Time to dump ArriveCan?

[bobpell]

Is not showing proof of vaccination and booster enough at customs. With delays inbound at customs,  would eliminating this extra step of showing an arrivecan code speed things up?

What are your thoughts?

Bob

[DirtyDawg]

See the CBSA Declaration thread. The plan is to expand ArriveCan. Visitors will get used to it and things will speed up. 

[broberts]

2 hours ago, bobpell said:

Is not showing proof of vaccination and booster enough at customs. With delays inbound at customs,  would eliminating this extra step of showing an arrivecan code speed things up?

What are your thoughts?

Bob

 

Eliminating the app would slow things down considerably as everyone will have to produce a proof of vaccination that must be examined at the booth rather than being pre examined when submitted through ArriveCAN.

[Fouremco]

Rather than dumping ArriveCAN, the GOC is continuing to develop both the app and the online versions as part of its traveller modernization initiative. It is already saving time for most passengers and at the same time, allowing CBSA officers to spend less time with each passengers that has used ArriveCAN properly. There are many reasons why there are customs delays at YYZ , YVR and others ports of entry, but most existed long before ArriveCAN arrived on the scene and certainly wouldn't disappear if ArriveCAN was eliminated.

 

BTW, if you have made an ArriveCAN submission, you won't need to show proof of vaccination, so there's no extra step involved. And currently there is no requirement at all to provide proof of booster shots to enter Canada.

[Tango99]

While on the subject of entry to Canada. The eTA still seems to be alive and kicking as well. That crazy 7.00 fee applies to all foreign travellers landing at a Canadian airport. I don’t know how much $ was lost during covid.  If Arrive Can is being expanded, I suppose this might also sneak in.  Comments?  BTW. I’m convinced that congestion at airports are mainly due to re-directing travellers to the 4 international airports, while others are feeder routes to them, and domestic travel. Once they’re all open and business is back to pre-pandemic days, travellers will get back to their usual practice. 

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, Tango99 said:

While on the subject of entry to Canada. The eTA still seems to be alive and kicking as well. That crazy 7.00 fee applies to all foreign travellers landing at a Canadian airport. I don’t know how much $ was lost during covid.  If Arrive Can is being expanded, I suppose this might also sneak in.  Comments?  BTW. I’m convinced that congestion at airports are mainly due to re-directing travellers to the 4 international airports, while others are feeder routes to them, and domestic travel. Once they’re all open and business is back to pre-pandemic days, travellers will get back to their usual practice. 

I agree, ArriveCAN would seem to be a logical place to include eTA details along with passport and visa (if required) information in due course.

 

CBSA and CATSA staffing levels have also played a major role in the current airport woes. Neither organization has been able to match the demand brought on by the sudden surge of travellers, any more than the Passport Office has been able to meet the sudden demand for new and renewed passports.

[Tango99]

3 hours ago, Fouremco said:

I agree, ArriveCAN would seem to be a logical place to include eTA details along with passport and visa (if required) information in due course.

 

CBSA and CATSA staffing levels have also played a major role in the current airport woes. Neither organization has been able to match the demand brought on by the sudden surge of travellers, any more than the Passport Office has been able to meet the sudden demand for new and renewed passports.

eTA seems like a cash grab but I get it. Just hope the beurocracy doesn’t decide that it’s a source of revenue to support ArriveCan, aaaand increase the rate. There’s still many sites in Europe scamming the uninitiated to fill an eTA form that looks official but have conned people, like my sister, to paying far more. The inconvenience around changing credit cards and such, just for what should be 7.00 is crazy. So I’m doing hers by proxy. 
 

Granted, the resurgence of traffic in the 4 international airports, currently operating as such, is astronomical….but the resurgence of traffic to the CBSA would be reduced if the airline was able to re-start international flights from Halifax, Ottawa…? Yup. There’s an economy of scale. It’s getting pretty clear that AC isn’t financially and resource ready yet. In the meantime, why not re-deploy CBSA agents to Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver? Much less expensive and lowers risk to the airlines. Some waiting on tarmac, which messes up turnaround and departures. Just sayin’

[Fouremco]

16 hours ago, Tango99 said:

eTA seems like a cash grab but I get it. Just hope the beurocracy doesn’t decide that it’s a source of revenue to support ArriveCan, aaaand increase the rate. There’s still many sites in Europe scamming the uninitiated to fill an eTA form that looks official but have conned people, like my sister, to paying far more. The inconvenience around changing credit cards and such, just for what should be 7.00 is crazy. So I’m doing hers by proxy. 
 

Granted, the resurgence of traffic in the 4 international airports, currently operating as such, is astronomical….but the resurgence of traffic to the CBSA would be reduced if the airline was able to re-start international flights from Halifax, Ottawa…? Yup. There’s an economy of scale. It’s getting pretty clear that AC isn’t financially and resource ready yet. In the meantime, why not re-deploy CBSA agents to Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver? Much less expensive and lowers risk to the airlines. Some waiting on tarmac, which messes up turnaround and departures. Just sayin’

The GOC introduced eTA to identify travellers from the visa-exempt nations. The program commenced in 2016, long before ArriveCAN, and the $7 fee was based on cost recovery. I'd be very surprised if that fee still covers the cost of running the program, and I imagine that in time the price will go up, but not to support ArriveCAN. The eTA program is run by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, whereas ArriveCAN is a joint CBSA and PHAC program.  

