Pearson arrivals: the pre-arranged limo pickup zones, door by door

The arrivals level, from the inside out

Every airport has a way of arranging its arrivals road, and Pearson's is a system of doors: at Terminal 1 the arrivals level's doors run from A at the western end through the letters eastward, and at Terminal 3 the same. The GTAA assigns each kind of vehicle its own stretch — taxis and on-demand limousines at the stand, rideshares in a designated zone, hotel shuttles and public buses at their stops, private cars at the short-term curb, and pre-arranged limousines and black cars at Door A — so that a passenger who knows the letter knows where to walk. This article walks the arrivals level at both terminals from the moment the bags come off, explains what each zone is for, describes the meet and greet alternative, and gives the text-and-plate procedure that puts the car at the curb as you walk out.

Terminal 1: the baggage hall and the exits

Terminal 1's arrivals level has two baggage halls. Domestic arrivals (from anywhere in Canada) exit at the western end of the terminal — the carousels are on the arrivals level itself, and the exit doors open directly onto the arrivals road near Doors A through C. International and transborder arrivals (from the US and overseas) come down from the customs hall on the level above into the international baggage hall at the centre and eastern end of the terminal, then exit through the arrivals hall's doors toward the middle and east of the arrivals road. Both exits put you on the same road; Door A is to the west (your right as you face the road from the international exit, straight ahead from the domestic exit). The walk from the international exit to Door A is three to five minutes with bags — long enough that the text-from-the-carousel procedure matters, because a chauffeur who moves to Door A when you text from baggage claim arrives as you do.

Terminal 3: one hall, two exits

Terminal 3's arrivals level is a single long hall. Domestic arrivals exit at the southern end; international arrivals come down from customs into the northern half of the hall and exit toward the middle and north. The arrivals road runs along the hall, with Door A at the western end (the domestic end), the taxi and limo stand and the rideshare zone toward the centre and east, and the hotel shuttles and buses at their stops. From the international exit to Door A is a two-to-four-minute walk with bags; from the domestic exit it is immediate.

Door A: what the pre-arranged zone is and how it works

The GTAA reserves Door A's curb at both terminals for ground transportation that has been booked in advance — limousine companies with GTAA permits, black car services, executive shuttles. It exists so that a passenger with a reservation is not standing in the taxi queue, and so that the chauffeurs who use it are permitted and insured operators (the GTAA permits article explains the permit system). The zone is signed "Pre-arranged Limousines" and "Door A" from inside the arrivals hall, and the GTAA's curbside staff manage it — vehicles that dwell too long are asked to move along, which is why our chauffeurs wait in the cell phone lot until the passenger texts and then move to the curb. The result: the car is at Door A within two to five minutes of your text, with the plate and colour from your confirmation, and the chauffeur is out of the car at the passenger door as you approach.

The taxi and limo stand: what it is and why you are not there

Every arriving passenger walks past the taxi and limo stand — the marshalled queue where on-demand taxis and airport limousines wait for walk-up passengers — and the natural instinct is to look for a booked car there. It is not there. The stand is for passengers without a reservation; the vehicles in it are GTAA-permitted taxis and limousines that queue for the next fare at the airport's regulated rates (the flat rate article compares them to a fixed fare); and a booked black car that stopped there would be moved along by the marshals. Walk past it to Door A.

The rideshare zone, the shuttles and the buses

The GTAA also designates a rideshare pickup zone at each terminal (app-based drivers who are not permitted airport operators wait in a separate area and are directed to it), hotel shuttle stops for the airport strip's properties and the Sheraton Gateway, the TTC and MiWay and GO bus stops, and the UP Express station on Terminal 1's departures level. None of these is the pre-arranged limousine zone, and a passenger with a booking who wanders toward the rideshare zone because it says "pickup" will find no black car there. Door A.

Meet and greet: met inside, not at the curb

Passengers who book meet and greet do not walk to Door A at all. The chauffeur parks, comes inside, and waits at the exit from the baggage hall (domestic) or the customs hall (international) with a name board — the passenger's surname or the company's name — and takes the luggage from there. It is a paid add-on and it is the right choice for first-time visitors, older passengers, unaccompanied minors (see the unaccompanied minors guide), executives whose time is being paid for by the minute, and anyone landing after a long flight who does not want to read signs. The chauffeur walks the passenger to the car at Door A; the car is brought to the curb by the chauffeur's colleague or, when working alone, the chauffeur retrieves it from short-term parking while the passenger waits inside — either way the passenger does not walk the arrivals road alone.

