Travelers touching down at several of Canada’s major airports on Sunday found themselves trapped on planes for hours or navigating chaotic, packed terminals. The widespread disruption was caused by an unexpected system failure affecting crucial border inspection kiosks across the country.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) confirmed the technical issue via social media, alerting the public to significant impacts at several Canadian airports. Passengers arriving in bustling hubs like Montreal, Toronto, and Calgary were specifically advised to brace for lengthy customs processing times.
The problem, which started Sunday afternoon, disabled the self-serve kiosks that allow travelers to verify their identity upon arrival, according to Luke Reimer, a CBSA spokesman. These essential machines are deployed in ten airports throughout Canada.
Reimer attributed the outage to an “unforeseen technical issue” that arose during routine system maintenance. While the agency worked tirelessly to restore the digital systems, border staff valiantly switched to manually processing all incoming travelers, attempting to mitigate the mounting delays.
As of early Monday morning, the full extent of the travel disruption and its ripple effects across the country remained uncertain.
Canadian carrier WestJet reported on social media that operations at a Toronto airport had temporarily halted deplaning, as the customs area had reached its maximum capacity due to the kiosk failure. Requests for comment from WestJet and both Toronto Pearson Airport and Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, which utilize these kiosks, did not receive an immediate response.
Similarly, airports in Montreal and Calgary, which had issued warnings about potential delays, did not provide immediate updates on how their specific operations were being impacted by the ongoing technical difficulties.