Layover time enough or rebook

The most important question is what is your option for next flight if you do miss? Is it same day, next day? Will you end up in a middle seat?

I am much more willing to accept a short connection if it is on the way home or if I have built a buffer day upon arrival before any “must meet” deadlines like the start of a tour or a cruise. If it is important to you to arrive at a certain day/time, I would go for a longer connection or even just fly to Toronto, spend the night, and fly out from there the day of your long haul flight.

Your only chance of making that connection is if Canadian border control offices are in the Cleveland airport I who can examine your passport. If you have to go through Canadian border clearance in Toronto and transfer to another flight I do not believe you have time to make that connection.

It is possible there will not be a need for passport control

Participating Airports and RulesUnder the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) Free Flow International-to-International Transit process, eligible passengers do not need to meet an in-person border officer or use a kiosk.Toronto Pearson International Airport: Available only in Terminal 1 (Terminal 3 is not eligible).Vancouver International Airport: Fully eligible.Montréal-Trudeau International Airport: Fully eligible.

You will not need to go through Canadian border control. For all practical purposes, it is like a US connection. 1 hour 1 min is adequate, assuming of course no major delays.

A 1 hour 1 minute connection appears to be valid, but it leaves almost no buffer. Air Canada currently lists 1 hour as the minimum connection time at Toronto for a U.S. to international itinerary, although connection times can differ when other airlines are involved.

I would confirm three things before deciding: both flights are on the same ticket, the checked bag is tagged through to Athens, and both operating flights use Terminal 1. Eligible passengers connecting through Terminal 1 with an automatic same day baggage transfer can remain in the international connection process without collecting their bags. Terminal 3 connections do not qualify for that process.

Under those conditions, I would consider 61 minutes possible but tight. If arriving in Athens on schedule is important, or the next available flight would be the following day, I would prefer the longer connection. Pearson also has an official connection guide where the exact operating airlines can be entered to check the required steps.

Thank you all for the input. I can confirm it's Terminal 1 for arrival and departure of the flights, and checked bags are transfered for us. I'm not sure if the flights are same ticket but they did tell me if we miss due to delayed flight it would be on them. Gotten mixed info on if we have to go through customs, Toronta airport said no but Air Canads said yes, but it seems they were mistaken based on all the other info I've between both websites. I'll see when the next flight would be if missed and go from there. Thanks!

I presume this is an United ticket since Air Canada is involved. You will get both boarding passes when you check in.

There is a large chance you will be able to tell if you are going to make it in CLE itself. If you are delayed. you can ask to be rerouted.

61 minutes is just fine. There is so much padding in US flight schedules that you will likely make it with about 90 minutes to spare. Of course, whether YYZ will have a gate to spare for an early arriving flight is the main question.

Personally, I would take it.

Btw, if you decide to change through YUL, then do note that no immigration or customs is involved for connections from the US and departing Canada.

I am not a risk taker when it comes to traveling these days. If it was me I would try and rebook onto an earlier flight to Toronto.