Fragola

Last summer I was returning home on an AC flight from LHR to YEG. At the gate prescreen area before entry to the seated gate area we had to present our boarding passes and ID. The agent who looked at my boarding pass asked where I had flown in from since there was some indication on my boarding pass that I was not flying home on a return ticket. He insisted that I answer although after answering didn't really seem to care about the answer and I went ahead into the gate area proper where my boarding pass was scanned.

Is this a typical preboarding question? Why would it matter where I had flown in from on my multi-city ticket if I had no problems entering Britain several days earlier?

I was flying home on a Canadian passport so there was no question about being denied entry.

Does anyone know what marking indicates a multi-city ticket on the boarding pass? I have only flown internationally before on simple return bookings.

Stranger

No such marking.

There must have been some other issue, probably indicated in the file, which the computer showed the agent.

This said, at LHR (and other overseas airports), when entering the boarding lounge, you normally go through two steps. first is a document check, not a ticket check. They make sure you are eligible for entry into Canada or whatever your destination. Of course some travelers may be expected to have a round trip ticket (or separate return). But not citizens or permanent residents, and I have never seen that being actually checked.

Second one is the ticket check; if they ask for documents, it is only to make sure the passenger who bought the ticket is indeed the one traveling.