Question about Canadian Customs/Flights

Hello, I'm from the UK. I'm going to be travelling to the US soonish and
was hoping to avoid being harassed by US Customs (they seem to have a
pretty poor reputation amongst travellers) by flying thru Canada. I have
to make a domestic flight within the US, but I thought of flying from
the UK to Canada (Toronto probably) then from there to STL, my final
destination. But, correct me if I'm wrong, I heard rumours that there
are US Customs in Canada anyway? If that's true I wouldn't be much
better off than flying through the US. Any comments?

Cheers



--
Jeffrey Spoon

Jeffrey Spoon wrote:
Hello, I'm from the UK. I'm going to be travelling to the US soonish and
was hoping to avoid being harassed by US Customs (they seem to have a
pretty poor reputation amongst travellers) by flying thru Canada. I have
to make a domestic flight within the US, but I thought of flying from
the UK to Canada (Toronto probably) then from there to STL, my final
destination. But, correct me if I'm wrong, I heard rumours that there
are US Customs in Canada anyway? If that's true I wouldn't be much
better off than flying through the US. Any comments?


Yes, there would be US customs at the Toronto air port that you would have
to go through.

"Jeffrey Spoon" wrote in message
...




Hello, I'm from the UK. I'm going to be travelling to the US soonish and
was hoping to avoid being harassed by US Customs (they seem to have a
pretty poor reputation amongst travellers) by flying thru Canada. I have
to make a domestic flight within the US, but I thought of flying from
the UK to Canada (Toronto probably) then from there to STL, my final
destination. But, correct me if I'm wrong, I heard rumours that there
are US Customs in Canada anyway? If that's true I wouldn't be much
better off than flying through the US. Any comments?

Cheers


If you intend to enter the US you will have to go through
US customs. Exiting from Canada you normally clearly US
immigration and Customs at the Canadian airport as I
understand it.

Your plan will involve going through both US and Canadian
customs, may take several hours longer than a direct flight
and involve a substantial premium since flights to Canada are
typically more expensive than flights to the USA.

Having travelled to the USA frequently both before and after
9-11 I'd suggest that the reports of problems are overstated.
Indeed the only times I've been taken aside for extra questions
were entering Canada.

Unless you intend visting Canada fly direct.

Keith




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"Keith Willshaw" wrote in message
...

"Jeffrey Spoon" wrote in message
...




Hello, I'm from the UK. I'm going to be travelling to the US soonish and
was hoping to avoid being harassed by US Customs (they seem to have a
pretty poor reputation amongst travellers) by flying thru Canada. I have
to make a domestic flight within the US, but I thought of flying from
the UK to Canada (Toronto probably) then from there to STL, my final
destination. But, correct me if I'm wrong, I heard rumours that there
are US Customs in Canada anyway? If that's true I wouldn't be much
better off than flying through the US. Any comments?

Cheers


If you intend to enter the US you will have to go through
US customs. Exiting from Canada you normally clearly US
immigration and Customs at the Canadian airport as I
understand it.

Your plan will involve going through both US and Canadian
customs, may take several hours longer than a direct flight
and involve a substantial premium since flights to Canada are
typically more expensive than flights to the USA.

Of late, some Consolidators have been offering spectacularly low fares between
the UK and USA on Air Canada. Indirect flights, of course.

JohnT

On Tue, 1 Jun 2004 15:41:32 +0100 Jeffrey Spoon
wrote:

:Hello, I'm from the UK. I'm going to be travelling to the US soonish and
:was hoping to avoid being harassed by US Customs (they seem to have a
:pretty poor reputation amongst travellers) by flying thru Canada. I have
:to make a domestic flight within the US, but I thought of flying from
:the UK to Canada (Toronto probably) then from there to STL, my final
:destination. But, correct me if I'm wrong, I heard rumours that there
:are US Customs in Canada anyway? If that's true I wouldn't be much
:better off than flying through the US. Any comments?

No way to avoid customs if arriving by air.

You will either clear US customs in the major Canadian airports or will clear
them when you arrive in the USA.

I wonder if there is some kind of advantage in clearing in Canada, because if
one were to lie to US customs in Canada and get caught - would an arrest be
possible? Or would the maximum be a black mark on the permanent record?

