Several passengers travelling from Houston, Texas, to Montreal were reportedly prevented from boarding an Air Canada flight despite holding valid passports, after an apparent immigration-status system problem affected the flight.
One of the affected travellers shared her experience online, saying she and six other passengers were stopped at the gate while preparing to board the flight from George Bush Intercontinental Airport to Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.
The passenger, who holds a Canadian passport, said no immediate explanation was given for the boarding restriction.
“We weren’t given any reason as to why this was happening at first. I don’t know if that was random or not. For reference, I have a Canadian passport and so did most of the other passengers denied entry,” she wrote.
According to her account, a flight attendant could not say when the problem would be resolved and warned that it could take several hours or even days.
“She said it could take a few hours to a few days,” the traveller wrote. “So we could either wait indefinitely at the airport or be rebooked for another day.”
She eventually opted to have her trip rescheduled after Air Canada reportedly told her that a “bug in the system” was affecting multiple passengers.
The traveller later said the problem had been resolved and she was able to rebook her journey to Montreal.
In another post, she revealed the message displayed on the airport system when staff attempted to process her and the other affected passengers.
“The gate agent literally showed me what appeared on the screen for the other passengers and me: ‘Unable to Board as APP Immigration Status is not OK,’” she wrote.
The incident sparked speculation online about what caused the disruption, with some travellers suggesting that an issue involving the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) may have been responsible.
One Reddit user claimed the problem was linked to a security connection used by CBSA.
“It was not immigration; rather, CBSA’s security link went down. Every passport swipe, new booking, change of booking initiates a check against the no-fly list for Canada. When the link is down, it has to be vetted manually..can take hours,” the person wrote.
Other users described similar experiences involving Canadian passport holders at airports in different countries.
“This happened to me today too, dual citizen, flying back from London, England, with a Canadian passport with British Airways. A Canadian system was down, and it was out of the control of BA,” another commenter said.
Another traveller claimed to have experienced a similar problem while attempting to return to Vancouver from Hong Kong.
“It’s most likely a system glitch, I had the same thing happened to me a while ago in Hong Kong when I was trying to board a flight back to Vancouver, happened to a couple other passengers as well,” the commenter wrote.
Some users advised the affected passenger to seek compensation under Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR), while others argued that the incident might not legally qualify as denied boarding.
One commenter said, “I would treat this as an in-control cancellation and seek APPR compensation and expenses.”
However, another explained that denied boarding under the regulations generally relates to situations where an airline cannot accommodate passengers because there are fewer available seats than eligible passengers.
“[The traveller] was not ‘denied’ boarding; they were unable to show that they had the requirements (outlined in the tariff) to be accepted for carriage,” the commenter wrote.
Under Canada’s APPR, denial of boarding occurs when a passenger with a confirmed reservation, valid travel documents and a seat is prevented from occupying that seat because the number of available seats is lower than the number of eligible passengers.
The Canadian Transportation Agency says eligible passengers can receive up to C$2,400 in compensation depending on the circumstances and how long their arrival is delayed.
However, compensation generally applies only when the disruption is within the airline’s control. Situations outside the carrier’s control may instead entitle passengers to options such as refunds or rebooking.
In this case, the affected traveller said she was eventually rebooked for another flight.
The exact cause of the system problem has not been publicly confirmed.
