Pearson Terminal Finder

Which terminal?

The finder above covers the airlines that account for the great majority of Pearson's traffic. If yours is not listed, the rule of thumb holds in almost every case, and the Pearson complete guide has the fuller table. Our booking never asks you for the terminal — it asks for the flight number and works it out — but knowing which building you are heading to changes the walk, the security queue and the lounge, so the answer is worth having before you leave the house.

Terminal 1: what to expect

Terminal 1 is the Air Canada and Star Alliance building and one of the largest terminals in the world by floor area. Departures are on Level 3, arrivals on Level 1; the domestic gates are on Pier D, international on Piers E and F, and the transborder gates behind US pre-clearance at the north end. The UP Express station, the Terminal Link station and the pre-arranged pickup desk are on or beside the arrivals level; the Terminal 1 garage is across the roadway with covered walkways. Departures drop-off is at the Level 3 curb at Doors A to D; a pre-arranged chauffeur uses the door nearest your airline's check-in row. The walk from the customs exit to the pre-arranged desk near Door A is about two minutes; from the furthest international gate to customs, ten.

Terminal 3: what to expect

Terminal 3 is older, smaller and faster to walk, and it houses WestJet, Porter's Pearson flights, Air Transat, Sunwing, the European and Asian carriers outside Star Alliance, and the US carriers with their own pre-clearance hall on the departures level. Departures are upstairs, arrivals downstairs on the level of the carousels, with the arrivals hall opening onto the curb; the Sheraton Gateway hotel is attached by a walkway at departures level; the Terminal Link station is at the west end. Departures drop-off is at the upper curb at Doors A to C. The walk from the customs exit to the arrivals-hall meeting point is about a minute.

US pre-clearance at both terminals

Flights to the United States clear US Customs and Border Protection at Pearson before departure. Terminal 1's pre-clearance hall serves Air Canada and United; Terminal 3's serves American, Delta, JetBlue, WestJet's US flights and the others based there. Both are busiest in the early morning and the 4–6 pm bank, and the airlines' two-hour advice for US flights assumes the queue. The departures page explains how the pickup time is planned around it.

Connecting between the terminals

The free Terminal Link train runs between Terminal 1, Terminal 3 and the Viscount station around the clock, every few minutes, a few minutes' journey. Connecting passengers re-clear security at the other terminal; allow twenty minutes terminal to terminal. Bags checked through on one ticket transfer without you; bags on separate tickets are collected at the carousel and re-checked. The Pearson complete guide covers connections in more detail.

Where the chauffeur meets you, by terminal

At Terminal 1, inside the arrivals hall beside the pre-arranged desk near Door A. At Terminal 3, inside the arrivals hall by baggage claim. A name board in both cases, the luggage handled, sixty minutes of waiting included from touchdown on international arrivals (thirty on domestic), and the vehicle at the pre-arranged curb or in the garage a short covered walk away. The pickup page shows both meeting points in detail. Departures: the chauffeur drops at the departures-level door nearest your airline's counters.

Why the booking asks for the flight number, not the terminal

Because airlines move between terminals more often than passengers expect, because a code-share flight can be operated by a different airline from the one on the ticket, and because the flight number is the thing that lets us track the aircraft. The terminal is derived from the airline's own data on the day; the meeting point follows from it; and if the airline moved last month, the chauffeur is still in the right hall.

Pearson's other airport, and the other airports

Porter's turboprop network flies from Billy Bishop, not Pearson — check the airport on the ticket, because they are 27 km apart and the connection between them is a transfer we run. Hamilton, Waterloo and London each have a single terminal; Buffalo and Niagara Falls NY likewise.

Book a pickup — we work out the terminal from your flight

Sources

Terminal assignments are the GTAA's, which publishes the airline list and moves; this finder is checked against it and against the airlines' own pages, and your boarding pass is the final word on the day.

The airlines, with a note on each

At Terminal 1: Air Canada and its regional and leisure arms, and the Star Alliance carriers that share its terminal — United, Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, Brussels, SAS, LOT, TAP, Turkish, Egyptair, Ethiopian, Air India, ANA, EVA, Air China, Avianca and Copa — along with Emirates. At Terminal 3: WestJet and WestJet Encore; Porter's Pearson jet routes; the leisure carriers Air Transat, Sunwing and Flair; the European carriers outside Star Alliance — British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Aer Lingus, KLM, Air France, ITA; the US carriers American, Delta and JetBlue; and the Asian, Middle Eastern and Latin American carriers — Cathay Pacific, Korean Air, Japan Airlines, Philippine Airlines, Saudia, Royal Jordanian, El Al, Icelandair, Aeromexico and Caribbean Airlines. Airlines not listed follow the rule of thumb; the GTAA's airline list is the source of record.

