As many of you know, I visited San Diego at the beginning of April for a vacation. I arrived at YVR with just under two hours before my scheduled departure time (which was an early afternoon flight on a Saturday).
The lineup for security was almost non-existent and it probably took me about five minutes to clear security. The lineup to get through US customs and border pre-clearance was slightly longer but I’d guess that took about ten minutes in total. After that, I was free to wait at my gate for boarding. I had a plethora of time, well over an hour, to kill.
A month later, it seems like travel from YVR has turned into a major hassle. The issue lies with massive line-ups to get through security screening. There are reports that people arriving two hours before their flights are missing them because they can’t get through security fast enough. Apparently the number of staff at the security checkpoints hasn’t decreased, it is the volume of passengers that has increased.
It seems odd that YVR was able to handle the volume of spring break travelers but not passenger volume in late April and early May. What happens in the actual summer months when travel gets traditionally even busier?
I’m not planning on flying out of YVR anytime soon, so I’ll be watching what happens from afar.