Montréal Airport

Montreal's Pierre-Elliot-Trudeau airport has improved a great deal over the past few years but it is still small and crowded and feels like it belongs in a city a third of the size of Montreal. What is more the rear section is absolutely claustrophic with no natural light or windows anywhere near the shops and food court and the domestic baggage retrieval area is an absolute disgrace - cramped antiquated and totally non-functional. There is nowhere in the airport either to relax or watch planes take off. As a proud Montreal I am always a bit embarrassed to think that visitors will get their first impression of the city from this airport.

Not state of the art but on the whole a convenient airport quite close to downtown. I remember queuing for 3 hours once at this airport. A real nightmare! But only Air France was to blame. That is the day when I decided never to fly Air France again although I'm French. If you have an hour or so before boarding and want to do some shopping at reasonable prices (not like those of the duty free) there is a shopping mall very near the airport ( actually within walking distance) but as there are a couple of highways to cross you must take a local bus which takes 5 minutes or so. Ask for directions as I can't remember the bus line number. When arriving the airport bus is the cheapest way to reach downtown; it takes about 25 minutes if there are no traffic jams. You'll save even more by buying a return ticket. From the bus terminal you can easily reach your hotel by subway or get a cab if you have too much luggage to carry. The bus can actually drop you a some of the major hotels which are on the way. Ask the driver. The drive back to the airport is 15 minutes longer as the bus goes around town to several hotels in the hope of collecting more passengers.

Transited Montréal-Trudeau 4 times last month on Air Canada domestic flights. Very friendly staff at security and concessions. Efficient security screening. Washrooms are small dirty and malodorous. Mainline Air Canada section is cramped with low and narrow corridors minimal natural light and insufficient seating. Only three concessions in the pier including a bar a restaurant and a news stand. Landside facilities are much better if you have the time to exit the secure area. Jazz concourse is dated to the point of being comical and only includes a small bar and a few vending machines. However it is much brighter and quieter. Overall impression of the airport is of a dark dirty time warp to the 60's (much like it's namesake).