We fly on Air Canada out of Phila to Toronto and have approx a 2 hours window in Toronto to catch our next plane to Calgary. Do we go through customs in Calgary? If the answer is ';no';, we go through customs in Toronto, can we go through customs in Phila so we don%26#39;t have to in Toronto?
If the anwer is ';no'; again, and we have to go through customs in Toronto, to expedite the process do you advise we carry on our luggage to avoid any lost or late baggage delays in Toronto? I%26#39;m assuming that we%26#39;ll need to have our luggage at customs in Toronto?
we are flying to Calgary, Alberta Canada on 9/4 via Toronto.
Q-Do you go through Canadian customs in Calgary?
ANSWER-No. You will do it in Toronto unless Canadian Customs and Border Services Agency maintains a preclearance facility in Philadelphia. Don%26#39;t know if they do. Their website wasn%26#39;t helpful in this regard so I suggest that you call Air Canada and ask.
[The general rule is that you go through customs and immigration at the first port or gateway of entry into a foreign country. At a limited number of airports, foreign officials are permitted under agreement to preclear travelers enroute to their country as though they already had arrived at the foreign destination. US Customs and Border Protection, for example, has so-called preclearance facilities in major Canadian airports, as well as in Ireland, Aruba and the Bahamas.
Q-Can you go through customs in Philadelphia to avoid doing it in Toronto?
ANSWER. Only if Canada maintains customs and immigration officials in Philadelphia for preclearance into Canada. If they do, you would be required to use it. You would not have an option.
NOTE: For your return flight, US customs and immigration DOES have preclearance in both Calgary and Toronto. So, you will clear US customs and immigration in Canada, not in Philadelphia (or whichever US city you arrive in after visiting Canada).
Q-Advisable to carry on rather than to check luggage?
ANSWER. Yes, sadly it is always a good idea these days. Lost and misplaced luggage is a fact of life for air travel, especially when not flying non-stop.
we are flying to Calgary, Alberta Canada on 9/4 via Toronto.
Q-Advisable to carry on rather than to check luggage?
I%26#39;ve never had a problem passing through PHL with lost luggage, nor has any one I%26#39;ve talked to. Of course, if you can fit all your luggage in the carry on, then do it. Not only from fear of lost luggage, but for the wait time at the airports.
PHL is not really so bad for lost luggage. You wait forever to GET your luggage, but way more often than not it does in fact show up.
As long as you get to PHL within 2-3 hours of your flight you should be fine, your only real risk is the change in TOR, because most likely you will have to claim bags and re-check. Even then, unless your flight is delayed should not be an issue.
I%26#39;m against the %26#39;pack everything into a carryon trend%26#39; as it tends to lead to people wheeling bags down aisles that have no business going down aisles, then trying to shove heavy bags into overhead bins, which often does not end well.
If I may add to the discussion on whether to check luggage or carry it on, it is not so much the airport one has to worry about as the airline. I guess that experiences (good or bad) influence our decisions.
Though I very much share Loonbeam%26#39;s concerns about oversized bags, my personal experiences (50,000 to 80,000 flight miles annually, in the US, Canada, Europe, Asia and South America) with checking bags have been very unsatisfactory.
By ';unsatisfactory';, I mean that--by actual count--the airlines have lost my luggage one out of every four times that I have checked it. In one case, it was a marvelous trifecta, with checked luggage lost 3 flights in a row. Each of the three flights was a non-stop for which I had checked in an hour early. None of my flights was on Air Canada or US Air and none originated or ended in Philadelphia, if that helps to reassure anyone.
In the past 5 years, I have arrived without luggage on separate business trips to Hawaii, Washington, DC, Taiwan, Lisbon, Montreal, NYC and San Francisco. I have also been on a ski vacation without skis and a golfing trip without clubs. Sure, eventually (within 24 to 72 hours) the luggage is located and delivered to me, but that is of little help when you miss 2 days of a 5 day ski trip or arrive without your bags at midnight after 12 hours of flying and have a 7:30 a.m. breakfast presentation.
For these reasons, whenever possible--and it obviously isn%26#39;t always--I pack lightly and carry on. Everyone that I know who travels extensively on business does likewise. . . .for the same reasons. Sorry to sound so adamant, but my checked bags have traveled to more cities than I have!
I%26#39;ll be the counter argument, though with the full disclaimer that my job changed in 2k5 and I know it is worse now.
In 2k5 I took 98 flights (most non-stop, some with connects) for business (still have my spreadsheet with all the data). Pretty much every major carrier, and a few not so major). Total times luggage misplaced? 4. My notes for 2k4 were pretty similar.
Another caveat, my suitcase is large and screaming neon red. Might have helped cause someone is noticing that baby.
Guess I am just going to have to get a neon red suitcase! THAT might get me noticed but I am not sure in the way that I want.
Loonbeam%26#39;s comments just illustrate how everyone%26#39;s experiences are different and knowing the spectrum at least means no surprises. Loonbeam, I would trade places with you anyday! LOL
I should add, one thing I ALWAYS do is put a copy of my flight itinerary on the luggage tags (yes, plural, 2 on every bag). All my tags hold business cards, I just print on the blank avery ones, one set for the way out and one set for the way in. That way if somehow a tag gets ripped off they can still TRY to get ti to the right spot.
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