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| - There are pros and cons to the Montreal airport. We really enjoyed that there are is preclearance for customs to the United States. However, that resulted in a nightmare scenario for us with a cancelled flight.
Flying into Montreal airport is fine. It's a bit far away from the city center, but it is what it is. The immigration hall is new, which is nice for tourists.
Leaving Montreal, however, was a complete mess. We went to our gate after clearing customs, and so technically we were "in the United States." However, once we were there, our flight was canceled for weather reasons. Unfortunately, there were no flights leaving for the rest of the night, but we couldn't get out of the airport to go to a hotel because there wasn't really a way to just walk out of the airport. This was literally like that Tom Hanks movie "The Terminal," since we were basically in airport purgatory. After talking to airport people as well as airline workers to no avail, we went back to US customs. They were friendly enough, and guided us to an Air Canada agent who was willing to open the emergency doors to get to the immigration arrival hall. After that, we were able to get a pass back into the country, not a stamp in our passport or anything. That whole morass was very confusing, and the Montreal airport clearly doesn't have a procedure for cancelled flights.
Other than that, there aren't many amenities in the terminal itself. A few shops here and there, but not much beyond that.
Love Montreal, but the airport leaves a bit to be desired.
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