[Magicat]

Just recently went through YYZ.  Returning, it would appear that the bottleneck was at those declaration machines have set up to take your declaration and your picture.  A passengers arriving on a flight from Tokyo at the same time as us seem to struggle at filling out their declaration.  Someone suggested that the machines were only in French and English.  

Leaving was not as painful.  Again the hold up was security screening.  Not the actual procedure but the staff running it.  There was no sense of urgency in their work nor did they really care.   Empty bins would block new bins from coming down the conveyor.  A properly motivated staff would greatly improve this area.

 

Went through LGA and it is an awesome airport.  Whomever designed that new terminal deserves a medal.  Very quick and efficient check in and security.  

[1kaper]

19 minutes ago, Magicat said:

Just recently went through YYZ.  Returning, it would appear that the bottleneck was at those declaration machines have set up to take your declaration and your picture.  A passengers arriving on a flight from Tokyo at the same time as us seem to struggle at filling out their declaration.  Someone suggested that the machines were only in French and English.  

Leaving was not as painful.  Again the hold up was security screening.  Not the actual procedure but the staff running it.  There was no sense of urgency in their work nor did they really care.   Empty bins would block new bins from coming down the conveyor.  A properly motivated staff would greatly improve this area.

 

Went through LGA and it is an awesome airport.  Whomever designed that new terminal deserves a medal.  Very quick and efficient check in and security.  

 

Hmm.  I thought that the machines had a wide options of languages but can't quite remember. 

My favourite was going through YUL last week and getting "randomly" selected for a covid test.  I know it's a thing.  I have no problem with it.  But the lady asked me to write down all my information and then typed it in.  Two fingers.  I was stressing because my flight was boarding in 10 minutes.  I explained to her I knew I had to do this but I was also hurrying to make a connection.  Her response was "everyone here has a connection".  I explained I meant boarding soon.  And my gate was far. 
Turns out I was the lucky one.  Some people behind me had a flight already boarding.  When I got to my gate they were calling last call for that flight.  I knew people behind me didn't make it (their gate was past mine). 
I was frustrated that they would have someone in a data entry position who was could not do data entry. She was two finger typing and despite writing my stuff clearly I ended up spelling everything for her. 

 

Still haven't gotten my results...

[Tango99]

20 hours ago, 1kaper said:

 

Hmm.  I thought that the machines had a wide options of languages but can't quite remember. 

My favourite was going through YUL last week and getting "randomly" selected for a covid test.  I know it's a thing.  I have no problem with it.  But the lady asked me to write down all my information and then typed it in.  Two fingers.  I was stressing because my flight was boarding in 10 minutes.  I explained to her I knew I had to do this but I was also hurrying to make a connection.  Her response was "everyone here has a connection".  I explained I meant boarding soon.  And my gate was far. 
Turns out I was the lucky one.  Some people behind me had a flight already boarding.  When I got to my gate they were calling last call for that flight.  I knew people behind me didn't make it (their gate was past mine). 
I was frustrated that they would have someone in a data entry position who was could not do data entry. She was two finger typing and despite writing my stuff clearly I ended up spelling everything for her. 

 

Still haven't gotten my results...

I must have had the same lady.🙄 I tried to explain I had already registered as there is an option to do that as a feature of ArriveCan. She didn’t even bother looking. Then my (PCR) result arrived 2 days later. 

[Tango99]

On 5/14/2022 at 12:25 PM, Fouremco said:

The GOC introduced eTA to identify travellers from the visa-exempt nations. The program commenced in 2016, long before ArriveCAN, and the $7 fee was based on cost recovery. I'd be very surprised if that fee still covers the cost of running the program, and I imagine that in time the price will go up, but not to support ArriveCAN. The eTA program is run by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, whereas ArriveCAN is a joint CBSA and PHAC program.  

Let’s hope the work you mentioned being done to revamp ArriveCan incorporates the administrivia of various departments and agencies that confuses travellers. 

[1kaper]

1 hour ago, Tango99 said:

I must have had the same lady.🙄 I tried to explain I had already registered as there is an option to do that as a feature of ArriveCan. She didn’t even bother looking. Then my (PCR) result arrived 2 days later. 

I arrived Friday afternoon. It’s now Wednesday afternoon. No response. 

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, Tango99 said:

Let’s hope the work you mentioned being done to revamp ArriveCan incorporates the administrivia of various departments and agencies that confuses travellers. 

🤞 🤞 🤞

[Magicat]

54 minutes ago, 1kaper said:

I arrived Friday afternoon. It’s now Wednesday afternoon. No response. 

I was randomly selected when we arrived on Thursday into Toronto.  I flew to Mexico City on Sunday and that is when they sent my results.  It was negative.  I wonder what would have happened if I were positive?

[1kaper]

Lol. 
 

i finally got a phone call but missed it. I went in and looked again at my junk mail and actually looked at one and decided it was definitely junk. It wanted me to open an attachment. Very spammy looking. 
 

then I looked at the card they gave me and it was the same company name. I got my results last Friday but the email looked like pure phishing.