welltravelled88

Last January I was boarding a CI flight from TPE to YVR, C-class, after arriving from BKK on KL.

At the gate (and I was among the first to report to the gate), a Canadian official (CBSA) had concerns about my travel documents. Basically she thought I was not whom I claim to be, and the documents may be forged -- i.e. a case of identity theft. She made various phone calls etc etc to check my identity. Meanwhile the airline offloaded my baggage and I was hence denied boarding.

Only after the plane left and airline staff left, the Canadian official said her suspicions were cleared and all was ok, and I was free to travel to Canada the next day on the same flight. Needless to say, her suspicious were not only proven incorrect, but also unfounded. There were no reasonable grounds for suspicions -- I exposed that in a long letter to them.

I paid myself for hotel and food. Then I managed to find a CI supervisor during the night, who rebooked me on JL so I could fly the next day but a bit earlier. I stated my view that the airline was responsible and she said it was a "grey area". A FIM was issued with the reason given being "missed connection". It was not quite "missed connection", since I had arrived in TPE six hours earlier... But to me, the fact that CI endorsed the ticket (and it was not a IATA fare) suggests that they admitted responsibility.

I complained to CBSA and their hierarchy. I received a reply which is apparently signed by the Minister of Public Safety, Mr. Vic Toews, where he says an investigation was conducted following my complaint, he "regrets" my experience (short of an apology), but says CBSA acted in compliance with its mandate and no compensation would be paid. The basic message from the letter is that although CBSA acted as an advisor to CI, CBSA did not deny me boarding, and the ultimate decision rests with CI. I also asked CBSA for all info held about me, under the Privacy Act, but information relating to this incident was not disclosed -- suggesting that it was omitted in compliance with the exceptions allowed under the Act.

I also complained to CI, but they replied that they can't consider this as denied boarding as the boarding was denied by Government authorities. This is clearly not legally correct, since those Government authorities state in writing that they merely provided "advice".

So, now one is throwing the ball at the other...

Who should pay compensation, and how should I handle it ? At the very least, this is a case of denied boarding by the airline, just like in case of overbooking, and they have to pay me (does anyone know what is the statutory compensation for CI on this route ?). Depending on legislation, they may also have to pay for actual damages beyond statutory compensation (like in the EU). Besides the hotel etc which were not much.

Any suggestion would be really welcome.

etch5895

Question: A CBSA agent was checking passengers in Taipei? I've never heard of any countries other than the US doing preclearance.

erik123

Send a new letter to CI requesting reimbursement of actual expenses (include copies of bills) as a gesture of goodwill. Include the letter from CBSA. Indicate you very much look forward flying CI again.

This often works. I think you don't have very many options and need to rely on CIs common sense and customer service ethos.

fairviewroad

My question too. Strange.

welltravelled88

Yes, CBSA has a network of staff at some 40 airpots as far as I understand. They don't do "pre-clearance" as such, they act as advisors to the airline to help the airline determine whether someone is likely to be admissible. I can share the Minister's letter which explains this -- if there is a way to add attachments here. I myself fly to Canade a lot and had not seen them before, so they are not at every airport, just some I guess.

welltravelled88

Well, I do have options. One option is to sue them in a court of law (not sure who -- CBSA or CI). Another option is to put this out in the media as it's a very odd incident.

For now, I asked CBSA to at least help by putting me in contact with someone senior in CI who can deal with this. There is an MoU signed between the Canadian Govt and CI on these airport check, so I think it's at that level that they should help me get the right person in CI.

I am surely not putting my time into a letter for the sake of $ 200 for hotel and food. I want at the very least the standard compensation for denied boarding (in Europe that's 800 euro for long-haul flights) plus compensation for actual damages, since my trip to Canada was curtailed from three to two days. Given the absurdity of the situation and the stress caused, I could also sue them for moral damages...

B747-437B

Canada has "Migration Integrity Officers" (basically CBSA personnel on secondment to DFAIT) posted around the world whose role is to liaise with airlines on questions of documentation.

They have no power to do anything other than to take possession of cancelled Canadian passports. Any guidance that they provide to airlines is purely advisory and is not binding on the carriers. The ultimate decision to deny boarding is made purely by the carrier personnel.

etch5895

Very interesting. You learn something new every day.

It would seem like ultimately CI would be responsible, although they'll likely try to pass the buck claiming an official from the Canadian government told them that you weren't eligible to enter Canada, therefore they did the right thing by denying you boarding and saving themselves the fine and return flight.

Morally, the CBSA caused all of this confusion and should foot the bill for their poor judgement. Good luck getting a government agency to admit fault, especially in this case where they can merely claim that their agent was being overly cautious.

I wouldn't be surprised if there were many in similar circumstances who haven't raised the flag on this type of activity. If I were chief arbiter, I'd make the CBSA and CI split the bill in half.

