Air Canada connection times

1:40 should be plenty of time to make a connection in Toronto. Ive connected through there twice on my way back from Europe with no real problems. Well--once I got stuck there during a snowstorm, but the airline paid for a hotel, breakfast included. The other time I had about two hours to make a connecting flight to Pittsburgh and I made it with plenty of time to spare, even with clearing customs and having to catch a puddle-jumper in some far-off corner of the airport.

Barb,

In my experience, connections in Toronto can be "unpredictable", so I'd opt for the longer layover (although 7+ hours is a bit excessive). I've experienced a couple of stressful connections there, the most recent being last year.

I normally book international flights through a travel agent, and they normally won't book anything that's not a "legal connection". Even with that, I've had a few problems. Are you planning to fly or drive to Toronto?

Going east, you will probably stay in the secure area so won't deal with "customs", by which I expect you also mean immigration, which is the real concern. There will be security checks but that's a decent time for the transfer, especially if both flights are operated by Air Canada.
On the return, you face your own US immigration and customs procedures in Toronto, not the Canadian process. That means retrieving your luggage, although it can be conveniently returned to the airline right beside the security procedures. Just be sure to get into the correct line-up for connections. There are two other lineups, one for foreigners entering Canada and the other, and biggest, for Canadians returning to the country. One hour 40 min. should do it but is tighter than the outbound transfer since there is more to be done.

I transferred there in July on my way to Athens. It was easy and immigration was fast. I typically allow 1 1/2 -2 hours for a lay over so you should be fine. You don't really go through customs but they will collect paperwork from you.

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate the feedback. I'm still undecisive about ticket prices - MSP to FCO on 6/25; return CDG to Msp on 7/5 for $1600??? Comments or advice anyone?

Barb,

The prices you quoted seem reasonable. I normally use Air Canada, and my tickets from the west coast are somewhat more expensive. Many of my flights land at FRA first before connecting to other points in Europe, but I have also travelled the YYZ / FCO route in the past.