Toronto Pearson International Airport review: US security and customs

We were going to San Diego on Sept 23 , 2023. We arrived at Pearson airport on our flight from Fredericton AC 1525 around 705 but didn’t have a gate to go to so had to just park at the far end of the airport and wait for a bus to take us back to the airport. This took about 15 mins total. This was our first delay. Next when we got to the F gate it was very busy. Not sure how many people but definitely over 100. We got in line at 7:25. Our flight was going to start boarding at 7:35. We tired 3 different times to ask if we could be let ahead so we wouldn’t miss our flight but the only answer we got was ‘you have time’. Once we got through security the custom line was just as long and this time there was no one there to ask questions or express our concerns of missing our flight. Other passengers were in the same situation as us. One passenger did get to speak to someone to express that they will miss their flight since it is boarding now but the only answer they got was ‘you have to get in line’. There was no empathy at all for passengers with tight connections that have delays that are out of their control. So we got through customs and ran to our gate to find they closed the door 2 mins ago. It was 7:57. They wouldn’t make an exception to let us on even though they were not leaving for another 12 mins. We did get re routed to Montreal and had to do customs all over again. Montreal however was much better at getting those passengers through security and customs by having someone there to let the passengers with tight connections go ahead in both lines! They would yell out flights and take those passengers aside and let them through. It was well organized and everyone was pleased with the efforts made so they wouldn’t have to be re routed and miss vacation time which is what happened to our family vacation. Because of this we won’t be using Toronto airport for any travel. There is no compassion.