Major Canadian Airports Grind to Halt After Immigration Kiosk Outage
On Sunday, September 29, 2025, a nationwide technical failure at Canada’s automated border kiosks triggered massive delays at the country’s busiest airports—leaving thousands of international passengers stranded on planes for hours and sparking frustration across social media.
What Happened?
According to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), an “unforeseen technical issue” during routine maintenance knocked out self-service kiosks at 10 major airports, including:
- Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ)
- Montréal–Trudeau International Airport (YUL)
- Calgary International Airport (YYC)
- Vancouver International Airport (YVR)
- Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport (YOW)
The outage began Sunday afternoon and persisted into the night. With kiosks offline, border agents were forced to manually process every arriving international traveler—a process that typically takes minutes now stretched to over two hours.
Passenger Nightmare: Stranded, Stressed, and Stuck
| Airport | Reported Delays | Passenger Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Toronto (YYZ) | 3–5 hours | Flights held on tarmac; passengers denied bathroom access |
| Montreal (YUL) | 2–4 hours | Terminal overcrowded; families separated during processing |
| Calgary (YYC) | 2+ hours | Missed connecting flights; baggage delays |
| Vancouver (YVR) | 1.5–3 hours | Long lines snaked through customs hall |
Infographic: How Canada’s Border Kiosks Work—and Why the Failure Was So Disruptive
Official Response and Fallout
Luke Reimer, a CBSA spokesperson, confirmed the outage was not cyber-related but stemmed from a software glitch during scheduled maintenance. “Staff are working around the clock to restore full functionality,” he said in a statement just after midnight.
Airlines including Air Canada, WestJet, and Delta issued travel waivers, allowing passengers to rebook without fees. Still, the ripple effects are expected to last days, especially for those with tight international connections.
Travel experts warn this incident exposes overreliance on automated systems without robust contingency plans.
“One point of failure shouldn’t paralyze an entire nation’s border,” said Dr. Lena Cho, a transportation policy analyst at McGill University.
[INTERNAL_LINK:canada_border_security] | [INTERNAL_LINK:airport_technology_failures]
