport Security. We entered US Customs at 4:00 pm at which point the waiting line was backed up outside the door from the terminal with only two US Customs officials on duty and a third serving flight crews and a supervisor doing nothing. There was a fourth official person circulating through the waiting crowd assuring all that no one would miss their flights. We asked him about our Chicago flight and he assured us that our flight would not leave without us. A full one hour later we finally got to the front of the line cleared US Customs and proceeded around the corner to arrive at YYC Airport Security and we realized that there were three lines open and only one of the lines was actually moving. It took 40 minutes to clear Airport Security who were opening every single bag and patting down nearly every passenger; including those who passed the metal detector. So we finally exited YYC Airport Security at 5:40 pm and went to Gate 31 but our flight had already departed at 5:20pm. The result of this is that we were then sent back through Canadian Customs to return to United ticketing with the knowledge that we were destined to suffer through US Customs and YYC Airport Security again before departing Calgary. We were then presented with another line of at least an hour at Canadian Customs. However after about ten minutes we were thankfully rescued by a Canadian Customs official who took us to the front of the crew line. We arrived again at YYC the next day three hours prior to our flight time cleared U.S. Customs in seven minutes with eight U.S. Customs agents working. We cleared YYC Airport Security in seven minutes operating four lines opening only selected bags or purses. We were at our gate a two hours prior to rollback. How can you expect American tourists to visit Calgary and Banff if they continue to be mistreated in this way? Assuming that all airlines provide expected passenger volume information to U.S. Customs and YYC Airport Security and that anyone is using this information to manage these services how does it take one hour and forty minutes to get from the terminal to the gate? If people are going to miss their flights why is a U.S. Customs official circulating through the hour-long line telling us that we are not going to miss our flights? Why is there no advice to passengers regarding the current expected time delay to arrive at their gate? (This could be easily achieved by having a time written on any (or every) boarding pass when entering from the terminal and then noted by the person receiving passengers at the metal detectors who could then provide this information back to the entrance of U.S. Customs who could write it on a white-board sign.) Canadian Customs already uses a similar method to measure wait time. I provide this information and these questions in the hope that I may one-day return to Calgary without fear of wasting another day of my life (and the cost of hotel and meals) as a prisoner of U.S. Customs and YYC Airport Security.

Used Calgary airport for our departure point from Canada. We were dropped off by coach at ground level took some working out to departure level. After that check in for BA was a breeze security smooth but disappointed with the departure lounge several eating outlets not much choice for shopping the lady in duty free shop put me off by asking if I was on a international flight or else should get moving I thought she was closing the shop left without spending any money. This is probably due to all domestic and international flights leaving from same departure area.

Calgary is one of the better airports around. Baggage delivery was prompt after arriving on domestic flight. On departure getting through security was a quick and painless experience. Passengers departing from the "D" concourse can avail themselves of the various airside restaurants and shops. Comfortable armchairs set up around the concourse are a pleasant alternative to typical uncomfortable departure lounge seating. Large quantities of natural light in the "D" concourse also nice to have.

Flew Frankfurt-Calgary-Edmonton. Arrived in Calgary at 4pm. Customs took seconds and our bags arrived within minutes of deplaning. Connection staff were slow though. 2 staff using paper lists to find all connecting passengers. Air Canada concierge working there helped us get booked onto a new flight at 5 pm.. We had to speedwalk not run accross the airport and re- clear security. Directions were clear but the airport looked dated. Security at A gates was very slow as we had an hour total in calgary. Area for Commuter planes gate A8 was small but fine. After a quick walk out to the turboprop we were on the plane by 10 to 5 so from getting off one plane clearing customs rechecking our bags clearing security and getting on the next flight it was 50 minutes. Amazing.

When Air Canada informed us that our flight times had been changed leaving us under 90 minutes between the arrival of our flight from Houston and the departure of our flight to Vancouver I was nervous since we'd have to go through Immigration and Customs and get to our new flight but the airline assured me it was plenty of time. We passed through Immigration and Customs very quickly (I have a U.S. passport and my wife has a Brazilian passport and U.S. permanent residency card) and then walked briskly over the long distance to our departure gate. We made our flight with time to spare (not a lot of time mind you but enough to allow a quick trip to a rest room before boarding was announced). I can't comment on most of the airport's facilities but at least in our case transiting was fast and easy.