5.5 hr layover in Toronto...

[christybell]

Hi, seen a decent price via Toronto next summer... my concern is the 5.5 hr layover on the way to Miami is too long...

Any info on Toronto airport would be appreciated? How long does immigration take (appreciate if can vary)


My thoughts are clear immigration, go for some food, wander the shops... can we kill the time

Feedback welcome

[snowbelle]

Toronto airport for transit is not very big, like all immigration wait questions it can be similar to the 'how long is a piece of string question'.. we have gone through in ten minutes and last year it was about 30/40 minutes.

By the time you get off the plane, take a slow walk to immigration ,go through, get coffee/food etc you could potentially only be looking at 2.5/3 hour wait which ours was.
It does seem a long time but our plane was 20 mins leaving as well from the UK so before we knew it it was time to get sorted after loo/ snack stop visits to board again.

I like Toronto for the pre clearance so you would avoid the dreaded Miami airport international immigration as you would arrive as a domestic passenger.

[Guest]

There is absolutely nothing to do in TO airport; I used to commute through it every week when we lived there.

Coffee and Beer (beer expensive but lovely) are about the only stores you will see.

[christybell]

Thanks folks, its early days and connection isnt great so think I will hold out for now

[jdouds]

Hi have you considered staying, we did this twice and took a trip to Niagara Falls and a day at the zoo when the kids where younger. Then the next day travelled down on flight and arrived 1 o'clock and fresh, flight was about 2 .5 hours

[blades]

We liked Toronto that much we are doing a city break there next year - loads to do in the area and very friendly people

[christybell]

Originally Posted by jdouds

Hi have you considered staying, we did this twice and took a trip to Niagara Falls and a day at the zoo when the kids where younger. Then the next day travelled down on flight and arrived 1 o'clock and fresh, flight was about 2 .5 hours

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Would love to stay over but just not enough days as it is unfortunately... ...

[MinniMouse]

If I were you I'd book them if it was a good price. We flew Delta EDI to MCO via JFK. We had a 5 hr layover. Like you I was thinking it would be too long. Our flight was about an hour and a half late leaving Edinburgh. It took nearly 2 hours to get through JFK. We had to go through passport control, collect luggage, put luggage back into Delta baggage system, go through security again and get to gate. We then had just over an hour to kill. The queues at JFK were horrendous. I was very glad of our flight times. Coming back our connecting flight was delayed, weather in new york, so we were put on Aer Lingus flights via dublin hours later.

[YorkshireT]

Normally if I go somewhere with that sort of layover, I look at a potential jaunt into town if doable. On 6 hour layovers I've been into Chicago, NYC and Philadelphia. Even if it's just a quick train in, an hour there and a quick bite to eat in Subway, it breaks up the trip and of course you have no luggage. Kids have always found it quite exciting.
I always aim though to be back 2 hours before the flight in order to get through security etc. This means I'll only do it if there are regular trains from airport and journey is no more than about half an hour.
Not sure what situation is at Toronto, but I'd be looking to do it so I could say I've been to Toronto.
Depends if flight gets there early/ on time and how quick through immigration. When we went into NYC we were off the plane at Newark and through immigration in 20 mins. We had over 5 hours, train right outside every 20 mins or so, thought 'why not'. Kids had a hotdog, we had a quick look around area near station and headed back. Kids found it exciting as hadn't been to NYC at that point.