Toronto Pearson International Airport

[Woodbridge_Heights]

Travelled through T3 last week (Dep Nov 16, Ret Nov 23) and found the experience fine if dated. Yes the CBSA terminals in the hallway were confusing. I felt the were pointless unless you were connecting to a domestic flight and the hallway terminal saved you a long trip to the main terminal. Might be better to get rid of them and find another way to accommodate connecting travelers.

Customs was a breeze (we arrived at 5pm) and not overly busy. We used our nexus cards for the first time and had no issues.

Typical YYZ experience is that there isn't enough room at the gate area to accommodate queuing passengers boarding the plane and so the line spills out into the hallway where people are walking, or wraps around the seating area. This will only get worse as aircraft capacity increases. Narrow body gates designed for 160-180 passenger 737's/321's now have to deal with 200+ passengers.

 

[Ratazana]

T1 struggles started when they had to expand the security check zone for both US departure and International departure. Both require pax to navigate through a maze before getting to gates. (See map excerpt with blue and green lines)
For international, the original security zone was a lot closer to the gates and a lot more straightforward (see pic 2 below, blue shaded area). But the need to expand both departure security and transfer security resulted in the maze.

I was through Terminal 1 this year and Terminal 3 last year. I much prefer Terminal 3.

I found Terminal 1 to be alot more complicated and sectioned off than Terminal 3 making the whole experience alot less pleasant.

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

T1 struggles started when they had to expand the security check zone for both US departure and International departure. Both require pax to navigate through a maze before getting to gates. (See map excerpt with blue and green lines)
For international, the original security zone was a lot closer to the gates and a lot more straightforward (see pic 2 below, blue shaded area). But the need to expand both departure security and transfer security resulted in the maze.
View attachment 615378View attachment 615379

All the more reason to build a dedicated transborder pier with an integrated security screening area.

 

[IRT_BMT_IND]

Travelled through T3 last week (Dep Nov 16, Ret Nov 23) and found the experience fine if dated. Yes the CBSA terminals in the hallway were confusing. I felt the were pointless unless you were connecting to a domestic flight and the hallway terminal saved you a long trip to the main terminal. Might be better to get rid of them and find another way to accommodate connecting travelers.

Customs was a breeze (we arrived at 5pm) and not overly busy. We used our nexus cards for the first time and had no issues.

Typical YYZ experience is that there isn't enough room at the gate area to accommodate queuing passengers boarding the plane and so the line spills out into the hallway where people are walking, or wraps around the seating area. This will only get worse as aircraft capacity increases. Narrow body gates designed for 160-180 passenger 737's/321's now have to deal with 200+ passengers.

One problem is that the GTAA removed gate seating and floor space to make room for more retail and the larger restaurant style seating with iPads and tables.

T1 struggles started when they had to expand the security check zone for both US departure and International departure. Both require pax to navigate through a maze before getting to gates. (See map excerpt with blue and green lines)
For international, the original security zone was a lot closer to the gates and a lot more straightforward (see pic 2 below, blue shaded area). But the need to expand both departure security and transfer security resulted in the maze.

T1 is laid out like a smaller version of Heathrow, and they both have the same rat-in-a-maze feeling to navigate.

 

[Ratazana]

One problem is that the GTAA removed gate seating and floor space to make room for more retail and the larger restaurant style seating with iPads and tables.

T1 is laid out like a smaller version of Heathrow, and they both have the same rat-in-a-maze feeling to navigate.

To be fair, the architects (Safdie & co) designed T1 to have a natural flow from checkin to security to departure gate, without any need to navigate through mazes. I remember them mentioning that you can actually see the luggage flow through the bridges connecting the check in counter zone and security area.
The mazes were added later.

Not quite sure YYZ T1 is as bad as Heathrow. Heather T3 where AC used to operate out of was notorious with their deliberate partitioning of the departure zone to force you through their shopping area followed by extremely long walkways to the actual gates. I almost missed my flight once because of that.

 

[Richard White]

To be fair, the architects (Safdie & co) designed T1 to have a natural flow from checkin to security to departure gate, without any need to navigate through mazes. I remember them mentioning that you can actually see the luggage flow through the bridges connecting the check in counter zone and security area.
The mazes were added later.

