Vancouver airport question

seashell724

DIS Veteran
Joined
Sep 26, 2007
We are flying into Vancouver and connecting to go to Disneyland!
I haven't been to Vancouver and done customs in about 8 years and can't remember how it goes.
Is it a crazy walk from WJ arrival to customs?
Do you know if we have to pick up our luggage and take it through and re-check it afterward?
I just pray it isn't as bad as TO which always is a gong show and leaves me entirely stressed out.
Thanks!
 
Two years ago we flew through Vancouver on our way to Maui on West Jet. It was quite a long walk to customs...felt like we walked the entire length of the airport. We didn't have to re-check our luggage, but after clearing customs we had to sit in this small room and wait for our name to appear on a screen. Once it appeared we proceeded to the counter and had to identify a picture of our bags on a computer screen. Then we were able to either go to the gate or pass through security again...can't remember that part. I remember the picture of our suitcase part because I had never done that before. It was quite painless and not very busy.
 
I called Westjet last week with this question for DD, coming from Winnipeg and going through customs in Calgary. I was told that yes, she would have to get her checked luggage before going through customs.
 


We frequently fly YYC->YVR->SNA for disneyland. Customs in YVR is a HIKE!!!! However we've never had to collect our luggage we always just identify our luggage on a screen and then continue on.
 
We frequently fly YYC->YVR->SNA for disneyland. Customs in YVR is a HIKE!!!! However we've never had to collect our luggage we always just identify our luggage on a screen and then continue on.

Things recently changed, though, with U.S. Customs - early this summer, I believe. They say the U.S. customs now has even more enhanced security (although when we went down to Disneyland last month, it was strangely faster than it had ever been). Who knows.
 


Things recently changed, though, with U.S. Customs - early this summer, I believe. They say the U.S. customs now has even more enhanced security (although when we went down to Disneyland last month, it was strangely faster than it had ever been). Who knows.

Not sure when it changed but we flew this route in June and the process itself was the same as it had been on other trips though we used the new kiosks to scan our passports. Our baggage hadn't been transferred yet on an earlier trip (to Aulani in February) so we had to wait in a small area until our flight number was posted and then we could ID our bags and continue on as normal. If it's changed again more recently I'm not sure.
 
We flew YEG >>YVR>>SNA in August with Westjet. Our luggage was checked all the way through to Anaheim. US customs is an automated process and you identify luggage on a screen prior to proceeding to a US customs agent. No collecting bags.
It is a walk to customs from the Westjet arrival area, took us a leisurely 15 minutes or so with 2 kids.
On the way home Canadian customs is now automated as well and you do not need to collect you bags that way either if you are connecting domestically through Vancouver.
 
We had no line ups either way. We flew noonish on a Friday to the US and returned 5pm ish on a Friday as well.
They have many machines and agents, so it wasn't an issue for us.
 
I haven't heard of customs in Vancouver being super crazy in awhile. As long as your connections aren't super close, you'll be fine. When we traveled to SNA in January we just walked right up to the Customs agent. The Canadian arrivals/departures and US/International Departures are on opposite sides of the airport. In between will be customs. You would have to make the big walk to get to your gate to depart to Disneyland anyway. We also did not need to re-check our bags :-)
 
Thoughts about just having just a carry on luggage to avoid rechecking bags? We did that from Edmonton -Calgary- L.A. It saved a lot of time. We had only 1 hour to go through customs in Calgary before catching out flight to L.A. Just those few minutes of not waiting for your luggage to take to customs was helpful. We have connected in Vancouver in the past and yes, it is a long hike to customs. As said above, you would wait for your luggage to show on the screen before connecting to your flight.
 
It was a fluke that our bags didn't beat us there and I think our total wait time added was less than 5 minutes. My only issue was I had to pee and I couldn't do that until we got through the entire process so that 2-3 minutes we waited felt like an eternity for me haha
 

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