Booking Your Flights

Booking Deadline

Please make sure you book your flights within two weeks of being "Placed" at your camp and moving to the Get Prepared stage. If you need help booking your flight, please reach out to communitysuccess@campcanada.ca.

Connecting Flights

If you are connecting in Canada, please ensure that you have at least 4 hours between flights. While we recommend giving yourself 4 hours minimum between flights, sometimes immigration is very busy or delayed. We cannot guarantee that you will make your connection even if you leave a 4 hour buffer as we cannot control the wait times at immigration.

Also, be mindful of the airline you are on. Some budget airlines like Air Transat will NOT help you rebook flights. If for some reason you miss your connection, you may be responsible for rebooking your travel and will need to pay for it. We advise to avoid connecting flights where possible but we understand it can be cheaper.

Note: We strongly recommend not booking with Air Transat if you have a connection due to their rebooking policy

Return Ticket

Canadian officials don't require you to have a return ticket when you enter Canada, but you may be asked to prove that you can buy one. This means showing your credit card or proof of funds. Some airlines may require that you buy a return ticket.

In 2023, the airline Aeroméxico was known to refuse participants boarding if they did not have a return flight booked.

As soon as you touch down in Canada you will be getting your work permit, regardless of whether you are landing in your final Canadian destination. For example, If you are flying to Ottawa and you have to first land in Toronto and take a second flight to Ottawa, Toronto is where you will go through immigration and receive your work permit. You need AT LEAST 4 hours to complete this process. Sometimes it takes much less time but it can also take more. That is why we recommend booking connecting flights with at least 4 hours in between. If you do miss your flight due to immigration delays, many airlines will likely rebook you on the next flight however it is up to their discretion. As mentioned above, airlines like Air Transat will not rebook you and we've had a number of people left needing to rebook travel independantly. 

Connecting through the US? Make sure that you have done your ESTA and have all of the proper Visa requirements necessary for landing in the USA. Even though it is just a layover, you will not be permitted to enter the country without these forms. 

Return Flights:

You do not need to book a return flight before you come to Canada if you would prefer not to. However, the immigration officer may ask what you plan to do after your period of employment. We encourage you to have a plan in place and to ensure you can prove that you will have funds to remain in Canada as a visitor when your work placement is complete.

Early Arrival:

While you may choose to arrive a few days earlier than your contract start date, please be advised that arriving significantly earlier than your employment could lead to some questions from the immigration officer when you land in Canada. Issuing your work permit at the border is left to the discretion of the officer and on some occasions, participants who arrived significantly earlier were entered as a visitor upon arrival to account for their lengthy stay in Canada before they started working at camp.

In terms of the above scenario, if your work permit is not granted upon arrival in Canada, it will be your responsibility to travel to a port of entry before camp to apply for/obtain your work permit, which will require you to leave Canada and re-enter at a US land border in order to do so. This process, known as flagpoling, can be challenging to apply for your work permit, and it can get quite costly as you will need to coordinate your own transportation to/from the border.

Therefore, we suggest that you plan to arrive in Canada as close to your arrival date as possible for a smoother process. As a reminder, if you would like to travel within Canada, you may do so post-camp instead. During the summer we will email you with information about how you can easily extend your stay in Canada by changing your status to visitor.

Uploading Your Flight Itinerary:

*IMPORTANT: The site only accepts NUMBERS in the flight number section. If your flight number is AC123 please only input the numbers 123 in the flight number section.

Once you've booked your flights, you will need to upload your itinerary to your Camp Canada portal. From the menu on the lefthand side of the page, navigate to 'Documents.' 

Next, scroll down the page to find 'Flight Itinerary' and click on it.

You will see a page that looks like this: 

*IMPORTANT: The site only accepts NUMBERS in the flight number section. If your flight number is AC123 please only input the numbers 123 in the flight number section. Below is an example of what a completed page should look like.

Finally, upload a copy of your flight itinerary. 

If you are having any issues, please ensure that you have NOT used any letters in your flight number section. If you have checked that and still cannot upload your itinerary, please contact Sydney at sydney@campcanada.ca.