Pearson Shared How To 'Save Time' At The Airport & Here's What International Fliers Can Do
All you need is your phone!
Flying into Toronto Pearson Airport. Right: A person on their phone.
If you could wave a magic wand to fix one thing at Toronto Pearson Airport, would it be to cut how much time you wait in line?
Well, the Toronto-based airport just shared a tip that could save international fliers some time at the customs line — and all you'll need is your phone.
In a tweet on August 2, Pearson encouraged travellers to use the new Advance Declaration feature in the ArriveCAN app so they can "save time" when landing at the airport from abroad. This new feature allows fliers to fill out and submit their customs and immigration information up to 72 hours before they land.
"Preparing your customs and immigration declaration for the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) in advance will simplify your arrival experience at our busiest airports," the government travel agency said in a news release.
This means anyone at Pearson is encouraged to use it, as well as those flying into Vancouver International Airport and Montreal-Trudeau International Airport. It's not yet available at other Canadian airports, but the CBSA says it will be sometime this year.
If you're wondering how exactly it works, it's fairly simple.
According to the CBSA, all you'll need to do to submit your declaration in advance is confirm your travel document information (like your passport, for example), answer all of the customs and immigration questions honestly, and file it within 72 hours of arriving into Canada.
Then, you'll get a confirmation email that your Advance CBSA Declaration went through and it will come with a reference number.
When you land at Pearson, you'll scan your travel documents at the airport kiosk or eGate, and review your declaration (plus, edit it if you have to) before you submit it to the CBSA. From there you'll take the receipt to a border services officer for further processing, and that's that.
Even though this new feature is optional, international fliers still have to fill out ArriveCAN with all their travel and health information when they come to Canada.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.