Toronto Pearson Airport

The worst airport in north America. Long walks to terminals. Lines to get in line. Connections are a cruel joke. No clear information. Just the worst flying experience possible. Avoid it at all costs!

Immigration processing extremely slow. This is my 5th time arriving here and waiting from 30 to 50 minutes. Every time the positions were about 35% understaffed. No respect to travelers time and dignity. Is 15 seconds of asking "where from how long away what are you bringing?" Really justify the airport surcharges and total unpreparedness for even slightly heavier passengers volume?

It is one of the worst airports to transit. Because we had a connecting flight to the States we had to wait for our luggage then check it back in. Then we had to get to the gate to board our connecting flight. All of this sounds simple but in reality at Toronto Pearson it is a feat to accomplish. Firstly one would imagine that connecting passengers' luggage would be at least given a bit more priority? No. We were waiting for the luggage for an eternity. And because we had two pieces of luggage we waited longer as they both did not show up together. This waiting delayed us to getting to our gate which was excessively far from the luggage pick up/drop off area. We ran as fast as we could just barely making the connection.

I've been to lots of airports and found Pearson the most confusing. Normally airport signs and directions to gates or check in etc are clear but not here! When flying to NYC with Air Canada we waited in 5 queues and missed our flight. We didn't realise we needed an esta and were told we had to go online to get it. There was no one to help us because it was so busy. When we flew back in we followed signs to get a bus and managed to find a bus to the subway but as we had just got money from the ATM and didn't have change we had to go back in the airport to a machine which didn't take our American express card so we had to go back upstairs and buy a drink in order to get change so that we could catch the next bus. There was no information desk for the bus. Be prepared to spend ages queuing and trying to find your way to your flight.

Arrived from London Heathrow at 1210 collected the baggage from the in-transit baggage hall and went through US customs and then dropped baggage off for our flight to Miami. Cleared security and had a pleasant 3 hours wait for our on time flight to Miami. It took just 35 mins from leaving the flight from London to passing through US Immigration and security. There was even a helpful person in Canadian customs directing passengers for the USA to the correct baggage claim hall and to US immigration. This is a great way to go to North America either Canada or the USA.

We were to arrive at Toronto Pearson at midnight on December 1 2012 on West Jet airlines from Ft. Lauderdale. The flight for some unknown reason was late and we did not land until 1.30 am on December 2nd. We walked for 20 minutes from the aircraft to reach Customs (up and down escalators and along flat escalators which did not work and around and around). At the Customs booths there was a line-up of at least one thousand people being serviced by five Customs Officers. The wait was intolerable! Baggage pick- up showed that 6 aircraft's were also unloading at the same time. Pearson has now become the worst airport in the World. We shall never use this facility again and henceforth will make the trip to Buffalo and use their airport. Consequently including a 20 minute drive we did not get home until 3.30 am.

YYZ-BRU on Jet Airways. This review discusses Terminal 1. This airport definitely is of a high quality in my opinion. To people that say there is not enough signage stop for a few seconds and look around and you will find more than ample signage. Once you find out where your airline is located you simply go there quick efficient and friendly staff and you're on your way. I was pleasantly surprised at how clean the terminal is and the availability of the washrooms (mind you during the peak rush times in the evening when most of the transatlantic flights are taking off). As for the airport security they are like any other airport security in most places in the world. Speak to them nicely and be calm and they'll treat you normally. This airport provided a comfortable start to my journey and if I could find one thing to gripe about it would be the long walk from the security checkpoint to the international gates at T1.

You go up staircases elevators escalators then down again around and around back up again and so on through hallways to nowhere goes on forever to get from one place to the other. Especially if you are going from one terminal to the other. Signage is very poor and confusing. Getting to customs in T2 is the longest walk in an airport I have ever experienced. Thought LHR was bad. Its also very dismal. Whoever did the interior design could they have not come up with some colour other than boring grey/brown for the walls and carpets. I will avoid this airport in the future if possible.

I had planned to visit some friends in the USA and my flight from Hamburg to Raleigh NC was routed via Toronto. My first time to Toronto and I received clear information on how to proceed from the gate to customs and immigration from the airline staff and the security officers (who were very helpful and friendly a marked and positive difference to their colleagues in the United States). The only brief confusion I had was about whether I had to pick up my baggage and re-check it or whether it would be sent all the way through. Airport personnel were friendly and cleared up my questions. As I had a very long layover (11 hours) I decided to take a bus and tram into downtown Toronto during my layover. The information booth staff was nice and recommended the bus and subway I should take gave me a map and wrote instructions on it and also pointed me to a Toronto Transit vendor for the appropriate passes. Upon returning to the airport security moved quickly the agents were once again friendly and I found my gate without delay. All in all I found the airport easy to navigate and the personnel friendly and helpful. The signs could be improved however and some gates will have longer walking times to reach them but other than that this airport was a nice experience.

I had to make a connecting flight here from Tampa to Regina and I have mixed feelings about this airport. I had a 2.5 hour layover all of which was either spent going through customs and security or running. Customs would have been a very irritating experience had it not have been for the pleasant workers. However even though I was given good directions I was lost in minutes. Hardly any signs anywhere! It's an airport not a shopping mall. There should be more focus on the flights than the shopping. However the TSA officer scanning my carry on when I went through security had a problem with my bag but he was very polite and friendly about it. By the time I made it through security I had less than 20 minutes to get to my gate. I had to run from gate D all the way to B7 with 5 minutes to spare only to get there to discover they'd changed my gate to B27. I understand that it's unforeseeable but I would like them to delay boarding a little if they're going to switch gates at the last minute. Overall I did have a good experience and I plan to go through this airport again on my way home for Christmas but just make sure you have a substantial layover time in order to get through crowds and to find your way to your gate and then to get there when they change it on you.