Vancouver Airport/Customs Question

[Shesa-Renegade]

My son and I will arrive at the Vancouver airport on different airlines within 30 minutes of each other (coming from different areas of the country). He is flying in on US Air and I will be on Delta. I arrive first and am curious, should I proceed through customs and wait for him on the other side or wait for him in the customs area as it is only a 30 minute period? Does everyone go through the same customs area? Do you pick up your luggage before you head through customs or after?

 

Any help you can give me will be greatly appreciated.

[MacThespian]

My son and I will arrive at the Vancouver airport on different airlines within 30 minutes of each other (coming from different areas of the country). He is flying in on US Air and I will be on Delta. I arrive first and am curious, should I proceed through customs and wait for him on the other side or wait for him in the customs area as it is only a 30 minute period? Does everyone go through the same customs area? Do you pick up your luggage before you head through customs or after?

 

Any help you can give me will be greatly appreciated.

 

I'd go through the line and wait for on the other side. The lines don't all move at the same pace, and you'll have to declare individually anyhow.

[ell52]

I'd suggest you go through customs when you arrive and not wait.

 

You pick up your luggage after you clear customs & immigration, and since you're on different flights, your luggage will be on different carousels at different times anyways.

 

The luggage claim area might be a reasonable place to wait for your son. It's a fairly open area with seating and free luggage carts. Once you get your bags, you can sit down where you can see the people coming through the customs lines (and/or he can look out for you).

 

Alternatively, go all the way out to the arrivals/greeting area and wait. However, I must warn you that it is almost always busy and congested with people standing, sitting and waiting for arriving passengers.

[ell52]

Further to what I said in my previous post, here is a link to a map of the Customs and luggage claims area:

 

http://www.yvr.ca/pdf/guide/itb_arrivals_map.pdf

 

I suggest you go through the area that says "Customs Processing" (where you present your passport, etc.) and into the area that says, "Customs and Immigration Hall" with the numbers. This is actually the luggage claim area. (The numbers are luggage carousel numbers.) That's where I'd meet him. Perhaps pick a carousel number or meet in front of the info desk.

 

As you can see by the map, the "Public Greeting Area" is very small and not all that pleasant an area to wait.

[Shesa-Renegade]

Thank you so much for the information and the maps! I will print this out and send him a copy as well.

[scottbee]

My son and I will arrive at the Vancouver airport on different airlines within 30 minutes of each other (coming from different areas of the country). He is flying in on US Air and I will be on Delta. I arrive first and am curious, should I proceed through customs and wait for him on the other side or wait for him in the customs area as it is only a 30 minute period? Does everyone go through the same customs area? Do you pick up your luggage before you head through customs or after?

 

Any help you can give me will be greatly appreciated.

 

The order you'll go through is:

 

1. Immegration
   
2. Pick up bags
   
3. Customs(which most of the time just involves handing a card over)
   
4. exit the international area to a small seating/greeting area.
   

I would just wait as the greeting area, there are a lot of seats, and it's comfortable, plus an information desk, and arrival monitors, so you can see the status of his/her flight.

[WestfieldTraveler]

Hi,

we'll be coming off of a six-hour flight from Newark into YVR at 10:44am , and we would like to get trough customs as soon as possible, get the luggage, and get into a rental car and go (as we would like to make the Boeing tour down in Everett that day). Of course, I'm sure there would be some members of my party who would like to grab a bite to eat, so a few questions.

 

- How long does the typical plane arrival, luggage retrieval and inspections, rental car process take?

- What would be the best place in-terminal or on the way out to grab a bite? I'm thinking of Fast food, not fancy with a minimum of delay.

- Is either Budget or Hertz preferable for some reason - I've got a good rate for either, and plan to drop the car a few days later in town before the cruise.

 

Thanks in advance!

[orchid72]

Hi,

we'll be coming off of a six-hour flight from Newark into YVR at 10:44am , and we would like to get trough customs as soon as possible, get the luggage, and get into a rental car and go (as we would like to make the Boeing tour down in Everett that day). Of course, I'm sure there would be some members of my party who would like to grab a bite to eat, so a few questions.

 

- How long does the typical plane arrival, luggage retrieval and inspections, rental car process take?

I would budget about 1 hr from the time your plane touches down. Of course, this is assuming you are picking up your car from an airport location, and not off-site.

 

- What would be the best place in-terminal or on the way out to grab a bite? I'm thinking of Fast food, not fancy with a minimum of delay.

There is a food court in the international departures area (fast food). You can easily get to it from the international arrivals/greeting area - just take the escalator or elevator up one level.

 

- Is either Budget or Hertz preferable for some reason - I've got a good rate for either, and plan to drop the car a few days later in town before the cruise. Thanks in advance!

- Both Hertz and Budget have locations downtown that are relatively close to the cruise ship terminal. You may want to verify with them if they have a shuttle that will take you to the pier.

 

- As an alternative, you may want to try National because they have an on-site airport kiosk, and a location at Canada Place pier. If I am not mistaken, they might also have a shuttle service, which will come in handy if you are boarding at Ballantyne.

 

- You may also want to check out Alamo because they have an on-site airport kiosk and their downtown location offers shuttle service that will take you to both Canada Place and Ballantyne piers.