Not quite sure YYZ T1 is as bad as Heathrow. Heather T3 where AC used to operate out of was notorious with their deliberate partitioning of the departure zone to force you through their shopping area followed by extremely long walkways to the actual gates. I almost missed my flight once because of that.

I'd take T1 at Pearson over T2 at Heathrow any day.

I've done it. It was easily a 15 minute walk to security from the Heathrow express.

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

To be fair, the architects (Safdie & co) designed T1 to have a natural flow from checkin to security to departure gate, without any need to navigate through mazes. I remember them mentioning that you can actually see the luggage flow through the bridges connecting the check in counter zone and security area.
The mazes were added later.

Not quite sure YYZ T1 is as bad as Heathrow. Heather T3 where AC used to operate out of was notorious with their deliberate partitioning of the departure zone to force you through their shopping area followed by extremely long walkways to the actual gates. I almost missed my flight once because of that.

I don't remember the luggage visibility aspect. But yes the design definitely led passengers smoothly from check in to security to concourse to gates. Post 9/11 security concerns have interrupted that flow. In particular the location of US pre clearance has removed the flow from check in to international gates.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

To be fair, the architects (Safdie & co) designed T1 to have a natural flow from checkin to security to departure gate, without any need to navigate through mazes. I remember them mentioning that you can actually see the luggage flow through the bridges connecting the check in counter zone and security area.
The mazes were added later.

Not quite sure YYZ T1 is as bad as Heathrow. Heather T3 where AC used to operate out of was notorious with their deliberate partitioning of the departure zone to force you through their shopping area followed by extremely long walkways to the actual gates. I almost missed my flight once because of that.

To be specific - 9/11 happened, and the terminal basically had to be redesigned to accommodate new security requirements, leading to a bit of a mess.

AoD

 

[Ratazana]

All the more reason to build a dedicated transborder pier with an integrated security screening area.

The interesting question would be, if we have a Pier G, where will domestic/us/intl be located? I think the logical config will be pier F being domestic and pier E/G will be US/Domestic. This would minimize the walking distances for most of the transfers (US <-> Intl are less likely transfer scenarios).

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

The interesting question would be, if we have a Pier G, where will domestic/us/intl be located? I think the logical config will be pier F being domestic and pier E/G will be US/Domestic. This would minimize the walking distances for most of the transfers (US <-> Intl are less likely transfer scenarios).

The plan was always for Pier E to be Domestic, Pier F International, and Pier G to be US. With some F gates being able to swing between Domestic/US as needed. I'd imagine that US-Int'l connections are fairly close in terms of passenger numbers as US-Dom. Many US cities already have direct connections to many CDN cities, so there's less need for a connection through YYZ. Whereas AC specifically markets to the US market it's connections to international destinations through YYZ and is one factor in why they can serve so many international destinations profitably.

 

[afransen]

Agreed. For 5000 I can fly first class return with KLM to Europe

It's down to 2200 now, from a quick google. $5k is crazy.

 

[rbt]

The Ground lease extension (originally expired in 2056, now 2076) likely means that Pearson's capital program is going to ramp up soon; an early lease renewal indicates they need 30+ years of operations to get a loan (or issue bonds) for something.

Greater Toronto Airports Authority Ground Lease Extension – Canadian Aviation News

canadianaviationnews.ca

 

[brianyyz]

I don't remember the luggage visibility aspect. But yes the design definitely led passengers smoothly from check in to security to concourse to gates. Post 9/11 security concerns have interrupted that flow. In particular the location of US pre clearance has removed the flow from check in to international gates.

Here is the luggage visibility. You see it walking from the check in hall to the security checkpoint.

Speaking of security, I really wish they would open the lower level up again as a dedicated Trusted Traveller checkpoint... a man can dream.

 

[urbancog]

likely means that Pearson's capital program is going to ramp up soon

Indeed GTAA held an Industry Forum on 4th December to provide information on their 10-year capital plan. Presentation is here.

The layout of the T1 expansion seems to have returned to new piers:

 

[ARG1]

I was through Terminal 1 this year and Terminal 3 last year. I much prefer Terminal 3.

I found Terminal 1 to be alot more complicated and sectioned off than Terminal 3 making the whole experience alot less pleasant.

The quality of Terminal 3 highly depends on where you are. If you're doing domestic or international flights, its perfectly adequate and kinda nice.

... The US pre-clearance gates however... oh boy. It is an absolutely claustrophobic mess with pretty much nothing around.