Montreal-Trudeau International Airport (YUL) at Dorval is Air Canada's largest hub and Montreal's only passenger airport, 20 km and twenty-five to forty-five minutes west of downtown, with a single terminal whose domestic, international and US-preclearance jetties meet in one central hall. From London, Ontario you reach it by Air Canada or Porter from Pearson or Billy Bishop, a YXU connection, or VIA Rail via Toronto; at the far end a chauffeur meets you at the international or domestic arrivals doors with your name on a board. That chauffeur is a directory-vetted Montreal operator booked by LondonLimo.net's London desk on your account, and this page describes the airport, the drive and the booking as a London traveller meets them.
Why a London traveller books the Montreal end through us
Montreal is London's second business city after Toronto: the aerospace and pharmaceutical head offices, the McGill and Université de Montréal hospitals and research institutes that London's own hospitals collaborate with, the Grand Prix, the festivals, the Bell Centre, and the families with relatives in the west island. The traveller books the London-side run to Pearson or Billy Bishop on this site; adding the Montreal chauffeur means the same standard at Dorval, a confirmation in one language or two, and one invoice. The Montreal operator is vetted through the LimousineWorldwide.Directory and contracted to our standard; Quebec's own licensing of chauffeured vehicles applies to them and is on file.
| Detail | Montreal-Trudeau (YUL) |
|---|---|
| From London, Ontario | Air Canada or Porter from Pearson or Billy Bishop (1 h 15 flight), via YXU; VIA Rail via Toronto 7-8 h |
| Terminal | Single terminal: domestic, international and US-preclearance jetties on one central hall |
| Airlines | Air Canada (hub), Air Transat, WestJet, Porter, Air France, KLM, Lufthansa, British Airways, Qatar, Emirates and the US carriers |
| Drive to the centre | 20 km, 25-45 min to downtown on Autoroute 20 or 40 |
| Meeting point | International arrivals doors or domestic arrivals, ground level; or curbside |
| Local rates | Quoted by the London desk; the London-side run priced on the engine |
The terminal
One building at Dorval with check-in on the upper level, the CATSA checkpoints for domestic and international, a separate US preclearance zone for flights to the United States, and on the ground level the domestic carousels in one hall and the international carousels and customs hall in another, both exiting into the public arrivals area. The chauffeur knows which doors your flight uses; the airport's site has the maps and the flight board.
Where the chauffeur meets you
At the international arrivals doors or the domestic arrivals area on the ground level with a name board, or curbside on the arrivals roadway when you text; the London desk sends the Montreal chauffeur's name, mobile and plate the evening before, in English or French as you prefer, and the flight is tracked. Thirty minutes of wait is included on a domestic arrival and sixty on an international one.
The drive: the 20, the 40 and the island
Autoroute 20 runs east from Dorval to downtown in twenty-five minutes off-peak and forty-five at the peak; Autoroute 40 serves the north of the island and Laval; the west island's Pointe-Claire and Beaconsfield are ten minutes from the terminal. Downtown, Old Montreal, the Plateau, Westmount and Outremont each have their own approach and the chauffeur knows the one-way streets and the construction, which in Montreal is a permanent condition. The city's site and Tourisme Montréal describe the districts.
Business Montreal
The aerospace cluster around the airport itself - Bombardier, Pratt & Whitney Canada, CAE - the pharmaceutical companies in Laval and the west island, the banks and law firms downtown, the universities and their hospitals: a London company's Montreal day is an hourly booking with a chauffeur who speaks both languages, built by the London desk on the corporate account from the traveller's schedule.
The Bell Centre, the Grand Prix, the festivals
The Canadiens at the Bell Centre, the Canadian Grand Prix on Île Notre-Dame in June, the Jazz Festival and Just for Laughs in July, Osheaga in August, the Olympic Stadium's events: Montreal's calendar draws Londoners as visitors, and a network SUV at YUL, a hotel downtown and the event's transport are booked as one plan by the London desk and the travel desk.
Winter at Dorval
Montreal's winter is harder than London's and its airport is used to it: de-icing is efficient, the autoroutes are cleared, and the network chauffeur's vehicle has the winter tires Quebec law requires from December to March and our standard requires from November. Flights from Toronto delayed by weather are tracked and never charged.
Families, students and the Montreal connection
McGill, Concordia and the Université de Montréal draw London students, and their September arrivals and April departures are met at YUL and driven to residence; families visit for the holidays; grandparents fly in from Europe through Montreal's transatlantic hub and are met at the international doors. A van for the reunion, a sedan for the student, an SUV for the family with skis for the Laurentians.
VIA Rail and the honest alternatives
VIA Rail from Toronto to Montreal is five hours of comfortable travel and, combined with the London-Toronto train, a full day; the STM's 747 bus runs from the airport to downtown all night for the price of a transit fare; taxis have a flat downtown rate. The chauffeur wins for the name board, the bilingual confirmation, the day by the hour and the single invoice.
