Vancouver Airport

Very difficult airport to make international connections through. You have to reclaim your luggage and clear customs then recheck luggage. Baggage handling is very slow so many people on our flight missed connections as there is also a 1 hour before flight requirement to get the bag checked back though. Best plan on a minimum 2 hour between flight time and probably 2 is more realistic.

Check in staff at Air Canada Vancouver Airport we feel that each staff member should participate in a customer service appreciation course. We have always felt that each of these people should be treated with respect it is a shame that they do not treat the customers in the same way. On arrival at the airport it took an hour of travelling from one end of airport to the other before we were finally directed to the business class check in for Air Canada. Only to be greeted by a female check in representative waving her hand at us telling us we had to go to economy "over there". We paid extra for the comfort of seating / service and priority check in - we were disappointed. It should not matter what class a person is booked into they should not be spoken or attended to like we were.

What a change in Vancouver Airport. Arrived from Cuba on April 20th and with the new scanners for customs and Immigration it was a breeze to go through.

Horrific experience at Vancouver customs upon arrival from the US. The details are shocking and too many to list. As beautiful as Vancouver is and as much as I would like to go back and spend my money on their tourism industry. Never again would I go.

I traveled to and from Honolulu on Feb 28 and March 6. I use a walker and the priority service I received was excellent. In spite of so many reservations that I had because of my diminished mobility I would dare to travel again! My only difficulty came when I needed to board the "golf cart" that would be transporting me from plane area to the luggage area. The step is high that I literally had to be hoisted on to the cart. A step that is so high is surely not for the people it is meant to accommodate at the airport. I would like to see some adaptation made to rectify that oversight.

Free wifi and an excellent looking airport. Local to the city and glad to call it my home airport so close to downtown! There is an aquarium totem poles and a stream running through it. USA border and security is fast when considering how extensive checks are. Fast LRT line from airport to downtown. Airport is always clean and bathrooms are immaculate. Plenty of restaurants and shops in terminal and parking is easily accessible and very close to all terminals. Good views while landing as well.

Great airport clean and very organised. Free wifi plenty of outlets for food and shopping. A pleasure to visit.

For arriving international passengers YVR is an embarrassment. Start with the condescending attitude of some of the staff 'helping' you navigate the automated passport machines. Then a reasonably quick trip through customs and immigration and baggage gives you hope. Then with a few hundred passengers trying to get their bags checked in for another flight YVR allows a very long queue to form. Next comes the security bottleneck with two checkpoints for all those people it took us close to an hour to clear our flight through that security point - I cannot imagine what happens when more than one comes in. With the exception of a very professional young woman steering you into one of the two lines the security staff were silent slow and unfriendly. Some people needed assistance but that was scarce and those with tight connections were not given any leeway. After a 15 hour flight from Sydney with everyone tired I can only say the passengers subjected to this treatment were more helpful and courteous in getting each other through than the staff at YVR. I have been though most of the world's big airports and this is the best we can do?

While YVR has a nice waterfall and ponds it is still a lacklustre airport. Food options are overpriced and limited. Washrooms are dirty and smelly. Terminals do not have sufficient glass and do not let in enough light. Feels like you are in an abandoned warehouse. Security officials and border officials are rude aggressive and intimidating. On the last few times travelling out of YVR I have been subjected to intrusive pat down searches. Why is it that international passengers connecting to US/Canadian destinations have to collect their luggage and then re check-in their luggage prior to boarding their next flight? Transiting at Amsterdam London Heathrow Hong Kong among others is far easier than through YVR because of this. Quite disappointing for an airport that prides itself on being World Class.

Everything about my experience at Vancouver airport was excellent except for the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority - CATSA. The airport was clean the wifi acceptable and all other staff competent and helpful. The CATSA agents for flights to the USA on the other hand were both incompetent and refused to communicate with passengers. We were near the front of the line and still waited well >30min while only one scanner was put to use and the staff and supervisor refused to respond to any questions regarding the situation or to any requests to inform the airline of the situation so that passengers would not miss their connecting flights. I want to wholeheartedly recommend this airport to others as everything else was excellent but as long as the airport security acts with incompetence and lack of communication I cannot recommend this airport.