Airports & terminals
Arriving on an international flight at Pearson: what happens next?
Answered by the Toronto Airport Limo team · Last reviewed July 6, 2026
In order: you deplane, walk to Canadian border control, clear primary inspection at a kiosk or with an officer, collect your checked bags, hand in the final paperwork, and come out through one-way doors into the public arrivals hall on the ground level — Terminal 1 or Terminal 3 depending on your airline. On a straightforward evening the whole sequence runs somewhere between about 45 and 90 minutes from touchdown, and it can run longer when several wide-bodies land together. That is why the free wait on an airport pickup is roughly an hour measured from the moment the wheels touch, not from the time printed on your ticket.
Wheels-down to the arrivals hall, in sequence
The clock starts when the aircraft touches the runway, not when the door opens. There is taxiing, then the wait for a gate or a bridge, then the slow unloading of three hundred people from a tube — and none of that is border control yet. It is simply the price of a large aircraft at a large airport.
Once you are off, you walk. Pearson's international piers are long, and the walk to Canadian border control is a real one with a carry-on in tow. At primary inspection you deal either with an automated kiosk or directly with an officer, depending on the day, the terminal and your own status.
Then baggage, then the final control point where paperwork is handed over, then the one-way doors. Those doors are the moment the trip changes character: on the other side is a public hall full of people meeting other people, and there is no going back through them for a forgotten bag.
- Touchdown, taxi, gate wait, deplaning — before any formality begins
- The walk to border control; then a kiosk or an officer at primary
- Baggage claim, final control point, then the one-way doors
- Terminal 1 or Terminal 3 depending on which airline you flew
How long each stage realistically takes
Nobody can promise you a number, but the shape of it is predictable. Deplaning a full wide-body regularly eats a chunk of the first twenty minutes, especially from a rear seat. The walk is minutes rather than seconds. Primary inspection is quick when the hall is empty and slow when four aircraft have arrived within the same half hour.
Baggage is the stage that most often disappoints, because it is invisible from the queue: your bags may already be circling, or the belt may not have started. Oversized items — skis, golf clubs, a cello — come out separately and later, at their own belt.
Add it all up and a smooth arrival is roughly three quarters of an hour from touchdown to the hall, a normal one is closer to an hour, and a busy evening bank can push well past that. Anyone meeting you should plan around the slow version and be pleasantly surprised.
- Deplaning alone can absorb the first fifteen to twenty minutes
- Primary inspection swings with how many aircraft landed together
- Oversized baggage surfaces at a separate belt, later than the carousel
- Smooth: about 45 minutes. Normal: about an hour. Busy: longer.
Where the free hour actually fits
This is the reason airport pickups are booked with a flight number. The arrival is tracked, so the car is timed to your real landing — three hours late off a delayed long-haul, or forty minutes early with a good tailwind, and the chauffeur is positioned for the aircraft rather than the timetable.
From touchdown, the chauffeur then holds roughly an hour free of charge. Laid against the sequence above, that is a window built for the realistic version of an international arrival rather than the optimistic one — it comfortably covers a normal clearance and most slow ones, and if immigration genuinely runs long, the driver is still there when you come out.
What it also buys is the absence of pressure. Nobody is texting you to hurry up at the carousel, and there is no meter ticking while a belt sits idle. The $15.27 airport pickup fee for sedan and SUV classes is already inside your quoted total, so the number you agreed to before you flew is the number you pay.
- Flight number on the booking means the car follows the real landing
- Roughly 60 minutes of complimentary wait, from wheels-down
- No meter, no pressure at the carousel, no delay surcharge
- The $15.27 pickup fee is already inside the quoted fare
The last hundred metres
With meet and greet, the sequence ends indoors. Your chauffeur is already in the arrivals hall with a name board, takes the heavier bags and walks you out to the car — a flat $65 on airport pickups, and the option most worth having after a long-haul flight, with children, or on a first visit to Canada.
Without it, the routine is a short message. Once you are through the doors, text the chauffeur and step outside; the car comes to you rather than circling. Our answer on where the limo driver meets you at Pearson arrivals sets out the meeting point at both terminals in detail.
Two things make that last stretch smoother. Have your phone alive — a dead battery after fourteen hours in the air is the most common cause of an awkward arrival, so land with some charge left. And know your terminal before you fly, because Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 are not neighbours; if you do end up at the wrong one, the free Terminal Link train runs between them at any hour.
- Meet and greet: $65 flat, chauffeur inside with a name board, bags carried
- Otherwise: send a message once you are through the doors, then step outside
- Land with battery left — it is the most common arrival snag
- Terminal Link runs free between T1, T3 and Viscount around the clock
Two things to sort before you fly
Book the pickup with the flight number of the leg that lands at Pearson, and book it before you leave. Online booking wants about three hours of lead time, and arranging ground transport from an arrivals hall with your luggage in one hand is a worse experience than arranging it from your sofa a week earlier.
Then tell us the awkward details in advance rather than at the curb. Child seats are free on request but need to be fitted before the car leaves the depot. Skis, golf clubs and anything oversized change which vehicle we send. A group of six with full luggage is an SUV or a Sprinter Van question, not a sedan question.
Everything else takes care of itself. You will get an SMS confirmation, an emailed edit link that works up to twelve hours before pickup, and a reminder message about four hours out — which, on the return half of a long trip, tends to arrive at exactly the moment you had started to wonder.
- Use the final leg's flight number, and book before you travel
- Free child seats — request them at booking, not on arrival
- Oversized luggage changes the vehicle; say so upfront
- SMS confirmation, an edit link up to 12 hours out, and a reminder about 4 hours ahead
Arrange a tracked Pearson arrival pickup
Related questions
How long should someone meeting me expect to wait?
Plan for around an hour from landing on a normal international arrival, and more if several large aircraft came in together. Anyone waiting should watch the actual landing time rather than the scheduled one — and if they are waiting in a car, they should know that Pearson's arrivals level is not a place to park and read a book.
Do I clear customs at Terminal 1 or Terminal 3?
Whichever terminal your aircraft parks at, which follows your airline rather than your route. Both terminals run the same sequence and both put international arrivals out through one-way doors into the ground-level public hall. Check the terminal on your boarding pass before you fly so your pickup is arranged for the right building.
What if I am pulled aside for a secondary inspection?
It happens routinely and it is not a judgement of you. It does take time, and it is one of the situations the flight-tracked pickup handles well — the chauffeur is already in position and the free wait window is running from your real landing. If you are held unusually long, a quick message once you are out keeps everything aligned.
Can my chauffeur meet me before customs?
No, and neither can anyone else — the area beyond the doors is controlled and only arriving passengers pass through it. Meet and greet places your chauffeur as close as anyone can get, waiting in the public arrivals hall with a name board so you are met the moment you emerge.
Is the fare higher because my flight arrives at 2 a.m.?
No. The quote is flat for the trip and does not carry a night premium, and dispatch is staffed 24/7 precisely because long-haul arrivals land at unsociable hours. A 2 a.m. touchdown is handled exactly the same way as a 2 p.m. one, tracking included.
Keep reading
- Where does my limo driver meet me at Toronto Pearson arrivals?
- Which terminal do I fly out of at Toronto Pearson — Terminal 1 or Terminal 3?
- What's the difference between meet-and-greet and curbside limo pickup at Pearson?
- How do I get to Billy Bishop airport, and where does the limo drop me off?
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