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. The airport moves and renumbers its marked pickup areas from time to time, so we do not print a post number here that may be wrong by the time you land.

Instead, your chauffeur texts you the exact spot once they are in position, in plain words rather than a code: which door, which side, what the car looks like. If the message has not arrived by the time you clear the doors, call dispatch and we will put you on the phone with the driver.

• Come down to arrivals, not up to departures, where stopping is not allowed.
• Your chauffeur texts the precise door and the vehicle before you are outside.
• Dispatch is staffed around the clock if the text has not reached you.

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. Tell the driver or 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

From the moment your flight is in the air, the trip is watched. If you land early the pickup moves earlier; if you land late it moves later, without a call from you. 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.