THUNDER BAY — Numerous passengers booked on a flight to Toronto over the weekend were still on the ground when the Flair Airlines 737 jet lifted off.
There were too many people lined up for security screening on the morning of Feb. 18, and not enough personnel to process everyone in time.
The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, which is responsible for security staffing levels, said many passengers arrived later than what CATSA and the airlines recommend.
According to one passenger, a few dozen people were denied boarding, including himself and many other individuals who had waited in the security line for over an hour.
"There were well over 100 people in the lineup. There was only one security station open," he said. "To not have both stations open, you don't have to be a math genius .... [to figure out] you would not make it through security in time to get to the gate."
The man — who asked not to be named because he has ties to the aviation industry — said additional security staff did arrive later to open a second line "and started walking around, giving out bags and telling everyone to put their liquids in the bag beforehand to speed things up," but at that point it was too late to clear the backlog.
He said that according to Flair, it made an announcement at one point advising people to cut in line to make their flight, but it was inaudible to most passengers.
"At the last minute," he said, "a pushing match broke out of people trying to cut in line to make it to the boarding gate before it closed," and they "aggressively attempted to push their way through families travelling on the same flight with young children.
"It was total chaos."
Thunder Bay resident Lady Avellana was in a group of six people who had tickets for the same Flair flight.
She said they had all checked in online and were at the airport over an hour before the flight was scheduled to leave
"It was crazy. There was already a big lineup at security, all the way back near the escalator that goes down. I think they saw that and decided to open up another security station but it was still long."
Avellana said about 15 Flair passengers managed to get through security and into the waiting lounge at the last minute but were still left behind when the gate closed, causing some to break into tears.
"There was this kid who needed to be in Toronto. He had some family emergency. And this elderly woman had a birthday, and her family had arranged for a party for her that day. Now she can't go."
The male passenger who spoke with TBnewswatch was critical of both the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority and Flair Airlines, which he said should not have closed the boarding gate so abruptly.
He said his family is out thousands of dollars in non-refundable reservations they had made in Toronto.
In a statement, Flair said it encourages passengers to arrive early before their flight because security lines can be very long at times.
It noted that check-in counters open three hours before departure and close 45 minutes before departure.
"Generally, and depending on the circumstances and the airport, Flair agents may assist passengers that are in line for security but not through yet. And, as a courtesy to our passengers, from time to time...Flair will hold back a departure for a few minutes to make sure passengers who are in a particularly long security queue can board."
The company has not confirmed how many people missed the flight on Saturday, and said it is still reviewing the circumstances of the incident.
But on its website, Flair recommends that passengers arrive two hours before scheduled departure, as it did after a similar incident in Thunder Bay in 2021.
CATSA said in a statement that it encourages all passengers to arrive at departing airports two hours in advance for domestic flights and three hours in advance for international flights.
"We understand that many passengers arrived at the security screening checkpoint at the same time and within 60 minutes or less of their flight departure times," the agency said in reference to the Feb. 18 incident.