B747-437B

Just curious (and this will play a big part in what recourse you can seek), what documentation were you traveling on?

welltravelled88

Indeed, that's an important point. If the suspicions were reasonable, I could understand, but they were not.

I have both British and Italian passports. The officer claimed (retroactively) that they were both looking old and damaged. When I arrived in YVR, after being duly cleared in, I asked to speak to a "superindendant" to explain the incident in Taipei and ask his opinion on whether the two passports looked suspicious, which he said they did not (otherwise they were not going to just clear me in...).

I think the officer was suspicious simply because I am a very 'international' person. Born in one place, citizen of another place, living in another... And in fact I am working for an international organization. The officer exercised very poor judgement in not understanding my profile. Basically everyone on that flight was either a Canadian businesspeson returning from Taiwan, or a Taiwanese-origin person living in Canada or going to see a relative in Canada. I think I was suspicious just for being the 'odd one out', as I am a European living in Latin America, and was travelling from Asia to North America with my passport filled with Africa stamps... and that's not a good enough reason really...

welltravelled88

Indeed, the legal question is, to what extent can CBSA inconvenience someone ? Just like any other government agencies including CBP or TSA in the US. I don't know the rules, but I presume the inconvenience they cause to people has to be proportionate, reasonable, and that errors have to be paid for.

Whenever you arrive in the US or Canada, you may be called for secondary inspection. Just like the TSA does random checks for those selected with security screenings. That's all fine. But they can't regularly cause passengers to miss their flights, or hold them on arrival for hours... I guess there are some limitations to this, just like there are limitations to how long you can hold someone without a warrant and reasonable cause for suspicion. And there must be compensation for when they get it wrong, I would think...

Now, let's say you arrive at an airport four hours in advance, and the TSA stops you for additional checks, they become suspicious of something (which is not attributable to your fault or negligence), and by the time they let you go you have missed your flight. Won't the TSA pay something for it ?

I only had a similar case in Israel, over ten years ago. I was allowed to fly out, but some of my electronic items were kept for three days and sent to me three days later as they had to search for possible devices inside... (Apparently this happens quite frequently in Israel, especially to Arabs. I am not Arab but was flying to Lebanon via Jordan, so...). When I complained, explained what happened, and explained how this had damaged me, the Israel Airport Authority passed the complaint to their "insurance" company, who issued me a cheque for USD 800, as compensation for the inconvenience. In turn, I had to agree to waive my right to sue them, and accept that amount as full and final settlement to close the incident. This was all quite swift, which means that even in Israel they have rules for this, including an "insurance" covering them when they make a mistake and become liable ! I would assume travel-related Govt agencies also have this kind of stuff... Any ideas ?

peachfront

It's my understanding that if you are bumped by governmental action, you have no recourse. This is completely unfair and outrageous but this is what I have always been told. A courteous airline will re-ticket you the next day at no cost, but they are not obligated to do so. Hotel and other expenses? I doubt it. But I am from the USA, where the gov't pretty much has the right to do as they like. (You can't escape this by driving. One of my friends had his rental car dis-assembled coming back to Detroit, apparently because he has an "Italian" accent.) I hope it's different in Canada but I have no reason to think it is. What's really crummy is that I was told that your insurance is not valid if the reason for the delay was governmental action. So I don't know what the alternative is, other than, to have a "slush/emergency" fund in case stuff like this goes wrong.

Do you think the person who claimed you were an identity thief was acting on racism? Is there any way to look into that? If your civil rights were violated, MAYBE something can be done. But I doubt it. No one is ever gonna make it right for my "Italian" friend...There are a lot of bigots and jerks out there, and they are hurtful. My heart goes out to you.

My friend was not "international." They clearly thought he was a mobster merely because of his accent.

welltravelled88

Thanks. I find it hard to believe that if a government agency causes an error, it does not have to pay for it. As I mentioned, even in Israel which is not exactly kown for its fairness I got compensaton for the inconvenience they caused...

I guess I will wait to see whether here or elsewhere someone knows more. Or I may ask legal advice from friends. Canada is actually a great country, with accessible agencies, miistries, all sorts of ombudspersons and compalaint channels.

The odd thing here is this ball game between them and the airline. Someone has to at least accept responsibility for he decision, to start
with... As you say, the airline did not want to risk a mistake wich could lead to a fine. Good, then they took the risk of a mistake which wold lead to compensation to a passenger...

warthog1984

Good luck with that. If our northern neighbor's anything like dealing with the IRS, they could cause the error but YOU will be paying for them to fix it, along with penalties for "not getting it right the first time".

Govs scare me sometimes.
/rant off

gglave

As a Canadian living in Vancouver, I can't do much other than apologize and suggest you might also want contact the Canadian news media.

Who knows? A story like this might have some legs - If nothing else a reporter sticking a mike under the airline's nose might get some action. I know most Canadians (myself included) have no idea CBSA staff are posted around the world.

http://www.vancouversun.com/send-us-...ews/index.html

http://www.cbc.ca/bc/contact/#1