Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF

[plam]

You do the bag check inside at YKF, with weighing, tagging, etc, and they load it on the bus for you. But once you get to YYZ you have to move it from the bus to the check-in/bag drop area yourself.

They also do your ID verification at YKF. It really is treated like you're boarding a flight, so you can't get to YYZ and discover you don't have the right documents, baggage is too large, etc. Once it's accepted at YKF then YYZ is just a connection. I do suspect that they've done the setup the way they have so that the overhead of adding flights out of YKF (e.g. YKF-YVR) isn't as high, as they've already got much of the fixed infrastructure in place.

If it was "just a connection" I wouldn't need to take my bag anywhere, or do security or anything like that. It is very very much not "just a connection" when I have to go in the front door and do all the usual stuff just like if I was a (well prepared) traveller.

That's my whole point, if they're not really doing anything meaningful at YKF then going to YKF is a complete unforced error, because not a single person travelling that routes wants to be at YKF. The ONLY reason you'd be at YKF is because it has a runway for the plane to land at, and the security apparatus to secure passengers and baggage for the flight, but a bus doesn't need a runway, and they aren't using the security apparatus, so going to YKF is stupid. They might as well have the bus drive to the middle of a farmers field and drop everyone there.

There are certainly multiple airports I've been at where I've had to retrieve my bag and then check it again, usually but not always because of customs. US customs of course, and also clearing biosecurity in NZ, but also YVR won't keep your bag overnight even on domestic-to-domestic.

Baggage scales, check in desks, etc all exist at YKF. It sounds like it's just like a connection where you have to retrieve and recheck your luggage.