Toronto Airport - Sheraton Gateway Hotel for a long layover?
 

We (family of 4, kids age 12 and 15, mom US citizen, dad UK citizen and permanent US resident) are headed from Manchester, UK, to our home near Seattle, USA via Toronto (Pearson) Airport. An unexpected changed ticket time has us arriving at 2:30pm at Terminal 1, then departing at 8:45pm, also at Terminal 1. (We don't get to Seattle until 11:30... not in our plans - oh well!).

I had thought to see if we could get a driver for a brief tour of Toronto, but upon reflection realized that it would not be a great "break" in our trip.

I stumbled upon the "day use" rooms at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel (Terminal 3) and realized that spending an hour or so relaxing in the pool and spa, and/or taking a brief nap in the room, maybe adding in room service or a meal, would be a better break in our trip.

My questions are:
Do we clear US immigration/customs at Pearson? Do we exit the "secure" area to get to the Sheraton? What time will we need to get back to security in order to make our 8:45pm flight?

My husband's question is:
"Does this mean my duty-free Scotch from England won't go through to the US and will instead be confiscated either when we arrive and clear customs or when we attempt to board with it?" (he really wants to know the answer to this - his mom lost Yukon Jack when traveling from Canada to the UK via Amsterdam !).

Thanks in advance for any help!

P.S. We usually only have carry-on luggage, though it's possible in our 20-day trip to England and Paris we might have obtained enough "stuff" to swell our baggage to include a checked bag.

It's a standard airport hotel, not a "transit hotel" inside security, so you will clear Canadian immigration and customs upon arrival from Europe. Before your flight to the US, you clear US immigration and customs.

Thanks, rkkwan - the fact that the Toronto airport has both Canadian and US immigration&customs is confusing to me...

Any idea about my husband's most-important question? Will he lose his duty-free single malt Scotch when we go through customs in Canada?

Is it a typical 2-hr recommended check-in for the flight from YYZ to SEA?

Canadian customs won't take his duty free Scotch, but when you come back into the airport, he may not be able to get through security with it. The sealed bags that duty free packs it in is ok for use in Canadian domestic security ( http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/archive/t-1080223.html ). I can't remember if international connections to domestic/US use the same security line as people coming in off of the street.

Given the somewhat unusual situation of yours, it might be a good idea to call the Toronto airport and explain your situation and see what they say.

My suggestion is avoid the issue altogether and get the Scotch before you get to the airport in the UK, i.e., do not get duty free, and pack it into your checked luggage. Of course, that clever plan won't work if it is a Duty Free shop exclusive (like Highland Park Leif Eriksson), in which case he should just buy it at the Toronto duty free.

Canadian customs allow a large bottle, up to 1.14L of liquor to be brought into the country, so CUSTOMS is not an issue.

The issue is with security. You cannot bring that much liquid in your carry-on. So, your Scotch must go into checked luggage for your flight into the US.

You shouldn't get to airport late, as the immigration, customs and security lines for flights to the US can be quite long. I would get back at least 90 minutes before flight.

Thanks! I appreciate the responses.