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| - Despite Pearson (terminal 1) having more of a facelift than my local airport (LAX), I really hate this airport. Why do I hate you, well, let me count the ways (aka: 10 Things I Hate About You: Pearson Edition)
1. Baggage check line. Even if you check in online, you have to wait at the Air Canada counter to tag your bag. And the line is always an hour long. Doesn't matter if you come morning, noon, or night. Give yourself an hour if you're flying with a bag and/or pet.
2. Customs line. The line started right at the entry to the customs galley and wrapped the length of the room five times over. This means that there were several hundred people trying to go through customs. You know how many customs agents were servicing these several hundred passengers? Six. Yes, 6. It took 1.5 hours to get through the customs line. And you have to have all of your baggage with you until you get through the line.
3. Security line. You'd think that all these lines would end when you get through customs. No, another half hour to get through security. The 1/2 star upside is that the guy who grabs your bag sometimes sings.
4. ID checking. We had to pull out our passport: at check-in/bag tagging, to get into the customs galley, to speak with a customs agent, to get into the security area, to get into a security line, and to board the plane. Yes, that's six times. You'd think that if we got through customs then we're in the clear, but having to pull out our passports every short while just worries me that we'll lose them at some point amidst chaos.
5. Poor layout (US side). It's long and the concessions are poorly spread out. In some areas they're bunched together, but in others there's nothing. Despite arriving at the airport 3.5 hours prior to our flight, we got through check-in/customs/security with about 45 minutes before our flight was to take off. Because our area was in the concessions desert, I had to walk to the other end of the US terminal to find any edibles, only to find lines that were too long to stand in. And when you land at Pearson, it's a solid 10 minute walk from the gate to the customs area.
6. Poor concessions options. Because of the long lines, if you grab-and-go, you're stuck with Fuzzy Peaches and Clodhoppers at outrageous prices. Even if you do have time to eat, the best options they have are Pizza Pizza and Tim Horton's, neither of which I'd patronize if it weren't the only option.
7. Unfriendly staff. Why is everyone who works at Pearson (except singing baggage guy) in a foul mood? Is it because all the passengers are in foul moods after waiting forever to get through any hurdles that Pearson sets up?
8. Slow baggage claim. Even though you have to go through customs on the Toronto side, when you get to baggage claim it's still a long wait to get through. And when a bag got stuck on the conveyor belt, it took a solid 15 minutes to get someone to fix it, which - by the way - consisted of a staff member getting onto the baggage carousel and throwing the stuck bag onto the carousel.
9. Poor management. When the flights are delayed, they're announced at the last minute. And more often than not, there's a delay coming out of this airport. Furthermore, the de-icing procedure (which by all means is necessary) is not efficiently run which just means that you may be sitting on the runway for 1-2 hours to wait for your plane to be de-iced, rather than waiting for us to board until the queue is shorter.
10. Least pet friendly airport. This obviously only matters to a few people, but it's a horrible place to fly through if traveling with pets. Because of all the lines and delays, a 5 hour flight becomes 10.5 hours from arriving at the airport. Unlike the other airports we've travelled with Murray through, which require him to be in his carrier only on the aircraft, Pearson requires pets to be in the carrier the moment they go into the customs galley. Which means 1.5 hours of picking him up, walking five feet, putting him down (he's a little to heavy to be held the whole time), then another half hour of carrying him through security, followed by waiting at the gate in a carrier and another 1-2 hours waiting on the runway. Luckily my pooch can hold it in for 10 hours and did okay, but that's a long time to be in a tiny carrier if you're not a teacup puppy, and really unfortunate when the flight is less than half of that amount of time.
Now Julia Stiles told Heath Ledger "Most of all, I don't hate you, Not even a little, Not even at all." Pearson, I don't feel the same way one bit. I hate you. So much. And despite getting a $5 Timmy's gift card for filling out a customer satisfaction survey 4.5 years ago, I think you don't care at all about passengers. Too bad the Toronto Islands airport only serves local flights. Maybe I'll start considering shuffle-ing off to Buffalo instead.
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