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News / Air Canada: Check-in and Boarding Times
Travelling from Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) to the U.S. or an international destination?
If you have an international flight, please arrive at the airport at least 3 hours prior to your flight departure time as processing times are longer due to COVID-19.
Before arriving at the airport:
Ensure you have submitted any pre-departure forms and complete a COVID-19 PCR test, if required. You are responsible for ensuring you meet the entry requirements of your destination.
Additionally, to reduce congestion at security and customs, the check-in and baggage drop-off deadline will be 90 minutes for all flights from Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) to a U.S. or international destination.
At the airport:
Additionally for Toronto Pearson flights departing to the U.S. before 12:00pm, to optimize the flow of customers, Air Canada has introduced a new queue system for security and customs. After you check-in, look for the signage to determine which queue you should enter for your flight.
Air Canada apologizes in advance for any additional wait times as they work to make your experience at Toronto Pearson as seamless as possible.
It’s important to arrive at the airport well in advance of your flight, so you have plenty of time to check in, drop off your bags and go through security screening.
- Check-in deadlines
To avoid delays at the airport, Air Canada encourages you to check in from 24 hours prior to departure using your Air Canada App or online. If you prefer to check in at the airport, please arrive well before the check-in deadlines indicated below - Baggage drop-off
Make sure to arrive well before the baggage drop-off counter closes, as you cannot check bags once the deadlines below have passed. Overweight baggage can take longer to check. Use the checked baggage calculator to determine your free baggage allowance and any fees
Check-in and boarding gate deadlines
As processing times at the airport are longer than normal due to COVID-19, it’s important to respect the following deadlines for your itinerary. Failure to respect them may result in the reassignment of any reserved seats, the cancellation of reservations, and/or ineligibility for denied boarding compensation.
Check-in and boarding gate deadlines
Itinerary | When to arrive at the airport | Check-in & baggage drop off deadline | Boarding gate deadline** | Boarding gate closes*** |
---|---|---|---|---|
Within Canada | 90 minutes | 45 minutes | 30 minutes | 15 minutes |
To/from the U.S. | 120 minutes From Toronto (YYZ) & Montréal (YUL): 180 minutes (3 hours)* | 60 minutes | 30 minutes | 15 minutes |
From Toronto (YYZ) 90 minutes | ||||
International (including Mexico and the Caribbean) | 180 minutes From international airports: 240 minutes (4 hours) | 60 minutes | 45 minutes | 30 minutes |
From Toronto (YYZ) 90 minutes |
* If you are travelling to the U.S., you must clear U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) prior to departure in Canada. Note that for morning departures, pre-board security screening at YYZ opens at 6:30 am; YUL opens at 6:15 am.
** This is the latest you should be at the departure gate, ready for boarding.
*** Arriving after this time will result in reassignment of any reserved seats, the cancellation of reservations, and/or ineligibility for denied boarding compensation.
For more information, please visit aircanada.com.