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Toronto Pearson International Airport

thethrows said:
Thank you for posting these photos. I'm shocked that Pearson is going for the cheap-out on this. This will do little to attract Americans/Other Intls to use Toronto on their way to Europe/Asia. Montreal is doing a better job of setting the passenger experience in particular with its new expansion. Its little surprise that YUL is attracting a larger share of the international traffic.
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1) The vast, vast, vast majority of pax book on fare concerns. Beyond that they might consider the actual airline and onboard services. The gate lounges are pretty low on the list.

2) There's nothing restricting people from moving around the the terminal. They aren't confined to just those gates. I flew through these gates a few weeks ago. Went and got a bite to eat. And then went to the gate.
 
YAY to glass bridges... even Norway has them at OSL. Hope they retrofit them across the rest of the airport.
 
bangkok said:
I love the glass boarding bridges. Much better than the windowless tunnel of doom we have been subjected to at Pearson since 1991 when T3 opened and the first driveable bridges were installed.
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I have never understood why T1 was built without glass jetbridges. For the fees they charge, I'd expect some of these niceties.
 
O
bangkok said:
Indeed, terminal 3 felt like a palace when it opened in Feb of 1991. I remember flying in on opening day and it took forever to get the bridge positioned since the agents were not yet proficient in maneuvering the bridges. Great place to work compared to old T1.
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While the original T1 plan had it eventually expanding to replace T3, the newer transit hub models show both terminals. Suspect at this point they’d add a third finger pier on T1 before tearing down T3
 
Bureaucromancer said:
Latest I've seen is the intent for a new finger linking 1 and 3, combining operationally but reusing the actual T3 building.
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Yeah - that’s supposed to be the multi-level walkway from the check-in hall across the street. Since all of T1 and T3 would be airside it should make things much more open and inviting.

Not thrilled about the proposed 15-20 minute walk from cab to gate though...
 
I wish Pearson would talk to the CIB and work on financing to accelerate plans for their transit hub, replacement of terminal 3 and addition of the 6th runway. It's clear that AC can give them the growth in traffic to pay for all that.
 
Another photo of the expansion., Yes glass airbridges, that is until HSBC plasters their advertising all over them

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Woodbridge_Heights said:
Another photo of the expansion., Yes glass airbridges, that is until HSBC plasters their advertising all over them
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I hope no advertising. Especially since their new advertising partner is Rogers. They will be plastering their logo all over YYZ as it is. Sortof like Scotiabank Arena.
 
kEiThZ said:
1) The vast, vast, vast majority of pax book on fare concerns. Beyond that they might consider the actual airline and onboard services. The gate lounges are pretty low on the list.

2) There's nothing restricting people from moving around the the terminal. They aren't confined to just those gates. I flew through these gates a few weeks ago. Went and got a bite to eat. And then went to the gate.
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1) I get that. What I am saying is that passengers have other options at the same fares. A lot of the middle tier American airports have decent terminal spaces and a lot of the larger ones are upgrading theirs. Hence why I pointed out that it is little surprise that YUL is seeing larger growth in its international and transborder ops. This growth could have been directed through YYZ, but wasn't.
2) It is about setting the passenger experience. This does a terrible job at that.
 
I remember a time at terminal three when the only thing on the side of the bridge was the airline's logo. B8-B9 I think were blank (those were to be Eastern's gates before they ceased ops in January of 91) B10-b14 had the AA logo, and I think the rest had the Canadi>n one. I'm drawing a blank on when they disappeared (maybe 2001?) or perhaps before?

I'm sure the temptation to plaster some advertising window clings will be too great and they will spoil the look with those pretty soon.

A lot of the Montreal/transborder traffic is now self supporting. Out of YYZ, most of the transborder markets have already been built out. Those city pairs currently unserved will need to wait for the fleet domino shuffle once the A220s start arriving and the rest of the Max order is delivered/resumes service.
 
thethrows said:
I get that. What I am saying is that passengers have other options at the same fares.
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Do they? For Americans, a lot of those options are transferring at American hubs. And in particular UA hubs, as the other Star Alliance carrier. I can't think of any UA hub as nice as YYZ. And for Canadians, you don't really have a choice because AC or Westjet is going to send you to Toronto or Montreal if you're crossing the Atlantic.

thethrows said:
A lot of the middle tier American airports have decent terminal spaces and a lot of the larger ones are upgrading theirs.
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Nobody is transiting through middle tier airports though. The large ones are going through redevelopment plans. But that will only get some of their terminals up to YYZ T1 standards. And they'll still have plenty of spartan gates too.

thethrows said:
Hence why I pointed out that it is little surprise that YUL is seeing larger growth in its international and transborder ops. This growth could have been directed through YYZ, but wasn't.
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The growth of Montreal is not about passnegers choosing anything. It's about Air Canada directing growth that way because they can't get more slots at Pearson. See the Pickering Airport thread for more of this discussion.

thethrows said:
It is about setting the passenger experience. This does a terrible job at that.
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It's a handful of gates though. Not the entire terminal. Is it great? No. Would it stop me from flying through YYZ? Absolutely not. The rest of the terminal is still fantastic. And you're a short walk away from all the restaurants at Pier F. And I believe some of the airline lounges (like Plaza Premium) might move back.

There's also some unrecognized value here. The night I flew out of those gates, the relocated Plaza Premium lounge had closed. The rest of Pier F was still closing up. I bought some Thai Express and was happy to have a nice quiet spot to sit and eat. With traffic ramping up, the airport is getting crowded. These gates might actually some of the most peaceful to fly out of.
 
Admiral Beez said:
My all time favourite airport thus far seen is Singapore, followed by Hong Kong. IIRC, Taipei was nice too. The worst, KUL.

Toronto T1 is equal to most European airports I’ve seen, and better than I think every large US airport so far seen.
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I'd put new Laguardia on the same tier as T1, plus the new gates at SFO. I'd argue Denver is nicer than T1 (but worse than YVR) and DFW is the best airport (in terms of layout, efficiency, and space. The international terminal is also probably about the same as the F gates in T1.

Remember, the majority of flights originating from US airports are not heading to international destinations, so their gate facilities aren't going to be as great. In general, international departures at most airports (except SFO, EWR, and JFK from my experience) are pretty similar (though usually a bit worse) than similar experiences at T1.
 
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