Chicago or Toronto airport for connection from Vancouver to Nashville

I am planning on traveling from Vancouver, Canada to Nashville this summer. I am trying to find the easiest, least stressful, airport to go through the security and customs process. My choices are AirCanada, connecting in Toronto with a 2 hour layover or American, connecting in Chicago with a 5 hour layover. Prices are about the same. I read that with AirCanada you do not have to recheck your luggage in Toronto through customs. Suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Five hours is a long time...I would do the two hours at Toronto. It'll be a rushed two hours, because you will need to clear US immigration/customs at Toronto (versus doing it in Vancouver if you flew from there straight to the US), but I would prefer that choice. Means you could get to YVR airport slightly later (since you're only on a domestic flight to Toronto) too.

I would chose YYZ over ORD mainly because of the 5 hour layover and being able to go through US customs and immigration in Canada instead of at the destination. I find both airports easy to get around and when we flew to the southern states we flew through ORD and had a long layover there due to a schedule change by UA. There were good places to eat but i don't care for those long layovers unless i have access to airline business lounge.

From Vancouver to Nashville via Toronto you will pre-clear US Customs in Toronto. On the return, you will clear Canadian Customs in Toronto once again. So no matter how you slice it, you will have a busy layover, going through customs in Toronto.

From Vancouver to Nashville via Chicago, you will pre clear US customs in Vancouver before you board your 1st flight, so when you land in Chicago, you won’t need to go through customs again. On the return, you will clear Canadian Customs when you land in Vancouver at the end of your itinerary.

So ask yourself if you’d prefer to go through Customs in the middle of your itinerary (Toronto) or at the beginning or at the end (Chicago). That would be my deciding factor.

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Thank you. I will take your suggestions and go through Toronto.