Ottawa airport

[Tim and Erin 3]

Hi folks. I've been around for awhile, reading posts, asking questions, and gaining enough knowledge to be confident our petition will go smoothly. We're very close to filing for K-1.

Right now I'm just curious to hear about other people's experiences with the Ottawa airport border officers when they were visiting their significant other. Myself...I've flown out of Ottawa a few times with no hassles. Only once was I was pulled into secondary, but that happened to be Buffalo. (grouchy people there!)

Anybody here want to share their experiences about Ottawa?

[trailmix 77]

Hi Erin,

I'm going to move your topic to the Canada forum, you might get more answers there.

Moved from DCF forum.

[Inky 1,110]

Never had any bad experiences, never been pulled to the side. Not even when I flew from ottawa to USA to curacao for vacation alone - meeting my american boyfriend ( at the time ) in the caribean. Most of the time my passport gets stamped and they say " Have a nice day " and wave me through without even asking a question to me. I will have to say that im always carded and I look very underage for my age too which makes it even stranger. Iv gone more than 18 trips to the USA out of Ottawa, alone. ( knock on wood ) ottawa has been my best fly out point ever! Hopefully it will be a good fly-in point when/if i go back to visit my family.

[Tim and Erin 3]

Never had any bad experiences, never been pulled to the side. Not even when I flew from ottawa to USA to curacao for vacation alone - meeting my american boyfriend ( at the time ) in the caribean. Most of the time my passport gets stamped and they say " Have a nice day " and wave me through without even asking a question to me. I will have to say that im always carded and I look very underage for my age too which makes it even stranger. Iv gone more than 18 trips to the USA out of Ottawa, alone. ( knock on wood ) ottawa has been my best fly out point ever! Hopefully it will be a good fly-in point when/if i go back to visit my family.

Glad to hear you had no bad experiences at Ottawa, Inky. The most trouble I've had there is when an officer wearing a SARS mask, (probably for intimidations reasons because all I could see were his black eyes ) asked me the same few questions at different times during our conversation. "Why so long between visits? When are you returning? Where does he live?" He was probably trying to trip me up, but of course I answered the questions truthfully the same way I initially answered them. He wasn't gonna make ME sweat...no sireee!

I just hope I get the same female officer I encountered during my last visit. "Where are you going? For how long? Got a back to work date? (didn't ask for proof, but I had it with me) Merry Christmas...have a good time." I think she did actually smile, come to think of it.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

My husband and I flew to Ottawa 3 years ago to spend Christmas with my brother and his family. When we flew out my husband was stopped for a random search - they opened his suitcase and went through everything. The officer was very polite and explained that there was nothing about my husband that triggered the search except that his 'number' was the next random search. He didn't tear things apart and made sure things were neat inside when he closed up the suitcase. When my suitcase went through the xray the Customs officer looking over the contents looked up at me and said' 2 cans of Tim Horton's coffee and some paints in tubes?' I smiled and said, 'yes'. He asked if they were oil or watercolours and I said 'watercolours' - and he smiled and said 'good answer" and let my suitcase through. We both had to show our passports and I had to show my green card to Immigration who stamped the passports, then we were questioned by representatives from the Department of Agriculture since we had listed 'food' items on our customs form. Since nothing we had was disallowed, we were allowed to continue without a problem. Everyone was polite and professional.

[Colleens 40]

I never had any issues flying out of Ottawa either, but I only did it a couple of times. I found it worth my while to take the drive down to Syracuse and fly out of there, it usually saved me at least $500 per trip on airfare. So I figured the 2.5hr drive was well worth it!! I never had any issues crossing the border at Hill Island en route to Syracuse.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

I never had any issues flying out of Ottawa either, but I only did it a couple of times. I found it worth my while to take the drive down to Syracuse and fly out of there, it usually saved me at least $500 per trip on airfare. So I figured the 2.5hr drive was well worth it!! I never had any issues crossing the border at Hill Island en route to Syracuse.

That is how we travel to Kingston in the summer - flying in either to Rochester or Syracuse, whichever is cheaper - then renting a car and driving across at Ivy Lea. Definitely saves several hundred dollars off of each ticket for us as well even with the car rental.

Edited March 14, 2010 by Kathryn41

[cdn_gewels 0]

Hey there!

I used to live in Ottawa, and used to work at the airport too! I got to know the US Customs Officers as I worked with them everyday. They are very polite and professional. I got to know some of them well and they were always so happy to hear of the progress with my K-1 Visa. I never had an issue crossing through, even when I got an officer I hadn't gotten to know yet. On a professional level, they were always so helpful with our passengers.