Valid PR card denied boarding by aircraft company?

[laizii]

Ok, I wasn't really denied boarding by the air company. But I did sweat a little bit.

I took the Philippine airline last month. When I checked in at the airport with my PR card, the officer of the air company told me that they could not find my visa information in the computer, and thus not allowing me to check in initially. They said their computer system is connected to the Canadian government's system and can check if a passenger has valid visa information.

My situation is, I landed in Canada about 2 years 4 months ago and went back to home country and never returned. Then after 2year4months I decided to move to Canada for good. I applied for a new passport in my home country because the old passport is about to expire in 7 months. Then I got a new passport number. Not sure if this is the reason that the computer systems are not showing my visa information?

The officer said he had to contact headquarter for situation like this. After about 1 hour, they said that they will verify my PR card manually then they will let me check in. I transferred in Manila. They said that I will need to have their colleagues in Manila check my PR card again so that I can get my boarding pass from Manila to Toronto.

Has anyone encountered situation like this? Do we need to update our passport information somewhere so that it will show up in the "computer systems that are connected to Canadian government"?

 

[steaky]

If you are moving to Canada, why do get a new passport? You have a valid US visa in old passport and would go for cross border shopping at least occasionally?

 

[canuck78]

Ok, I wasn't really denied boarding by the air company. But I did sweat a little bit.

I took the Philippine airline last month. When I checked in at the airport with my PR card, the officer of the air company told me that they could not find my visa information in the computer, and thus not allowing me to check in initially. They said their computer system is connected to the Canadian government's system and can check if a passenger has valid visa information.

My situation is, I landed in Canada about 2 years 4 months ago and went back to home country and never returned. Then after 2year4months I decided to move to Canada for good. I applied for a new passport in my home country because the old passport is about to expire in 7 months. Then I got a new passport number. Not sure if this is the reason that the computer systems are not showing my visa information?

The officer said he had to contact headquarter for situation like this. After about 1 hour, they said that they will verify my PR card manually then they will let me check in. I transferred in Manila. They said that I will need to have their colleagues in Manila check my PR card again so that I can get my boarding pass from Manila to Toronto.

Has anyone encountered situation like this? Do we need to update our passport information somewhere so that it will show up in the "computer systems that are connected to Canadian government"?

Believe that was the time the computer system went down in Canada. That rarely happens so just unlucky timing.

 

[sistemc]

After ETA was introduced, air travel to Canada as Canadian PR became a little bit more painful. In the past I was usually able to check in for flight via the internet, but after ETA became mandatory often that was not possible, and also it was not possible to self check in at the airport kiosk.

I needed to wait in line, and the person at check in counter usually didn’t have any idea how to handle the Canadian PR card, and needed to call someone to help.

In summary many airlines are still unprepared to handle the PR card based check ins properly.

 

[mapleleaf987]

After ETA was introduced, air travel to Canada as Canadian PR became a little bit more painful. In the past I was usually able to check in for flight via the internet, but after ETA became mandatory often that was not possible, and also it was not possible to self check in at the airport kiosk.

I needed to wait in line, and the person at check in counter usually didn’t have any idea how to handle the Canadian PR card, and needed to call someone to help.

In summary many airlines are still unprepared to handle the PR card based check ins properly.

is this specific to US travel only?

 

[sistemc]

is this specific to US travel only?

It is specific for air travel to Canada originating both from Europe or USA, I can't comment for the rest of the world. After the ETA was fully enforced I had problems with web check-in due to PR card both with EU and USA air carriers. Big air carriers are still not able to handle Canadian PR card data properly at web check-in, as of September 2018 when my son was unable to web check-in for a Lufthansa Munich - Toronto flight. I called the Lufthansa call center and the agent told me that they have problems handling the Canadian PR card data, and that my son should check-in at the airport counter.

For me finally the Canadian passport solved that.