Vaughan to Hamilton Airport

Vaughan to Hamilton Airport: the low-cost carriers, and the early-morning run

Hamilton's airport is the small-airport experience thirty minutes west of Burlington: a single terminal, a short security line, a departures kerb a few steps from the check-in desks, and a schedule built around low-cost carriers and holiday charters to Florida, Mexico and the Caribbean. The catch is the departure times — 5:45 a.m. is normal — and the drive from Vaughan, which is an hour on empty roads and much more on full ones. A 3:30 a.m. pickup in Maple for a 6 a.m. Flair flight is a booking we take every week in winter, and it works because the car is positioned in Vaughan and the chauffeur has done the 403 in the dark.

The drive

From Woodbridge and Kleinburg: the 427 south to the 401 west, the 403 west through Mississauga and Oakville, past Hamilton's Red Hill and Lincoln Alexander parkways to Highway 6 south and the airport. 60 to 65 minutes off-peak. From the VMC, Concord, Maple and Thornhill: the 407 west all the way to the 403 at Burlington, then the 403 and Highway 6 — 65 to 75 minutes, the toll inside the fare, and the route that avoids the 401 entirely. In the morning rush the 403 through Oakville and the Burlington split slow, and the plan allows 90 minutes.

At Hamilton Airport

The terminal is small and the airport's guidance is to arrive ninety minutes before a domestic departure and two hours before an international or charter one; the chauffeur's plan uses those figures plus the drive and a margin. Drop-off is at the departures kerb; pickup for the return is at the arrivals kerb with the chauffeur tracking the flight and the free waiting period as at Pearson. Flair, the charter operators and the seasonal carriers change their schedules often; the airport's own site is the authority on who flies where, and the flight number in your booking is what the tracker follows.

Sun charters

The winter charters — Sunwing, Air Transat and the tour-operator flights to Cancún, Punta Cana, Varadero, Holguín and the Florida coast — are a large share of Hamilton's traffic and of Vaughan's Hamilton bookings: a family of six in a Luxury SUV from Woodbridge at 3 a.m. with the suitcases, the flight at six, a week away, and the SUV at the arrivals kerb when they land. Booked as two one-ways against the two flights, both fixed. The travel desk books the package.

When Hamilton beats Pearson from Vaughan

When the fare does. Hamilton's carriers are cheaper on the routes they fly, the parking is cheaper, and the terminal is quicker; the cost is the hour's drive and the early hours. From Vaughan, Hamilton is the right airport for a low-cost domestic flight to Halifax, Calgary or Vancouver at the right price, and for the charters. It is never the right airport for a connection. Pearson is thirty minutes away and flies everywhere; the arithmetic is the fare difference minus the extra chauffeur cost, and the engine gives you both figures.

Hamilton the city

The same route serves Hamilton itself — McMaster University for the September drop-off, a Tiger-Cats game at Tim Hortons Field, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the waterfalls at Dundas and Ancaster, a Hamilton Health Sciences appointment — priced as a one-way or by the hour. Hamilton's Bayfront and the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington are afternoon hourly bookings.

Which vehicle

The Executive Sedan for one or two; the Luxury SUV for the charter family; the Sprinter for a group flying together. Early-morning bookings are sedans and SUVs; the stretch is not a 3 a.m. airport vehicle.

Booking Vaughan to Hamilton Airport

Address, the flight number and date, passengers and luggage. Say "Hamilton Airport" or "YHM". For a 6 a.m. flight, expect a pickup time around 3:30 in the confirmation, and book the return against the inbound flight.

A Hamilton departure, as it runs

A Maple family of five on a 06:10 Sunwing charter to Punta Cana: the confirmation sets the pickup at 03:40 for a two-hour-before-departure arrival at an international charter; the Luxury SUV is at the Melville Avenue address at 03:38, Jane to the 400 to the 407 in the dark, the 407 west to the 403 at Burlington, the 403 past Hamilton's Lincoln Alexander Parkway to Highway 6 south, and the departures kerb at 04:45. The chauffeur unloads five suitcases onto a trolley and is back in Vaughan by 06:00. A week later the charter lands at 23:50; the SUV is at the arrivals kerb, the family is through in twenty minutes, and Maple is reached at 01:15. Two fixed fares from the engine, both booked when the package was.

