While this connection was not as stressful as my recent international connection in Montreal Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, it made my heart flutter in a very different way.
Transborder Connection In Montreal
After spending a bit of time in the domestic Air Canada Lounge, I followed the signs for U.S. connections.
Eventually, I came to a point in which I could proceed left for U.S. connections or straight for international connections (Canada has no exit controls, but like the United Kingdom, once you enter the international sterile boarding area, you are essentially out of Canada).
There were no attendants or checkpoints to verify boarding passes, as I turned left. First, I went down a long fluorcent-lit hall.
Turning right, I walked down another long hall.
Then down another hall. I came to a cannabis disposal area and found still another dimly-lit long hallway (I stopped taking pictures, noticing all the CCTV cameras above me…). I was truly spooked. There was no music or noise at all. It was silent.
It was so eerie to be totally alone for a good seven minute walk. During this time, I did not encounter a single other passenger or member of airport staff.
Finally, I went through a pair of double doors and was deposited into a security checkpoint, which I had to clear before proceeding to the U.S. pre-clearance facility.
CONCLUSION
Compared to my breathtaking international transit in Montreal, this was relatively minor, but I was still spooked out. It’s so strange to walk through what felt like a totally abandoned portion of the airport. Perhaps my pictures and narrative sound overdramatic, but my heart was truly racing. Am I the only one?
> Read More: My Breathtaking International Transit In Montreal
I’ve done this connection many times… I don’t find it eerie? Maybe I’m alone?
When I was in school, my professor taught me three questions that a client may encounter when entering a building:
Where am I?
How do I feel?
Where do I get next?
These questions serve to guide my customer experience at my clinic. It seems that these questions apply to your experience. How do we manage the internal experience the client is having so they don’t get confused or feel scared.
“once you enter the international sterile boarding area, you are essentially out of Canada”
If i commit a crime there who prosecutes? Are cops allowed to come there? Under which authority?
The ‘International zone’ setup above is actually only in place at major Canadian airports (Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver) to facilitate international transit. At smaller Canadian airports, international departures and Canadian departures are operated out of the same concourse without separation between passengers.
As such, the area isn’t a true international zone as the signage indicates…you are still technically in Canada and Canadian laws prevail. As Matthew said, Canada has no formal exit control, like the US and UK. As in the US, exit control is processed by the airline operating your departure flight…they pass all passenger data to the relevant government authorities. On flights between the US and Canada, your data upon entering Canada is actually passed over to the US CBP, to “confirm” you actually left the US…I think the CBP might have similar arrangements with other countries.
Montreal I think might be the first (or only) Canadian airport with that exit-gate boarding pass scan system. In Toronto, there was just a simple boarding pass check by an agent when walking from the domestic to international concourse area…no scanning at all.
You can technically leave the area, you just have to pass through CBSA screening.
Similar scenes in YYZ but I don’t complain having had to previously wait over an hour in line to see a border agent (I’m not eligible for nexus or clear)
YYC a week ago an entirely different story, around 6 or 7 US departures at the same time, took around 40 minutes to see an agent.
Canada is tough. They lack the “I have my rights” culture so Matthew was right in being spooked and stopping picture taking.
All those angry truckers a few weeks ago seem to disagree.
It looks like a typical US airport coming from an international flight into CBP. Eerie I guess but nothing new
When I was 14 yrs. old, (1964) I used to go drinking at YUL. The bars there didn’t card anyone, and I spent many a night drunk in those corridors. Back then there was no pre clearance nor security. I lived in Dorval, and that was the name of the airport.
Could you do a US domestic connection through YVR (for example) without technically entering Canada?
No, you exit the aircraft on the arrivals level and while I suppose there is a way, it wasn’t clear to me that any passenger could just re-enter the transborder zone.
There is a transborder connection via the international arrival level. Whether it’s open or not is a different story.
Then again, you’ll need to find a US airline to connect through Canada, or a combination of 2 airlines, as Canadian airlines cannot transport you between 2 US points due to cabotage rules.
Intriguing. I have a SEA-AUS trip coming up, and the new AC YVR-AUS had me thinking. Maybe I’ll try booking an AS to YVR and AC to AUS to see what happens.
Thanks! Living in Seattle there are a lot of ‘on paper’ US connection possibilities through YVR. I’ve never done it, but the possibilities are intriguing. I’ve connected for international flights, but couldn’t remember if there were any off ramps back to post pre-clearance.
Guys, you’re missing the point…
Having maneuvered passenger-filled corridors at the Trudeau Airport multiple times I understand what the author means by the “eerie” experience of these empty, “lifeless” corridors depicted in her pictures None of the stores are open, there are no ticket agents nor other airport staff or passengers milling about…all contributing to a sense of being in an abandoned part of the airport. I get it. Just looking at the pictures was enough to indtill in me that creeped-out eerie “gjost-town” feeling the author described. I wouldn’t have enjoyed that 7-minute walk either!
Thanks for the deja vu, made the exact same walk back in Nov. 2019 on a YYZ-YUL-LAS journey.
Finally ran into a CBP officer (the only one there) at the processing desk.
Joining a few others in the ML lounge made it feel a bit less Twilight Zone.
T’was indeed a “different” experience.
I’ve done this a few times and it is weird, though and usually encounter an agent to scan my boarding pass at some point. I’ve also passed unoccupied podiums that look like someone should be there only to find them unattended. The hallway could use some art or something, but it seems they are forever reconfiguring that connection. At least there are signs to re enforce the idea that yes, you are still going the right way.
The worst is if your transboader USA flight is cancelled and you have to leave to airport. You are sent to a separate immigration line to “reenter” Canada which can take a while if things are busy or a few flights are cancelled around the same time. Still I like YUL, it’s feels a little less like “the Machine” that is Toronto YYZ where you literally feel “processed” by the time your spat out in your departure area when connecting.
Sometime the Trudeau airport makes you feel like you are in a third world country.
Not common to way for an hour at the caroussel to get your luggage.
YUL is a collection of bandaids on bandaids. The terminal is decrepit. Have you gone from US customs to gate 56 or higher?! Nothing but the finest plywood for almost four years now. Barf.
There are normally mall cops at the point you enter international departures.