Hi everyone. Those who have already flown to Canada, hope you had a safe journey. Those who haven’t yet, and are about to book their flights, just a quick tip for those with layovers in Vancouver...
Summer break is over, and everyone’s coming through. So apart from us, new students, those who went away from the school break are now coming back. I made the mistake of booking a flight with only a 2.5-hour layover in Vancouver. Cut the long story short, I missed my connection to my ultimate destination due to long lines at customs declaration and long lines again at the immigration. Also even if Vancouver is not your last stop, you will be asked to pull out your check-in luggage as part of customs’ procedure AFTER securing a study permit letter at the immigration, and then bring them back to the airline’s baggage drop-off counter. 2.5 hours was not enough. I finished everything at past 3, and by then, my flight has already left. Air Canada would book you on the next available flight, BUT tou will be on standby. This means, you may take the flight only if there is suddenly an available seat. Flights are full to most connecting cities out of vancouver, so make sure you book a connection out of Vancouver that allows you 5 hours to spare to do everything. I was supposed to be on a flight out of Vancouver at 2:50pm (which I missed); I didn’t get on a plane until 11pm. All other flights before that were super full; that last flight was also full, but someone didn’t show up so lucky me.
I’m not sure if the same was the case for those landing in Toronto which is also a hub. Hope someone could share his/her experience.
But yea, make sure to pick your flight schedules wisely.