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06 April 2017 - UA547 held at YYZ for "U.S. Customs probe"

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06 April 2017 - UA547 held at YYZ for "U.S. Customs probe"

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Old Apr 6, 2017, 9:11 am
  #1  
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06 April 2017 - UA547 held at YYZ for "U.S. Customs probe"

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toront...rity-1.4058159

Officials at Toronto's Pearson airport have confirmed that a United Airlines flight scheduled to travel from Toronto to Chicago this morning is holding for a U.S. Customs and Border Protection investigation.

A message posted on the airport's Twitter account said the investigation is not affecting other operations at Pearson.

Flight tracking websites say United Airlines flight 547 was scheduled to depart Toronto at 7 a.m.

Per flightaware, as at 11h09 Eastern, it looks like UA547 is still sitting on the tarmac.

It strikes me as unusual for a flight originating in Canada to be held like this.
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Old Apr 6, 2017, 9:14 am
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Not unusual given the heightened security. Could be a person of interest/name flagged pax, some called-in/chatter related topic for that specific flight, etc.
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Old Apr 6, 2017, 9:19 am
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Watch (it's streaming on Netflix) the border patrol show for Canada, Australia or US. There's a whole lot of stuff that goes on.
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Old Apr 6, 2017, 9:22 am
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Originally Posted by RCyyz
It strikes me as unusual for a flight originating in Canada to be held like this.
Unusual perhaps, but remember that Canadian flights have pre-clearance, so everyone on that flight (and their luggage) has already gone through US immigration and customs before boarding the flight.

The article claims a "major security breach", which would certainly be a valid reason for what appears to be going on, and the fact that it's post US CBP would explain why they are taking the lead.
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Old Apr 6, 2017, 10:37 am
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Apparently US Customs found a fake IED in the suitcase of one of the passengers. The plane was held and moved to a separate section of the airport. Everyone was deplaned and had to identify their bags before being allowed to re-enter Canada and start over.
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Old Apr 6, 2017, 11:26 am
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So are we to believe that this was a moron, a terrorist on a practice run.... or something else? I'm assuming it being an internal CBP/TSA investigator isn't a possibility.
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Old Apr 6, 2017, 11:41 am
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Originally Posted by 172pilot
Apparently US Customs found a fake IED in the suitcase of one of the passengers. The plane was held and moved to a separate section of the airport. Everyone was deplaned and had to identify their bags before being allowed to re-enter Canada and start over.
It sounds like the plane wasn't moved but rather the passengers were deplaned and moved by bus?
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Old Apr 6, 2017, 12:19 pm
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Question

BIWIS failure? Correct me if I'm wrong, but the bag should have been x-ray'd a few seconds after its picture was taken, the device identified, and the pax should have been flagged for secondary inspection before leaving CBP? Presumably the pax can't get past primary CBP without a picture of the checked (cleared?) luggage?

Or is this a case where GE/Nexus allows the pax through without confirming that baggage has been cleared?
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Old Apr 6, 2017, 12:26 pm
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How does it work in this case? If all passengers have gone through US CBP, would they need to be screened by CBSA again? I heard they have to, but this person has been charged under Canadian Law, so I do not understand why all passengers have to go through CBSA...
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Old Apr 6, 2017, 12:33 pm
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Originally Posted by PV_Premier
It sounds like the plane wasn't moved but rather the passengers were deplaned and moved by bus?
YYZ has an infield terminal. It was built a few years back when the old T1 was (thankfully!) demolished and the new T1 built in its place. The original plan was to eventually demolish the infield terminal as well, but it's proven to be rather useful for various reasons so it's now kept for "just in case" situations. My guess would be that UA547 went to a quiet corner of the airport then pax were deplaned and bussed to the infield terminal for luggage ID.
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Old Apr 6, 2017, 12:33 pm
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Until the plane leaves Canada, everyone there is still in Canada. The airside/post-CBP area in the terminal is still Canada. Canadian law still applies until the plane leaves Canada, since everyone is in Canada.

Everyone's admittance into the US is effectively contingent on the plane reaching the US. Since nobody physically left Canada, nobody had to "re-enter" Canada through CBSA. I bet there are procedures for dumping the plane into the post-CBP airside area as well as pre-CBP landside.

Or am I wrong here?
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Old Apr 6, 2017, 12:38 pm
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Originally Posted by OSSYULYYZ
How does it work in this case? If all passengers have gone through US CBP, would they need to be screened by CBSA again? I heard they have to, but this person has been charged under Canadian Law, so I do not understand why all passengers have to go through CBSA...
Complete guess on my part - once pax deplaned for luggage ID they were likely considered "unclean" because they presumably came into contact with their luggage again.

I would assume that all luggage had to be checked back in again but I guess you can't do that unless you recheck the pax as well. Which would mean "re-entering" Canada then going back through US Preclearance.
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Old Apr 6, 2017, 12:50 pm
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Originally Posted by RCyyz
I would assume that all luggage had to be checked back in again but I guess you can't do that unless you recheck the pax as well.
If that were the case, wouldn't it be easier to send the bags to Domestic Baggage Claim?
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Old Apr 6, 2017, 12:52 pm
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Flightaware is showing this particular flight will arrive at ORD gate M16.
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Old Apr 6, 2017, 12:56 pm
  #15  
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"...Police say a 58-year-old U.S. man has been arrested"

CBC updated 1:40pm EDT

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toront...rity-1.4058159


Also, from Global News

"Dal Gemmel, a passenger on board, tweeted that the U.S. port authorities had revoked the plane’s pre-clearance privileges to enter the United States early Thursday morning due to a major security breach."

http://globalnews.ca/news/3360845/un...investigation/
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