Code-shares and the flight number

A ticket sold by Lufthansa on a flight operated by Air Canada departs from Air Canada's terminal, and the reverse is true; the operating carrier decides the terminal, and the flight number on the boarding pass identifies it. Our booking asks for the flight number for exactly this reason, and the finder above lists operating carriers. If your ticket shows two flight numbers, the one with the operating carrier's code is the one to use.

Where each terminal's doors are

Terminal 1 departures, Level 3: Doors A to D along the curb, with the check-in rows numbered from the west end; Air Canada's international counters are toward the centre and the domestic counters toward the east. Terminal 1 arrivals, Level 1: the pre-arranged pickup desk near Door A at the west end, the walk-up taxi and limo lines at Door C, the UP Express entrance and the Terminal Link station beside the hall. Terminal 3 departures, upper level: Doors A to C, with WestJet's counters toward the east end. Terminal 3 arrivals, lower level: the hall opening onto the curb, the walk-up lines at Door E, the Terminal Link station at the west end.

Both terminals, the same standard

Whichever terminal your flight uses, the chauffeur is at the pre-arranged curb outside it — inside the hall with a name board if you add meet and greet — the luggage is handled, sixty minutes of waiting are included from touchdown on international arrivals (thirty on domestic), and the fare was fixed at booking. The Pearson limo page describes the service; the pickup page shows the meeting points; the departures page has the timing table.

US pre-clearance, in one paragraph each

At Terminal 1, passengers on Air Canada and United flights to the United States check in at the airline counters, pass through Canadian security, and then clear US Customs and Border Protection in the pre-clearance hall before the transborder gates; the queue is longest in the early morning and the 4–6 pm bank, and the two-hour advice assumes it. At Terminal 3, the same sequence applies for American, Delta, JetBlue, WestJet's US flights and the other carriers based there, in the pre-clearance hall on the departures level. In both, once cleared you arrive in the United States as a domestic passenger, which is why the return trip lands as a domestic arrival at Pearson with no customs to clear.

If the terminal on your ticket is wrong

It happens — an airline moves, a ticket was issued months ago, a code-share is operated by the other terminal's carrier. The Terminal Link train runs every few minutes around the clock and the correction costs twenty minutes with security; for a departure, that is inside the airline's advice if you followed it, and for an arrival the chauffeur, who works from the flight number rather than the ticket, is already in the right hall.

Air Canada terminal at Pearson

The Pearson Air Canada terminal is the larger of the two buildings and the one most connecting passengers pass through. The Air Canada terminal YYZ shows on a boarding pass is "T1"; with meet-and-greet, the chauffeur for an Air Canada arrival waits beside the pre-arranged desk near Door A on the arrivals level. Passengers who arrive on Air Canada and leave on a Terminal 3 airline take the free Terminal Link train between the buildings.

WestJet terminal at Pearson

The WestJet terminal Pearson passengers use shares its building with most of the other non-Star Alliance carriers, so the arrivals hall is busiest when the Caribbean and European waves land together in the evening.

Porter terminal at Pearson

The two are about 27 km apart by road, and a booking made for the wrong one is the most common Porter mistake we see; the Pearson to Billy Bishop route page covers the transfer between them, and the Billy Bishop guide covers the island terminal.

Delta, American and other US airlines

JetBlue is also at Terminal 3. Because every US-bound passenger clears US customs at Pearson before boarding, the departure terminal matters more than usual: allow the time the airline states for pre-clearance at the terminal named above.

European and other international airlines

Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, Brussels Airlines, SAS, LOT, TAP Air Portugal and Turkish Airlines are at Terminal 1 with their Star Alliance partners, as are Emirates, Air India, ANA and EVA Air. British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, KLM, Air France, ITA Airways and Icelandair are at Terminal 3 - and the Aer Lingus Pearson terminal is Terminal 3 as well. Flair Airlines, Air Transat and Sunwing are all Terminal 3. Airlines do move, so the finder at the top of this page and the flight number on the booking are the check; the airport's own airline directory is the final word on the day.

Book a chauffeur for your flight

Once you know the terminal, the Pearson airport map in words shows the levels, the gate letters and the doors.