The text that brings the car

Our procedure is built around one text. Your confirmation, sent the evening before, carries the chauffeur's name, mobile number, the vehicle's make, colour and plate, and the door. When your bags come off the carousel, text the chauffeur — "bags in hand, walking out" — and the chauffeur moves from the cell phone lot to Door A. The two to five minutes it takes to reach the curb is about the walk from the carousel to the door, so you arrive together. If you have no data or no Canadian roaming, the chauffeur tracks the flight's arrival and moves to Door A at the average baggage delivery time for your flight type (25 minutes after touchdown for domestic, 45 for international) and waits; the flight delays article explains the wait policy — 60 minutes included after an international flight's actual arrival, 30 after a domestic one.

Customs, the hold-up and what the chauffeur knows

International arrivals clear Canada Border Services in the customs hall above the arrivals level, using the primary inspection kiosks (or the ArriveCAN advance declaration) and then, for a minority, a secondary inspection. The hall's queues vary from five minutes to an hour at the peaks — the international arrivals article has the patterns by time of day — and the chauffeur's flight tracking shows touchdown but not customs time, which is why the included wait after an international flight is 60 minutes and why the text from the carousel matters more for international arrivals than domestic. A passenger held in secondary inspection who texts "delayed at customs, 30 more minutes" gets a chauffeur who waits without a word about it.

Accessibility at the arrivals level

Both terminals' arrivals levels are step-free from the baggage hall to Door A, with elevators from the customs level and accessible curbs at the pre-arranged zone. Passengers who need wheelchair assistance from the aircraft request it from the airline; the airline's staff bring the passenger to the arrivals hall, where our chauffeur (with meet and greet) takes over. The accessible service article covers the vehicles, the notice needed and what we can and cannot do.

The arrivals level at 6 a.m. and at 11 p.m.

Pearson's arrivals road is a different place by hour. At 6 a.m. it is nearly empty — the overnight flights from Asia and the early domestic arrivals, the pre-arranged zone quiet, the car at the curb in ninety seconds. At 3 p.m. the transatlantic bank lands and the international exits fill, the taxi queue is fifty deep and Door A has a dozen black cars cycling through. At 11 p.m. the sun flights and the West Coast arrivals come in together and Terminal 3's arrivals road is the busiest it gets, with families and luggage carts and the shuttles' diesel; the pre-arranged zone is still the calmest part of it, because the cars come when texted and leave when loaded. Whatever the hour, the door is the same.

Arrivals quick reference

Hotel shuttles, the Sheraton bridge and the airport strip

Passengers staying at the airport itself have a third option that is neither the arrivals road nor a car: the Sheraton Gateway is connected to Terminal 3 by an enclosed bridge from the departures level, and the ALT Hotel sits at the Viscount station on the Terminal Link. For the hotels along Dixon Road and Carlingview — the Marriott, the Hilton, the Delta, the Westin, the Sheraton Four Points and a dozen others — the hotel shuttles stop at their own signed bays on the arrivals road, on twenty-to-thirty-minute schedules that lengthen late at night. A black car from Door A to a Dixon Road hotel is a five-to-eight-minute run at a fixed fare and it is the booking the hotels' front desks make for guests who land at midnight and do not want to wait for the shuttle; the airport strip guide covers the hotels and the connecting flights article the overnight layover.

Landing with a group: where twelve people and twenty bags go

A group arriving together — a sports team, a wedding party, a corporate delegation — does not fit the single-car procedure, and the arrivals road is not built for a Sprinter and a luggage trailer to idle at Door A while twelve passengers trickle out of customs. The group transfers article has the plan: meet and greet for the group leader inside, a gathering point in the arrivals hall, one text when everyone is together, and the Sprinter or the bus brought to Door A for a single load. The GTAA's marshals will move a large vehicle that dwells; a group that gathers inside and loads in three minutes has no trouble.

Currency, SIM cards and the things people do before Door A

International passengers often stop between customs and the door — the currency exchange kiosks in both arrivals halls, the mobile carriers' SIM card counters, the Tim Hortons, the washrooms. None of it is a problem for the chauffeur, who is in the cell lot until the text; it only matters that the text comes when you are actually walking to the door and not fifteen minutes before. A passenger who texts "bags in hand" and then queues for a SIM card has a chauffeur cycling the curb and the marshals watching; a passenger who texts when the SIM card is in the phone has a car arriving as they do.

Read the confirmation text on the plane: chauffeur's name, plate, door. Text from the carousel. Walk to Door A, west end. That is the whole procedure, and it works at 6 a.m. and at 11 p.m. The Pearson page has the fares and the booking engine takes the flight number that makes it all work.

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