Kathleen Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 US Citizen here. I’ll be flying home from Canada and not sure of Customs clearance upon entry airport into US. How long of a layover should we plan for? TIA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riley Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 Many Canadian airports have US Customs ahead of the US-bound boarding area, so once your flight lands you're typically in a domestic terminal with no need to go through Customs again. So if you're flying, say, Vancouver to St. Louis and going through Chicago you will not need to add extra time to clear customs in Chicago. HOWEVER going to the Canadian airport you will need to build in time to clear both security and customs before getting to your plane. If you give details I will try to answer further, as I have flown in and out of most large Canadian airports. eman0925, Shari and ChessE4 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathleen Posted January 7 Author Report Share Posted January 7 @Riley We will fly out of Vancouver and currently can fly through DFW with a longer layover of 2 1/2 hours or flying through MSP with just 55 mins (which is not a lot of time regardless). Also we are more than likely going to stay at the Fairmont at the airport the night before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 Vancouver has pre-clearance, so you won't need to go through customs again once you land in the USA. Pattycruise, dmattinson, Kathleen and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riley Posted January 8 Report Share Posted January 8 Thanks @smokeybandit for jumping in. If it was me, I'd do the longer layover in DFW, especially if I were sitting toward the back of the inbound plane. Minnpls isn't a big airport but a few minutes of "we are waiting for our gate to open up" and you're really squeezing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted January 8 Report Share Posted January 8 Also 2.5 hours at DFW really isn't that long if you have to change terminals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted January 8 Report Share Posted January 8 There are a couple of... "it depends" answers to your question. Since you booked a US airline leaving from Vancouver then you will almost assuredly do CBP clearance at YVR airport in Vancouver. This airport can also have long CBP processing times at certain times of the day so give yourself lots of time before your flight coming off the ship in Vancouver. If you booked a Canadian airline such as Air Canada to fly home they can sometimes connect in a Canadian city first which is where you may or may not have pre-clearance for the next hop into the US. If such a flight connects in Toronto for example, Pearson airport is notorious for having long CBP preclearance wait times. I am including this for anyone else who may read this post. If you have Nexus then you cut a lot of time off the process in both Vancouver or Toronto. Global Entry only (not Nexus) does help a bit but you still have to do the standard initial security line with only GE. Nexus card holders get sort of a TSA Precheck like security queue which at certain times of the day can save 30 minutes or more. Sometimes the Nexus card hardly saves any time, it depends on the volume at that moment. Flying from YVR to MSP is essentially a domestic flight when you do CBP clearance in YVR. Fifty five minutes is a "legal" domestic connection but starting to verge on being a tight connection these days. At MSP for some reason I always connect at far flung ends of different terminals. Even traveling solo and being pretty efficient as a frequent flyer I don't like a 55 minute connection. Shari 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathleen Posted January 8 Author Report Share Posted January 8 @Riley @smokeybandit @twangster thanks so much for all your information. We will disembark on Friday October 4 and Stay at the Fairmont Airport and fly out on Saturday October 5 at 730. We have pre Check but not Nexus. (Maybe I should look into that) Should we a lot for 2 1/2 hours or 3 hours prior to boarding to Check in and clear customs at YVR. I know this is all pretty far in advance but I’m a planner, and find that is half the fun of traveling!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted January 8 Report Share Posted January 8 I would get to the airport a bit earlier than you normally would. You go through Canadian customs then go through American customs, so it can take a bit longer. Kathleen 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zacharius Posted January 8 Report Share Posted January 8 2 hours ago, smokeybandit said: Also 2.5 hours at DFW really isn't that long if you have to change terminals. Disagree. 2.5 hours at DFW is an absolute eternity. The train is super quick with multiple stops at each terminal with frequent service in both directions. I've ever traveled with someone in a wheelchair from two of the gates that are furthest apart and it took like 25 minutes. By myself, I can get from pretty much any gate to any other gate within 12-15 minutes. Granted, I am quoting gate-to-gate and not seat-to-seat, but even if it takes 15 minutes to unload the plane, you still have ages of time. BMW Hoosier 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCSC Mike Posted January 8 Report Share Posted January 8 This may not apply to the OP but if anyone ever takes a red-eye home (as we did from Vancouver in 2018), customs is not there 24 hrs/day (or at least it wasn't for us). We were not able to go through customs there due to our late departure time. We went through customs in Chicago upon arrival (very early AM) and it took a matter of minutes. NOTE: I was pretty delirious at this point after an 18-day vacation and red-eye but I'm pretty sure I got the details right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted January 8 Report Share Posted January 8 14 minutes ago, Zacharius said: Disagree. 2.5 hours at DFW is an absolute eternity. The train is super quick with multiple stops at each terminal with frequent service in both directions. I've ever traveled with someone in a wheelchair from two of the gates that are furthest apart and it took like 25 minutes. By myself, I can get from pretty much any gate to any other gate within 12-15 minutes. Granted, I am quoting gate-to-gate and not seat-to-seat, but even if it takes 15 minutes to unload the plane, you still have ages of time. I don't fly through Dallas a lot, but when I do it seems to take forever to switch terminals Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zacharius Posted January 8 Report Share Posted January 8 1 hour ago, smokeybandit said: I don't fly through Dallas a lot, but when I do it seems to take forever to switch terminals I'm there seemingly every other week haha. Heading out tomorrow to go to Seoul via DFW. I find it amazing how efficient it is for the size it is. I've never had too much of a problem switching terminals. I believe the entire ring (around the five terminals (plus where the sixth terminal should be, but isn't) takes less than 20 minutes, with the two furthest stations being nine minutes apart (plus the walk to/from the gate, of course). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted January 8 Report Share Posted January 8 53 minutes ago, Zacharius said: I'm there seemingly every other week haha. Heading out tomorrow to go to Seoul via DFW. I find it amazing how efficient it is for the size it is. I've never had too much of a problem switching terminals. I believe the entire ring (around the five terminals (plus where the sixth terminal should be, but isn't) takes less than 20 minutes, with the two furthest stations being nine minutes apart (plus the walk to/from the gate, of course). The last time I was through Dallas was on my way to the Bahamas for a cruise in 2021. I was probably just anxious to get there and that's why it felt like the tram took so long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zacharius Posted January 9 Report Share Posted January 9 18 hours ago, smokeybandit said: The last time I was through Dallas was on my way to the Bahamas for a cruise in 2021. I was probably just anxious to get there and that's why it felt like the tram took so long. I'm currently in the air to DFW and have a connection of negative 30 minutes now due to a weather delay at my origin...so we'll see how efficient DFW is In reality instead of DFW-ICN, AA already rebooked me on DFW-HND-GMP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted January 9 Report Share Posted January 9 36 minutes ago, Zacharius said: In reality instead of DFW-ICN, AA already rebooked me on DFW-HND-GMP. What's a couple extra hours when you would have already been on a plane for 14 hours? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMW Hoosier Posted January 10 Report Share Posted January 10 On 1/8/2024 at 10:53 AM, Riley said: Minnpls isn't a big airport MSP has some of the potential longest walks in the country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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