Toronto Pearson Airport

✅ Trip Verified | We were connecting from Toronto to Los Angeles, from Dublin on November 9, 2019. It took an hour to retrieve our luggage from baggage claim (2.5 hr layover). We were instructed to place our bags on a conveyor to be routed to our next flight prior to checking in for our next flight via Air Canada. We had to go through Canadian customs and another terminal for our connector, where we needed to go through another round for U.S. customs. By the time we were in front of the U.S. customs, we’re told that our bags didn’t clear and had to wait at a holding room, they called Step 2. Bottom line: we missed our flight and no one in Air Canada or the airport knew where our bags were. They all collectively blamed us and no one took responsibility. They made us go back and forth from terminal 1 to 3, 4 times as one would claim that the other terminal had them. From 5.30 pm till 11 pm, no one could retrieve the bags, even when their computers finally identified them. We had to book a night at the airport Sheraton to sleep a little. We got to the terminal to check in at 5.30 am for an 8 am flight and again was told by U.S. customs that our bags didn’t clear for travel. Step 2 again and no one could find the bags, till we told the Air Canada agent that at 11 pm their baggage services found them. We were 5 minutes till boarding and cleared for step 3. Our flight was forced to delay for 30 minutes because 55 passengers were stuck at step 2 and 3 to clear. Is the Sheraton airport the only party benefiting from the inefficiencies? Furthermore, why does the Toronto airport authority not fixing this?! Lastly, there has to be some compensation for the grave inconvenience via hotel accommodation reimbursement, so they will be motivated to fix the problem.

✅ Trip Verified | Super friendly ground staff at checkin area at Air Canada check in area. Security is super fast and efficient. But super long walk from departure terminal to the gates. There are no seats at the gate area if you are departing in the evening to Europe. There were so many people and there are not enough seats at all! Those are giant wide body aircrafts going overseas and how can you not have enough seats and spaces for people to wait before their flight? Also the boarding process is a disaster. The gate area is small. With the terrible boarding process that Air Canada has, it makes everything worse. People can barely walk through the crowd of passengers. Terrible design of the airport. Not passenger-friendly at all.

Not Verified | The worst airport we have ever been to. The system is so confusing and unorganised. There is no priority signs, unhelpful staff. They literally do not care at all. We were waiting in line for 2 hours and missed our flight in the end. If wasn’t for my disabled auntie fainting on the floor we would have been in the line still waiting. A fewer staff working with a massive line. I have seen so many people missing their flights. What a joke!

Not Verified | I have traveled a lot but I literally have not seen any other airport worse than Toronto Pearson airport. I was arriving with my wife and my one year old son to arrival terminal 3 where I found it was the biggest, most unorganized, chaotic airport I have ever experienced in my life. The security check are the rudest in the world, time consuming and redundant. They don’t have any family or special need lines and to make people suffer even more, the staff were not helpful, rude and had a bad attitude. In conclusion, I doubt if this type of airport can be found anywhere in what is called 'industrialized' or even 3rd world countries. Where is the ministry of transportation? Where is the audit process? Does anyone in the government care what people say about this horrible airport? 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 | 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.