I'll be flying from China into Toronto (YYZ), then onto Boston. For the YYZ layover, I have 1 hr 30 min. Wondering will I have to dash like mad to catch the connection?

Also, will I need to first collect checked baggage, then line up at immigration and re-check the bags afterward? How efficient is the Customs clearance usually?

I'm a US citizen if that makes a difference.

Thanks in advance! This will help me decide if I will use a big suitcase (if there's enough time for dealing with the checked baggage) or stick to a carry-on (not ideal but will have to make do rather than miss my flight).

Sorry to repost here. I posted in the US section at first but seems not to be able to re-classify the message to another forum.

You definitely go through U.S. immigration and customs in Toronto before you board your flight to Boston. That's the way it's done at large Canadian airports. Whether you have to do anything Canadian-related isn't clear if you look at the YYZ website.

http://www.torontopearson.com/Connecting_from_usa.aspx#

CONNECTION: International flight to U.S. flight
CUSTOMS REQUIRED: Canada Border Services Agency*** & U.S. Customs and Border Protection
*** Some International to U.S. connecting flights at Terminal 1 do not require passengers to clear CBSA before clearing U.S. CBP inspection.

I'd be troubled by that word "some." It looks like it depends on terminal and airline. I think you should call your airline and find out how it works. If you have to do both Canada and U.S. formalities, I doubt that 1:30 is enough time.

You will probably have to dash like mad in all likelihood.

The good news is that you would not have to recheck your bag after U.S. customs since it would then become a "domestic" type flight. But you do have to go through both customs and immigration in Toronto, and that can slow you down.

I have heard anecdotally that sometimes it's not a pain to do this in Toronto and sometimes it is, but I've never done it myself, so I'm not speaking from personal experience in this case.

The flight into YYZ does indeed go into Terminal 1, seems that there is only US Customs to go thru.

I was thinking if the airline doesn't think someone can reasonably make the connection, they wouldn't offer up that combo of flights to begin with.... but then, soon after I booked the tix, the same combo of flights was not offered anymore. So now I'm wondering could mine be a mistake.... hmm. The other choices all involved an overnight layover.

Well, I'll report back after the trip.

This is the page for T1 Int'l-US connection: http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelin...z_intl_us.html

Process is just like going if you're connecting in a US airport. 90 minutes is possible, and I don't understand why people keep blaming the airline for providing possible connections. Most will make it, and in fact vast majority will. What do you expect the airline to do? Only provide connection choice when only 99% will connect, including non-residents with stuff to declare? 95%? 80%? It's up to the passenger to decide if it's comfortable, and whether it's worth the risk. Before booking a ticket, not after.

A couple months ago, I connected BRU-YUL-ORD with an hour, 25 minutes and the process was much better than last time I connected via Montreal.

An Air Canada agent met the flight and took all the people with US connections around the Canada CPB line to a separate security screening area. From there, we went to US CPB. The CPB agent scanned my luggage claim and showed me a picture of a bag on the luggage belt. I confirmed it was mine and it went directly onto my US-bound flight. (Of course, I'd recognize the dark roller bag in that fuzzy b&w picture anywhere! ;-))

I'm sure AC has a similar procedure in place in Toronto. While the connection was tight, I was able to stop and buy a cookie and even had a few minutes to sit before boarding.

Cool! Funny the Canadians are so trusting.... just a pic will do?

It wasn't the Canadians, it was the US agents.

The picture thing is similar to the process at YVR, where you look an image of your bags on the monitor. Didn't realize they've started the same at YUL.

Reporting back about the YYZ connection just in case someone else needs to know in the future.

My flight into YYZ was a little early (by 30 min), which meant I had a full 2 hr from the time the plane landed. There was a 5 min walk to the baggage area for US bound flights, and there was no need to go thru Canadian immigration. The checked bags took 15-20 min to come out. After retrieving the luggage, I walked over to US immigration where the wait was only 5 min or so. Next, I dropped the bag off at a conveyor belt and waited in line for US security screening (10-15 min). After all that, the walk to my gate in the F section was only 2-3 min.

So to recap, I had plenty of time for the connection because none of the lines had long wait times. I'd say 75 min is a safe minimum. However, there's always a chance that the wait at US immigration and security checks get extremely bogged down if multiple flights land at exactly the same time with lots of US bound passengers.

Glad to know it worked out well for you, and thanks for the update.