Terminal 1 arrivals at Pearson: where your car meets you

How long it takes to get from the aircraft to the curb

The flight time on your ticket is not the time your driver needs. What matters is the stretch nobody publishes: the walk from the gate, the queue at the border, the wait at the belt, and the walk out. At Terminal 1 that is usually 20 to 30 minutes on a domestic arrival with carry-on only, and 40 to 60 on an international one with checked bags at a busy hour.

This is why we track the flight rather than ask you to call. Your pickup is set from the actual landing time, and the clock on your included waiting starts at wheels-down, not at the time you booked.

• Domestic arrival, carry-on only: often outside in about 20 minutes.
• International with checked bags: 40 to 60 minutes is normal at a busy hour.
• A NEXUS card or the border kiosks usually save 10 to 20 minutes of that.
• First flight of the morning is quicker than the 4 p.m. bank of arrivals.

Where the car actually is

Terminal 1 arrivals sits on the level below departures, and private cars collect on the arrivals level. Your meeting point is Door A. Above the escalators there is a large blue directory gantry listing every exit door by letter, and that board is the anchor for everything that follows.

Walk to Door A. You are looking for a tall blue letter A mounted above a glass kiosk in the middle of the hall, and a panel on that kiosk reading Pre-arranged Services. The same structure carries the parking shuttle and accessible transportation signage too, which is normal, they share the door. Step outside and the same blue A is on the front of the building, confirming you came out of the right one.

Call us the moment you are outside. One short call at Door A is the fastest way to be on the road, and our phones are answered around the clock, every day of the year. If anything is unclear, stay where you are and call rather than walking: moving while we are directing your chauffeur to you makes it take longer, not shorter.

• Come down to arrivals, not up to departures, where stopping is not allowed.
• Before pickup we text you the car and its licence plate, so you know what to look for at Door A.
• If the text has not reached you, call 1-866-225-1555 at any hour: Sophia, our AI assistant, answers and can put you through to dispatch.

If you land at Terminal 1 but booked Terminal 3, or the other way round

It happens more than you would think, usually when an airline swaps equipment or a connection is rebooked. The two terminals are joined by the Terminal Link train, which is free and runs around the clock, and the ride takes a few minutes.

You do not need to move, though. Call 1-866-225-1555: Sophia, our AI assistant, answers and can put you through to dispatch, and the car repositions to your actual terminal. The fare does not change, because the airport tariff is priced from Pearson as a whole rather than from a particular building.

• The Terminal Link train connects Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 and is free.
• Simpler still: tell us, and the car comes to the terminal you are standing in.
• The price is the same either way.

What we are doing while you are still inside

We check your flight from the day before until about two hours before pickup. If it is running late the pickup moves later, without a call from you, and if it is running early, dispatch is alerted. Waiting is included for 60 minutes on an international arrival and 30 on a domestic one, counted from the moment the wheels touch down, so a slow border queue is not a charge.

Beyond the included window, waiting runs $10 per 10 minutes, and that is the entire fee schedule. There is no fuel surcharge, no after-hours premium and no surge pricing, whatever time your flight gets in.

• Flight tracked automatically, pickup adjusted to the real landing time.
• 60 minutes included on international arrivals, 30 on domestic, from wheels-down.
• Beyond that, $10 per 10 minutes, and nothing else.

Booking the trip the other way, out of Terminal 1

Departing, the question reverses: how early to leave. Our rule of thumb is two hours at the airport for a domestic flight and three for an international one, plus the drive, and the booking page suggests a pickup time on exactly that basis once you enter your flight number.

You are free to override it. The suggestion is a starting point from the airline's own check-in guidance and the day's traffic, not a rule we impose on you.

• Two hours at the airport for domestic, three for international, plus the drive.
• Enter your flight number and the booking page proposes the pickup time.
• You choose the final time; we hold it.