BCR June 15-22
Mike and Julie from Rochester, NY in the summer and Ft. Myers, FL in the winter. Any neighbors on this trip? We are late additions to the roster and have a flight picked by Tauck arriving just before 1 PM for the 2:30 departure. We will try to hurry through customs. Don't let them leave without us. 
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I think you'll find getting thru Customs at Calgary isn't so bad. But, here are a few tips to get you out of security and to the bus as quickly as possible:
1. Although it will be tempting to drop off your checked baggage as soon as possible where ever you are departing from (I'm assuming you have a direct flight), don't do it. Wait as late as you COMFORTABLY feel you can check your bags AND get thru TSA, without sitting at your departure gate FOREVER. Remember, the last bags into the cargo hold will be the first to come off the plane to greet you at the baggage carousel. You want to be amongst the first people getting off the plane to get your bags to proceed directly to Customs.
2. Before you land in Calgary, use the restrooms on the plane. Many are tempted to use the restrooms at the airport as soon as you land, and that just lets others jump in front of you at lines at the Customs counter.
3. Have your travel documents handy before you get off the plane. I can't tell you how many people you'll see fumbling for their documents while you are line. The Customs folks handling traffic control in the line will recognize you are ready to go, and often times direct you to an available agent while unorganized others are trying to get their acts together.
The TD will be waiting for you just outside of Security. If you need to use the restrooms again before you jump on the bus, as I recall, they are to your right as you exit Security.
You are in for a great trip!
I'm honestly interested in how you come by this opinion. IMHO, your position defies logic (I'm not trying to start a flame-war). Just as we load groceries into our cars, the last bags going into the trunk are the first to come out. I certainly don't reach past the bags closest to me to the rear of my trunk when unloading my car (and baggage handlers don't either). I'm assuming you, like I, have extensive experience flying. I base my comment on not only my experience, but on statements made by one of my children, who works for a major US air carrier. He's in the air a bit more than me (15-20 times a month at multiple airports per day). I've seen a few non-US based carriers segregate the bags of first class customers (usually on larger planes) to allow first class customer's bags to be first off as a perk of paying that first class ticket price. Anyone paying less than first class has their bags thrown in the same cargo hold. I'm mainly speaking to the commonplace, not the exception. If you've got some special insight I'm not privy to, I'd be interested to hear it.
As someone who has actually taken this particular tour, I can state with 100% confidence the TD does in-fact meet you at the exit of security if you arrive at the airport on the tour departure date. The vast majority of travelers on this trip book a pre-tour night or two at the Westin prior to departing for the tour (upwards of 80% percent of the travelers). Tauck provides a transfer from the Westin to the airport on the bus, which is the mode of transportation for this entire tour. The itinerary clear states the tour departs from the airport, which is why the TD meets the last arrivals in Calgary at the airport.
Regarding luggage, you are lucky to have such a positive experience with your luggage. I can't tell you how often one of our bags will come off virtually first and then we wait for ages for the other to appear. Even when our bags are labeled Priority they often appear very late on the carousel. Thankfully our luggage has never been lost and only twice delayed, one of those times was on our Tanzania Zanzibar tour which led to an anxious 24 hours. Sealord can tell you he survived a whole trip without his luggage arriving. We would not be comfortable checking in very near the cut off point and like to get through security as early as possible because you just never know how long someone might cause a delay in front of you, it's happened too often in front of us, most recently in London when the man in front of us was questioned for a very long long time.
These days because we have a Platinum AMEX card or sometimes travel Business class, we don't have to sit at the gate, we can go to one of the lounges and even have a shower or good food, read our books or in my case, look at The travel forums, which passes the time. Mr B has traveled way more than me, and likes to get to the airport early. Wherever we sit on the plane, we are fast walkers and can easily overtake others to get through immigration where most long delays occur. We have never found Customs delay us.
I'm not trying to start anything either, it's just our experience too.
This is a wonderful tour -- wishing you sunshine and good weather.
My original statements where to help someone to exit security at the airport as quickly as possible (after all, his tour leaves almost immediately after his plane arrives at the airport). Many people (and I get the feeling you may fall into this category) believe getting thru the airport as quickly and efficiently as possible is a complete crap-shoot. That is far from the truth. I see people constantly making decisions which run contrary to the goal of exiting the airport as quickly as possible, and often times they don't even realize it (and want to blame the air carrier for their own blunders). The fly in the ointment with international flight is always getting your bags quickly, and sprinting to the Customs counter.
I've met people who have experienced the same issues you outlined above many times. I flew from Los Angeles to Munich several weeks ago, and checked my bags several hours before my flight departed. And #@$&% if I didn't wait until everyone else had collected their bags before I got mine (flying in an A380 didn't help either - but that's another story). The reason bags which are checked together don't come down the chute together are often due to just a couple of issues. The first is what you have packed in those bags. Some people don't realize your bags go thru a TSA screening after you check them at the counter. If the x-ray or other detection machines find something odd about your bag, it gets segregated into another baggage line for further screening (so, you've got to think while you're packing... could this item in my bag cause an alarm to go off). The other variable is that on the conveyor belt to the aircraft, there are times when the various scanners which route your bag thru the bowels of the airport can't read your bag tag to properly route it to where it needs to go. That also puts your bag into a separate screening process (which is completely dumb luck... nothing you can do about that). In either instance, there are times when the bag which required secondary screening is very delayed in getting loaded on the plane (and/or doesn't make it on the plane at all). On my recent return flight to Los Angeles, I had to first fly from Budapest to Munich. Watching the post-Soviet efficiency of the airport staff in Budapest, I was almost convinced I would never see my bags again - so, I can see some of this is airport dependent (especially abroad).
The bottom line is that most of the time, you can do things to help yourself get thru the airport quickly (just as easily as you can be counter-productive to that end goal). You think I'm lucky with my luggage experiences... I would prefer to think I've been smart about how I pack; and how I deliver my bags to the air carrier (although admittedly, there are somethings which are out of my control). For me personally, leaving the things I can control to chance just isn't my preferred method of operation. And I believe that gets me thru the airport efficiently (if not always quickly).
I can see people come to these forums for a few different reasons. Some appear to see this site as a social affair, and I suppose that is okay. Others are coming here for answers to questions, and may or may not post if they find the answers they are looking for. I think the information presented should be honest and accurate rather than conjecture. When someone has "been there; done that" - then conjecture has no place in the conversation. And if someone is mis-representing the facts, then they should be taken to task :-)
Ta-Ta :-)
You obviously have extra knowledge about airport baggage handling and I see where you are going about not putting anything suspicious looking in checked baggage. That is one of the reasons we hand carry all our electrics and valuables. Even then you can be caught oit and delayed at security. Two years ago at Johannesburg airport, my hand carry was put thru the X-ray machine several times. The security officer pulled me aside and started confronting me, do I know what was in the bag he might be looking for? No, but I was scared. It went thru again. At that point there was a shift change, the new officer looked at the screen, looked annoyed, spoke to the other officer, it turned out that the metal shaft or rod in the middle of my binoculars was causing concern to the inexperienced officer. The new officer sent me on my way. The following year, coming thru the same airport with the same binoculars there was no problem.
I still could not put myself thru the stress of checking bags last minute. My advice to anyone is to allows plenty of time between flights to allow getting thru security. And at the end of a journey going to a Tauck tour, to arrive in plenty of time.
I guess Mike has been scared off by now. Have a great trip Mike!