‘Misdirected’ passengers skipped customs after international flight landed in Ottawa

Ten Air Canada passengers left the Ottawa airport without clearing customs Sunday night, after arriving on an international flight from Cancun, Mexico.

When Air Canada Flight 1413 landed at the airport around 8 p.m., “customers were inadvertently misdirected when leaving the aircraft” through a swing gate used for both international and domestic flights, the airline said. Air Canada said 192 passengers were aboard the flight.

Heather Badenoch was among the travellers who were misdirected.

“I remember as we were exiting through the double doors, the person in front of me turned to me and said, ‘Does this seem right?'” she recalled.

“Then we were down the escalator and I didn’t have any checked bags, and so I was tired and eager to get home and left.”

Badenoch said she never passed through customs and immigration, nor did she submit a declaration. Instead, she and other passengers from the flight ended up near the airport’s baggage claim area.

According to Air Canada, once the error was discovered, it contacted the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and passengers were redirected toward the customs hall.

A spokesperson confirmed however that 10 passengers never passed through customs, and said Air Canada is working to contact those individuals.

Badenoch told CBC on Friday afternoon that she was still waiting to hear from the airline, despite reaching out by phone and online to both Air Canada and CBSA.

“It’s been what, five days at this point?” she said. “I haven’t heard from anyone.”

‘A serious breach’

That has left Badenoch with questions about what happens next.

“This is such a weird situation,” she said. “I don’t actually know how this happened. I’m kind of curious to find that out as well, because in hindsight I’m wondering, do I have to do something now? Do I need to go back, submit something? What do we need to do next, right?”

Christian Lane, a former CBSA intelligence chief, described the incident as “a serious breach.”

“Ultimately what it means is that 10 of the 192 [passengers] haven’t reported as required by both the Customs Act and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act for examination by an officer,” Lane explained. “Therefore their entry is sort of in limbo at the moment.”

Lane said he expects the incident will require a thorough investigation to determine the immigration status of the 10 people who slipped through, as well as what they were carrying in their luggage.

“Ultimately mistakes can be remedied and rectified,” he said. “[But] it’s difficult to say with any degree of certainty at the moment what specific impact this is going to have on any one of those 10 individuals.”

There could also be consequences for Air Canada, Lane said, as airlines are required to direct international passengers to CBSA agents.

CBC reached out to CBSA on Friday but the agency did not respond by deadline.