Pearson Airport Pickup

sctfung wrote: ↑

Sep 11th, 2012 8:16 pm

Hi I am picking up a friend that is arriving from California to Pearson Toronto via United Airlines.

It is my first time picking up someone from airport so I have a few questions. It is also my friend's first time in Pearson airport too.

1. Which terminal should I be picking up?
2. Where should I be parking? What is the cost?
3. Is there an arrival area?

1. Your friend would be able to tell you their arrival terminal. If they don't know, do a search on the Pearson website with the flight number.
2. There is a "Cell Phone" lot where you can wait for a short period of time. It is free. However, you must remain with your vehicle. If you prefer to wait and greet your friend at the gate inside the airport, you'll have to park. You can park at the airport parking lots, or at the value lot (a bit cheaper). You can find the prices on the Pearson site.
3. Each terminal has a "Departure" and "Arrival" area. When you drive to the airport, there are signs to direct you to the appropriate area. If you get lost inside the airport, ask someone at the information booths and they'll help you.

Look up the flight number on Google and it should tell you which terminal you should be at.

If I recall, United Airlines does not fly direct from LAX to YYZ...there's a chance it's an Air Canada codeshare if it's direct.

Otherwise, their flight is going to stop somewhere else....likely ORD or DEN. So double check so you know exactly where they're coming from.

Regardless, United and Air Canada both fly into Terminal 1.

If you know the date and flight number use http://flightaware.com/ and you can follow the plane's travel updated every 6 minutes.

Watch how you go driving around the airport, assume 50% or more are also strangers trying to find the airport and tend to swerve wherever they have a feeling for.

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All you need is their flight number. Don't blindly trust your friend for the terminal number and just look up their flight number yourself. You should be doing this anyways to see if their flight will be arriving early, on time, or if it's delayed and adjust your travel time accordingly.

1) Search Flight Number on www.torontopearson.com and click on Flights > Flight Search. Note the Estimated Time of Arrival and its status, and the Terminal number it will be arriving at.

2) Plan your travel time. Googlemap to figure out the time it takes to drive to the airport. For international flights it will take your friend about 40-45minutes from the time their plane lands to them walking through the arrival gates. The time of arrival means the landing time. So if their flight lands at 8:00pm, and it takes you half an hour to drive to the airport, you should leave your house by 8pm, get to pearson 8:30, park and walk over to the gate by 8:45. Add another 10-15minutes to your overall travel time if you want to play it safe or account for things like traffic, more if it is during rush hour traffic.

3) Driving to the airport. When you arrive at the airport follow the signs for Terminal 1 or Terminal 3. Once you reach the terminal, follow the signs pointing you for "Arrivals". Arrivals take you to the lower level of the terminal.

4) Parking. Follow the Signs pointing you for "Parking". As it is your friend's first time to Toronto, you really should meet them at the gate. Forget about the value parking or the cars pulled over on the curb you see as you exit the highway - this would be okay if you are picking up someone familiar with Toronto or someone that's family. Once you have parked, note the floor and section you parked at, and walk over to the terminal.

5) Arrival Gate. When you enter the terminal at every entrance you will see LCD screens hanging overhead displaying information for all arriving flights at this terminal. Look for your friend's flight number and it will tell you which arrival gate they will be walking through. Typically domestic and american flights are on the far right and everything else is far left, but check anyways to be sure. If you get lost just ask someone at an information booth for help. If you are early, look around for a shelf of tourism pamphlets as those usually contain coupons or discounts to some of Toronto's most popular attractions if you plan on taking your friend to any.

noNuser wrote: ↑

Sep 11th, 2012 11:05 pm

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Only if you want to get the landing alert update hours later...

FlightBoard would be more useful.

Xpwmata wrote: ↑

Sep 12th, 2012 12:58 am

Only if you want to get the landing alert update hours later...

FlightBoard would be more useful.

No difference

If you want to save money and not park at the parking lot, tell your friend to exit and go to area C or D. This is closer to the end of the arrival pick up lane. The buses and taxis can be at the first lane. Others have to go to the second lane, meaning arriving passengers need to cross the lane to the next island waiting area. A lot of people pick up there. If you wait at the cell phone area, then when they go through customs, pickup luggage, and walk out to wait there, they can call you. It'll be a few short minutes to drive there and pick them up.

noNuser wrote: ↑

Sep 12th, 2012 2:17 am

No difference

big difference

What I would do is go to the cell phone waiting area (I hate seeing people pulled over on the side of the roads, when it clearing says "no stopping", why don't people just use the cell phone lots??). Anyway, you can check arrival then. Since they have to clear customs, probably get their bag, etc. you can see when they "arrive" then go park in the actual lot to meet them at the gate and you should get there in time for them to come out. and you might be lucky to only pay for 30 minutes of parking (I think you have a bit of wiggle room on the 30 minutes). I think they also give you 15 minutes to leave the airport so may for the parking with the machine as soon as you get back over to the parking area.