--
Binyamin Dissen
http://www.dissensoftware.com

Binyamin Dissen wrote:
On Tue, 1 Jun 2004 15:41:32 +0100 Jeffrey Spoon
wrote:

:Hello, I'm from the UK. I'm going to be travelling to the US soonish
:and was hoping to avoid being harassed by US Customs (they seem to have
:a pretty poor reputation amongst travellers) by flying thru Canada. I
:have to make a domestic flight within the US, but I thought of flying
:from the UK to Canada (Toronto probably) then from there to STL, my
:final destination. But, correct me if I'm wrong, I heard rumours that
:there are US Customs in Canada anyway? If that's true I wouldn't be
:much better off than flying through the US. Any comments?

No way to avoid customs if arriving by air.

You will either clear US customs in the major Canadian airports or will
clear them when you arrive in the USA.

I wonder if there is some kind of advantage in clearing in Canada,
because if one were to lie to US customs in Canada and get caught - would
an arrest be possible? Or would the maximum be a black mark on the
permanent record?

AFAIK it's not a crime to lie to US customs if you're still in Canada...you
may be denied entry...that's about it. Hopefully you would have already
cleared Canadian Customs...otherwise that's one whirlwind trip...

Jeffrey Spoon wrote:

Hello, I'm from the UK. I'm going to be travelling to the US soonish and
was hoping to avoid being harassed by US Customs (they seem to have a
pretty poor reputation amongst travellers) by flying thru Canada.

If you're entering the US you're going to go through customs no matter
what, whether you fly in directly from the UK, route through Canada, or
enter by land or sea.

Did you really think that there was no customs check between Canada and
the US?

K.

On Tue, 01 Jun 2004 18:43:02 GMT (Király) wrote:

:Jeffrey Spoon wrote:

: Hello, I'm from the UK. I'm going to be travelling to the US soonish and
: was hoping to avoid being harassed by US Customs (they seem to have a
: pretty poor reputation amongst travellers) by flying thru Canada.

:If you're entering the US you're going to go through customs no matter
:what, whether you fly in directly from the UK, route through Canada, or
:enter by land or sea.

:Did you really think that there was no customs check between Canada and
:the US?

He might have thought that the USA and Canada had a similar relationship to
the EU where there aren't customs checks between countries.

--
Binyamin Dissen
http://www.dissensoftware.com

In message W64vc.26$DV4.23@clgrps13, Király
writes
Jeffrey Spoon wrote:

Hello, I'm from the UK. I'm going to be travelling to the US soonish and
was hoping to avoid being harassed by US Customs (they seem to have a
pretty poor reputation amongst travellers) by flying thru Canada.

If you're entering the US you're going to go through customs no matter
what, whether you fly in directly from the UK, route through Canada, or
enter by land or sea.

Did you really think that there was no customs check between Canada and
the US?

K.

I know I'm going to go through customs, but since I cannot fly directly
from the UK to STL in one flight I was thinking about delays between my
connections due to US customs, thus Canadian customs might be
advantageous. I'm not bothered about passing through US customs when I
reach STL, it was more the (possible) delay to my connecting flight.
Obviously I need to go thru US customs when I land in the US, but by
then my flight is over and I don't need to worry about missing my
connecting flight.



--
Jeffrey Spoon

In message , Keith Willshaw
writes

If you intend to enter the US you will have to go through
US customs. Exiting from Canada you normally clearly US
immigration and Customs at the Canadian airport as I
understand it.

Your plan will involve going through both US and Canadian
customs, may take several hours longer than a direct flight
and involve a substantial premium since flights to Canada are
typically more expensive than flights to the USA.

Having travelled to the USA frequently both before and after
9-11 I'd suggest that the reports of problems are overstated.
Indeed the only times I've been taken aside for extra questions
were entering Canada.

Unless you intend visting Canada fly direct.

Keith

I can't fly direct from the UK to STL anyway so it doesn't really
matter, I need to connect somewhere. I was considering whether Canada
would be a better connection than the US but by the sounds of it there's
not going to be much difference.

Cheers.



--
Jeffrey Spoon