Originally Posted by
c152pilot7
I didn't think it was required for Canada. The oddest thing happened the other day though. I was standing at a departure gate in Cleveland with a Captain and the Flight Attendant. We were flying a flight to Ottawa. The gate agent checked our passports (which they never do, only company IDs) and then called each passenger to the podium one by one to check passports. Not sure what this was about
This is actually pretty standard. Airlines normally check passports for all international flights.
As for the main question. An American/Canadian citizen doesn't need a passport to fly into Canada BUT he/she does need a passport to fly back to the US.