The airport, for the first-timer

John C. Munro Hamilton International is at Mount Hope, south of the city on Highway 6, a single terminal with a short walk from the kerb to the check-in desks and from security to the gates. It is Canada's largest overnight express cargo airport and a busy passenger airport for the low-cost carriers and the sun charters; the schedule is seasonal and changes often, and the flight number in your booking is what the tracker follows. Parking is a fraction of Pearson's, which is the reason some Vaughan families drive and leave the car — and the reason a chauffeur is the better answer when the flight is at six in the morning and the return is at midnight. The departures kerb is for drop-off; the arrivals kerb has a short-stay lane; the cell-phone lot is where the chauffeur waits.

The 403 and Highway 6, in detail

From the 407's western end at Burlington the 403 runs south-west past Aldershot and over the Burlington Bay Skyway's neighbour, the 403's own bridge, into Hamilton, where it becomes the city's mountain-access highway and meets the Lincoln Alexander Parkway; Highway 6 south leaves the 403 at Ancaster and runs ten minutes to the airport. The 403's morning rush through Oakville and Burlington is real from 06:30 to 09:00 and the plan allows 90 minutes from the VMC in those hours; before 05:00 and after 19:00 the whole route is empty and the plan is 65. The Lincoln Alexander Parkway and the Red Hill are the bypass if the 403 through Hamilton is stopped. In winter the 403 is a lake-effect belt west of Burlington and the chauffeur's winter tyres earn their keep.

Hamilton the city, and McMaster

The same route serves Hamilton's own destinations. McMaster University on Main Street West is the September drop-off for Vaughan's first-years — a Luxury SUV one-way with a term's belongings, priced from the addresses — and the parents' visit in October. Tim Hortons Field for the Tiger-Cats and the Forge; FirstOntario Centre for concerts; the Art Gallery of Hamilton; the waterfalls at Dundas, Ancaster and the escarpment's edge; the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington; Hamilton Health Sciences' hospitals for the specialist appointment. Each is a one-way or an hourly booking, and the chauffeur knows the campus loops and the stadium's drop-off.

Sun charters and the winter calendar

From November to April Hamilton's charter schedule to Cancún, Punta Cana, Varadero, Holguín, Puerto Plata, Montego Bay and the Florida coast fills the early-morning departures, and Vaughan's families fill the SUVs to them. The travel desk books the package; the engine prices the two legs; the confirmation's pickup time — usually between 03:00 and 04:00 — is worked from the charter operator's two-hour guidance and the drive. The return, landing near midnight after a week in the sun, is the trip where the free waiting period and the chauffeur at the arrivals kerb feel most like a service.

Hamilton's neighbours: Burlington, the Niagara road and the airport hotels

The 403 route passes Burlington's Royal Botanical Gardens and the Aldershot GO station, and the Burlington split sends the QEW on to Niagara — the Niagara route shares the first hour with this one. A late-night arrival at Hamilton with an early meeting in the city is sometimes better served by a Hamilton or Ancaster hotel than a run back to Vaughan; the travel desk books it and the chauffeur does either. The airport's own site has the terminal map and the current airlines; McMaster University has the campus map for the September drop-off, and the chauffeur knows the residence loops.

Two Hamilton bookings that are not the airport

A September morning: a Luxury SUV from Thornhill with a first-year's belongings to McMaster's residence loop, the parents riding along, back to Vaughan by noon — a one-way fixed fare plus the return for the parents. A Saturday afternoon: a Sprinter of twelve from Woodbridge to a Tiger-Cats game at Tim Hortons Field, the stadium's drop-off on Balsam, dinner on James Street North, home at eleven — six hours by the hour. Both use the 403 and the same chauffeurs.

The plan for a 6 a.m. flight, plainly

Pickup between 03:15 and 03:45 depending on the community, the 407 to the 403 in the dark, the departures kerb by 04:30 for an international charter or 04:45 for a domestic low-cost flight, and the chauffeur's return to Vaughan before the morning rush. The confirmation states the time; the chauffeur texts on arrival at the door; the family sleeps in the SUV.

Book Vaughan to Hamilton Airport

The details

Highway 6 south from the 403 to the airport is a short, well-lit stretch and the chauffeur knows the terminal loop. The 403's Burlington split — 403 to Hamilton or QEW to Niagara — is missed by drivers every day; not by chauffeurs. The Lincoln Alexander Parkway is the bypass if the 403 through Hamilton is stopped. And the airport's arrivals kerb has a short-stay lane the chauffeur uses for the return, with the cell-phone lot for waiting.