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another connection question please


Camelia-
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We are looking at an Air Canada flight from Honolulu to Toronto via Vancouver in May 2018. The flight arrives in Vancouver at 6:47 a.m and then the next flight leaves at 8:00 a.m. Realistically is that enough connection time? I'm not familiar with the Vancouver airport at all.

 

Would appreciate any advice! With thanks..

 

 

Camelia

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Every airline posts what they call the "minimum connection time" for each of their airports. In your situation, Air Canada sets their minimum at 1:10. Since your flight would have 1:13 (assuming everything is on time) it does meet the minimum which normally means that the airline will sell you the ticket. If you miss the connection, it would be up to Air Canada to get you on a later flight (based on availability). So, in this case, the decision is totally up to you. Many travelers would avoid the situation because they don't want the hassles if they do miss the connection. Others would book it and let the chips fall where they may. Since you are talking about an early morning connection it is very likely that, if you do miss it, they will be able to get you on another flight that same day.

 

What I find interesting is that while Air Canada has a 1:10 minimum for flights from the USA to Canada it also specifies a minimum of 1:20 for International Flights. I would think that both International and your flight from Hawaii would require all passengers to go through immigration so we are a bit puzzled by the 10 min time difference. But it is what it is :).

 

Here is a link to the Air Canada minimum time charts:

https://www.aircanada.com/us/en/aco/home/plan/check-in-information/minimum-connection-times.html

 

Hank

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Thank you all for your input!

 

My feelings are varied..naturally! I do worry that even a few minutes delay in arrival will mean that we miss that connection but I see that there are others later in the day so chances are good that we will be able to fly a little later. The perfect thing would be to taken the flight where the next connection time is 9:00 a.m. instead of 8:00 a.m. but the price is double ($683 instead of $380 CAD) so that really is hard to choose as an option! If I were prepared to include an extra stop it would be a little less but I really would rather not do that. I might end up taking a chance and then being placed on the later flight..hopefully not the one with the extra stop..luckily I will be returning FROM a cruise so I won't have to worry about missing the ship..!!

 

Thanks again!

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I'd also be unconcerned about a short connection at the end of your vaycay - especially with Air Canada who, as mentioned, have many flights to YYZ to fit you on so getting home same day even if you miss the connection will not be challenging.

 

Another tidbit of useful info on the YVR website - this map shows you where you need to go to get to your domestic flight in more detail than the Air Canada version. AC is part of the 'Quick Connections' program, so you shouldn't need to collect your bags - they should be checked all the way through to YYZ (although personally I always check the tags as they're printed at the airport to ensure that they do have the final destination on, just in case!)

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even better if we don't have to collect our bags!! Thanks so much for this very useful info!!

 

When you arrive in Vancouver, if the customs area is busy, they open up a specially passport counter just for travelers making domestic connection. That is on the far right. If it is not busy you go through the kiosk machines and that tends to move quickly for Canadian or US passport holders.

 

I would not worry at all about the tight connection especially with multiple wide-body aircraft running on the hour.

 

From early morning until noon there are a lot of wide body aircraft coming in from Asia. One or two of those is going to be late for one reason or another, that will free up some seats on the flights to Toronto that may look fully booked the day before.

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Another tidbit of useful info on the YVR website - this map shows you where you need to go to get to your domestic flight in more detail than the Air Canada version. AC is part of the 'Quick Connections' program, so you shouldn't need to collect your bags - they should be checked all the way through to YYZ (although personally I always check the tags as they're printed at the airport to ensure that they do have the final destination on, just in case!)

 

This was the case when we connected through YVR last month. We were flying SJC-YVR-YUL (Air Canada on both flights) and our bags were checked through to YUL without having to collect/re-check them at YVR. The immigration process was swift and efficient. We were connecting through YVR during the 8:30am-9:30am timeframe.

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