Three Montreal bookings, as they actually ran
A pharmaceutical meeting, Wednesday. A London executive on the 7:30 Air Canada from Pearson; a network sedan at the domestic doors at 9; Laval, downtown and the airport by the hour; the 6 p.m. flight; a LondonLimo.net chauffeur at Terminal 1 at 7:45. On the corporate account.
A Grand Prix weekend, June. Four friends from London on Porter from Billy Bishop; a network SUV at YUL; the hotel, the circuit shuttles, dinner in Old Montreal, and the airport Monday. The travel desk booked the rooms.
A transatlantic arrival, December. Grandparents from Paris met at the international doors by a network chauffeur with a bilingual board, driven to a house in Westmount; a LondonLimo.net sedan collected them at Pearson a week later for the London leg. One household account.
How the far end works. Chauffeurs at this airport are directory-vetted operators found through the LimousineWorldwide.Directory, contracted to LondonLimo.net's published standard and booked by our London desk on your account: the same vehicle classes, the same confirmation, the local chauffeur's details the evening before, one invoice. Local rates are quoted by the desk; the London-side run is priced on the engine. Airport and airline names describe where we drive and imply no affiliation.
How the network booking actually works
You book the London-side run on the reservation engine - Byron to Pearson Terminal 1 at 4:30 a.m., say - and tell the desk you want a chauffeur at Dorval. The desk confirms the Montreal operator's availability and rate, adds the leg to your confirmation with the meeting doors and the vehicle class, and sends the chauffeur's name, mobile and plate the evening before, in English or French. The operator holds Quebec's licensing for chauffeured vehicles, is insured for hire, screens its chauffeurs and has signed our standard; any problem in Montreal is a call to our desk. The Montreal leg is on your LondonLimo.net invoice at the operator's quoted rate with no separate charge.
Montreal's hotels, from the chauffeur's seat
The Ritz-Carlton, the Four Seasons and the Sofitel on Sherbrooke; the Queen Elizabeth and the Bonaventure beside Central Station; the Old Montreal boutique hotels on the cobbled streets where a car may stop only at the door; the Laval and airport hotels for early departures. The travel desk books the room on the file with the flights and the chauffeurs, and the network chauffeur knows which Old Montreal streets are closed to cars in summer.
What the Montreal legs cost, honestly
A Dorval-to-downtown run is priced by the local operator in the same band as our YXU-to-downtown figure adjusted for the longer distance; hourly days are quoted before you confirm. The London-side Pearson or Billy Bishop run is the larger number and is on the engine. One confirmation, one number per leg, no surprise at the end.
Quebec City, the Laurentians and the Eastern Townships
From Dorval the network chauffeur runs to Mont-Tremblant in an hour and a half for a ski weekend, to the Eastern Townships' inns and wineries in ninety minutes, and to Quebec City in three hours on Autoroute 20 or 40 as a quoted programme; Quebec City's airport has its own network operator for a flight in. The desk quotes each as a fixed run or a day by the hour, with Quebec's December-to-March winter-tire law observed.
Groups, conferences and the Palais des congrès
A London delegation to a conference at the Palais des congrès, a Western research group to McGill, a company's client event during the Grand Prix: a network Sprinter or van at YUL, the hotel shuttles and the return are quoted from the schedule with a manifest, as the group transportation page describes, and the network's Montreal coach operators cover larger groups.
The calendar, and the closures that matter
The Grand Prix weekend closes the bridges to Île Notre-Dame and fills every hotel; the Jazz Festival closes the Quartier des Spectacles for ten days; Osheaga fills Parc Jean-Drapeau; construction closes something every week. The network chauffeur knows the current map, the desk plans around it, and the Montreal city site publishes the closures.
Montreal's airport for the London family and the student
A McGill student from London flies home for the holidays with a network chauffeur from the Plateau to Dorval and a LondonLimo.net chauffeur at Pearson for the 401; parents fly in for convocation in June with a network SUV at the domestic doors and a hotel on Sherbrooke through the travel desk; relatives from France arrive through Montreal's transatlantic hub and are met at the international doors with a bilingual board. Each is one household account with the London legs and the Montreal legs on the same invoice, booked in ten minutes.
Air Transat and the sun from Montreal
Air Transat's Montreal hub flies the Caribbean, Florida and Europe at fares that sometimes beat Toronto's, and a London family occasionally flies out of Dorval for that reason: a LondonLimo.net run to Pearson, a short flight to Montreal, a network chauffeur to a Montreal hotel the night before, and the network chauffeur back to YUL in the morning. The desk plans the connection with the Pearson page's terminal rules and the comparison guide's arithmetic.
Booking checklist
The flight number and the airline at both ends; the Montreal address or hotel; the language you prefer for the confirmation; meet and greet or curbside; the vehicle class; the hours if it is a day by the hour; and the account or card. The desk confirms both ends in one email; the rates page has the London-side figures.
The REM, and the airport in a few years
Montreal's new REM light-rail line reaches the airport in its final phase, and when it does the transit option to downtown will be a good one for a solo traveller with a carry-on, as the Canada Line is in Vancouver; the chauffeur will still win for the family, the luggage, the bilingual name board and the single invoice.
