Passengers bound for Canada from Houston encountered a gate denial that left several travellers unable to board an Air Canada flight to Montréal, airport witnesses and a passenger account said.
One traveller reported that gate screens displayed the message 'Unable to Board as APP Immigration Status is not OK' for her and six other passengers, most holding Canadian passports.
Air Canada told the passenger the problem was a "bug in the system" and the traveller was rebooked after the issue was cleared, she said.
Some users and commenters suggested the stoppage may have been linked to checks run by the Canada Border Services Agency, which in May of this year warned on social media of a 12 hour outage that delayed international travellers, according to the CBC.
Passengers and commentators discussed compensation under Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations, but the Canadian Transportation Agency says "denied boarding" applies to overbooking situations and that compensation up to $2,400 applies only to airline-controlled disruptions, while refunds or rebooking apply to events outside airline control.
State Review And Political Reaction
The boarding incident has coincided with a separate state-level controversy over religious accommodations at major Texas airports, with Governor Greg Abbott ordering a review of state grants to entities operating George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.
Abbott asked the US Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration to review facilities he says "single out one subset of the population for special treatment based on religion," and warned grant funding could be revoked or withheld, his office said.
The governor’s announcement noted that IAH has an ablution facility connected to a prayer room and that DFW had evaluated plans for foot washing stations for Muslim travellers.
Abbott’s letters included a list of items he said furnished the IAH space, citing "copies of the Quran, prayer rugs, prayer beads and a turbah," as described in his announcement.
DFW officials told Fox News Digital that the airport accelerated its internal review amid public interest and decided not to proceed with the proposed pre-security ablution project, the airport said in a statement to that outlet.
The two airports also appear in a recent ranking by World Atlas of the world’s largest airports by land area, which places George Bush Intercontinental Airport at about 44.5 square kilometres and DFW at about 69.7 square kilometres, underscoring their roles as major publicly owned transportation hubs.
Federal agencies will determine whether the facilities violate nondiscrimination rules, while airport operators weigh operational benefits, costs and community response, according to statements from the governor’s office and the airports cited in local media.
