[morgin]

Originally Posted by Stealth22

We had basically the same experience in December, flying through YVR to/from Hawaii.

Our flight out of YYC was delayed by nearly an hour because the dude driving the de-icing truck was a moron. I knew something was wrong the instant the F/A's announced to disarm doors (they had just been armed for pushback) and the lights came back on. The Captain confirmed my suspicions when he came on the PA to inform us that the de-icing truck had made contact with the tail, and the tail had to be inspected by maintenance before the aircraft would be allowed to fly.

Anyway, after spending the ride to YVR being stressed out, we landed and found out that our connecting flight had been delayed and was waiting for half the people on the first flight from YYC. We essentially had to haul ass and trek across the entire airport, clear US Customs and security. We made it to the gate just barely on time, but the whole experience was stressful, and because our original departure time out of YYC was 7:00AM, we were exhausted.

Coming back home was pretty much the same - long line at Canada Customs, bus through the underbelly, walking outside, up and down various temporary ramps. And again, had to haul ass to the gate, made it barely on time, and the agents made snarky comments about us being late.

I wouldn't say that YVR is as bad as LAX or LHR, but it wasn't the best connection experience. I would put YYZ connections ahead of YVR, and that's saying something. If I ever have to connect via YVR again to the US, I'm going to do my best to ensure we have at least 2~2.5 hours between flights.

Ours was delayed because they were understaffed and hadn't scheduled enough people to work ground and so there was no one to load our luggage. Literally that was the reason they told us. Admire the honesty, but yeesh.