Heels Up Before Wheels Up in Toronto
Sep. 4th, 2025 02:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerCanada travelog #29
Maple Leaf Lounge, YYZ Terminal 1 · Fri, 29 Aug 2025. 2:30pm.
Getting through the airport shuffle at YYZ today was... well, I won't say swift, because par for the course at YYZ it felt like we had to walk to Mississauga and back, but it was at least uneventful. There weren't really any lines....
Passport control had more agents than travelers. I've read that trips from Canada to the US are way down thanks to our bellicose president. I wonder if the lack of crowding here at the passport queue is due to Canadians choosing not to travel to the US, or just due to the time of day. I'm certain it'll be more crowded late Friday afternoon, but how crowded?
It was also quiet here at the lounge when we arrived just after 2pm. Access to partner lounges is one of the benefits I get from my United Airlines Gold status, and Air Canada is a Star Alliance partner. If there were a United Club lounge here I would not get in for free, because United does not consider Canada "international" for purposes of its international travel benefits. (United was waaaay out ahead of President Trump, years ahead, in verbally treating Canada as "the 51st state".)
Hawk and I are sitting down now, enjoying a meal in the lounge. They've got a little buffet going that today has bulgogi, pesto pasta, and sauteed broccoli. It's an odd combination, but it works. And it's free and it's tasty.
Speaking of combinations, my beer in the photo is a combination. The lounge has a few beers on tap, including Smithwick's Red and Guinness Stout. I poured myself a Blacksmith.
Update: By the time I left the lounge around 6pm I'd eaten another plate of food and knocked down a Manhattan and 3 Gin + Tonics. 🥃🍸😋
Maple Leaf Lounge, YYZ Terminal 1 · Fri, 29 Aug 2025. 2:30pm.
Getting through the airport shuffle at YYZ today was... well, I won't say swift, because par for the course at YYZ it felt like we had to walk to Mississauga and back, but it was at least uneventful. There weren't really any lines....
Passport control had more agents than travelers. I've read that trips from Canada to the US are way down thanks to our bellicose president. I wonder if the lack of crowding here at the passport queue is due to Canadians choosing not to travel to the US, or just due to the time of day. I'm certain it'll be more crowded late Friday afternoon, but how crowded?
It was also quiet here at the lounge when we arrived just after 2pm. Access to partner lounges is one of the benefits I get from my United Airlines Gold status, and Air Canada is a Star Alliance partner. If there were a United Club lounge here I would not get in for free, because United does not consider Canada "international" for purposes of its international travel benefits. (United was waaaay out ahead of President Trump, years ahead, in verbally treating Canada as "the 51st state".)
Hawk and I are sitting down now, enjoying a meal in the lounge. They've got a little buffet going that today has bulgogi, pesto pasta, and sauteed broccoli. It's an odd combination, but it works. And it's free and it's tasty.
Speaking of combinations, my beer in the photo is a combination. The lounge has a few beers on tap, including Smithwick's Red and Guinness Stout. I poured myself a Blacksmith.
Update: By the time I left the lounge around 6pm I'd eaten another plate of food and knocked down a Manhattan and 3 Gin + Tonics. 🥃🍸😋
