V-Flyer

Hi Everyone, thinking of going to Canada either this summer or next, and would like to do so using some of our Virgin miles.

This would involve arriving at a a US airport such as JFK, before continuing on to Canada.

Has anyone done this before, and is International-International connection any different to International-Domestic?

Thanks in advance for the V-Flyer help y)

Not much diference as you will still have to clear US immigration and customs (and I think you'd need an ESTA too). Depends where you want to get to on Canada as to which route so NYC or BOS for toronto etc and SFO Or LAX for vancouver

No difference, for example:

UK-US-Domestic: land, immigration, customs, recheck bags, go through security

UK-US-Canada: exactly the same plus Canadian immigration

clarkeysntfc wrote:Hi Everyone, thinking of going to Canada either this summer or next, and would like to do so using some of our Virgin miles.

This would involve arriving at a a US airport such as JFK, before continuing on to Canada.

Has anyone done this before, and is International-International connection any different to International-Domestic?

Thanks in advance for the V-Flyer help y)

Clarkey

I have done this a few times. As Tonty says, it is not much different.

You clear immigration and customs at JFK then head over to your new terminal (Delta go JFK to Toronto YYZ) and catch the new flight. On board they give you a Canadian entry form - a bit like the old green US I-94 card - which you hand over when you get to Canadian immigration. There is a queue again for this in a hall much like at JFK, but the staff are a bit less surly!

On your way back into the US, make sure you leave a bit of extra time to check-in etc before your flight because US customs and immigration is located at Toronto as well as normal airport security. It all takes time as you can imagine. I was nearly caught out by this once - I'd only left myself an hour before my Virgin America flight to San Francisco. Fortunately I'd done OLCI, printed my boarding pass and had only hand luggage.

Now if only VS would fly direct to Toronto ...... pretty please

Have you thought of driving to Canada once you arrive in the US? I've driven from JFK to Niagara and Toronto and it's certainly not a difficult drive at all.

Did 2 summers ago visiting friends in Ottawa.

Flew VS via Washington DC with reward miles and credit card PE upgrades. Availability of connecting flights weren't great so flew into Montreal and drove and then back via Ottawa.

Connecting flights very expensive from USA - Canada, over $400pp Summer 2009, not sure what they are now.

Direct VS flight to Toronto would I agree be fab.

Have done this via Vegas and then getting an internal (flight!) to Vancouver. As previously mentioned, customs have to be cleared when first stepping into the US and we didn't have any delay when we got to Vancouver - but this may have been to do with the fact that it was late evening.

That said, the internal flight was with Philippine airlines, which would NOT use again. Felt as if we were on a plane from the dark ages and, as for the food - all I can say is just don't go there!