Toronto Pearson Airport

Avoid this airport if you are making a connection between a transatlantic flight and the US. We had a very long wait of 40 mins to collect our luggage along with nearly another hour to get through customs and security. Several passengers had very short connection times and they were only called to jump the line when there was only about 25 mins left to catch their flights.

Our last trip was an Air Canada flight from Madrid-Boston with a connection through Toronto. Whole trip was great with the exception of the connection through Toronto. The line at customs was as far as the eye could see. With so many people trying to make their connecting flight there was pushing and shoving. When we finally made it through customs picked up our bag just to move it across the room onto another belt and got to our terminal we noticed that the airport was clean and modern. Nevertheless officials need to do a better job so to handle crowds safely!

The signage is awful. The Continental rep admitted it was impossible to find the Continental check-in because of the signs. The parking garage is a nightmare. Write down your location because you won't find your way back without it. The exit signs are appalling - I drove around until I found someone who knew how to get out and followed them.

Our family arrived last night into Pearson Airport - two of our party had wheelchairs ordered-we were advised to be the last off the plane. As it turned out there were 11 people requiring assistance - only 1 wheelchair attendant came to transport 11 people - there were no golf type carts to be seen! Finally my sister and I pushed my Mother and other sister while carrying our bags as the poor fellow could get no help the long way to customs. We saw many people just standing around - reading books and chatting. Finally we saw a cart - he had been told by his supervisor that he wasn't needed! For an airport the size and what should be high calibre of Toronto they do not have sufficient or organized handicapped transport. They were all unhelpful and very lazy.

Avoid this airport for transborder Canada - US connections on Air Canada. Rather than going through US customs at your point of departure you will need to travel some distance to reclaim your baggage and take it through customs and security. This shouldn't be much trouble but the facility is poorly designed. On my transit through YYZ there were long lines at each step. Unclaimed bags were scattered all around the claim area. The Nexus line was closed until passengers complained and then only one iris-reader was available! On top of this the US border staff offered a rude demeanour. It was a mess from start to finish and once into the gate area choices for places to eat are very meagre. I've avoided YYZ despite frequent transborder travel though I had wanted to think it had improved. Clearly it is still someplace to avoid. Take a US carrier and you will not have to transit YYZ.

Toronto is my favourite airport to have a layover at. It was very easy to navigate very modern very clean and it had numerous restaurants and shops to choose from. Everything went by very quickly. For a busy airport it was very well managed.

Flew MUC-YYZ-ORD on AC on 1/2/11. It was a bit of a hike from our gate to luggage retrieval - although it would depend on arrival gate. Ours was about the longest walk and still only about 10 minutes. Nice bright open airport. It was nice to walk to customs where you could see the rest of the airport. We had to go down stairs and it almost looked like we would enter Canada but then a left (not that easy to notice) led to an escalator up to US baggage claim for connecting flights. This was a long wait (about 30 minutes) but then through a passport control line (not bad) and security. International flights connect in the same passport control room with people flying from Canada to US but there are dedicated desks. The line (a maze) moved pretty fast and so did security. For US passport control there were few questions or hassles. After security you go down to the part of the airport for US flights - decent selection of food options. If you can't fly nonstop home from US would highly recommend connection in YYZ instead of other US east coast getaways.

On arrival why are there no separate lines for Canadian citizens?. Such lines are the norm in just about every other country I have visited. The last time we arrived it took close to one hour to get to Immigration The officers spent a large amount of their time helping arriving foreign passengers fill out their landing cards.

As a Toronto resident I have very mixed feelings about Pearson airport. Last week I met my daughter returning from Iceland. At least 75% of the signs had some or all of the lighting out including the lone washroom sign. Four of five Arrivals displays were on half power lighting. Her arrival to exit time was quite reasonable on a busy Friday evening. In March we waited at the International arrivals for my daughter coming from New Zealand. Discovered belatedly that NZ flights with Air Canada are considered to be domestic arrivals because they go through customs in Vancouver even though they remain on the same plane! Arriving passengers are expected to have Canadian coins for the baggage carts - an embarassing way to treat visitors. Food services are limited but priced the same as in the city. Parking is very expensive. Lots of limos (pricey) hotel shuttles regional and city buses (inexpensive). A clean reasonably well run terminal with little charm.

Arrived from London Heathrow to T1. Not a lot of facilities upon arrival just 3 identically small cafes and a gift shop. Needs to improve transport to city centre. However clean and spacious.