More news on this day
Primary inspection kiosks at Toronto Pearson International Airport are back online after a lengthy outage that created long customs queues, on-board holding delays and widespread frustration for international arrivals.
Get the latest news straight to your inbox!
Systems restored after Canada-wide disruption
Published coverage indicates that inspection kiosks used for border processing at Toronto Pearson were unavailable for several hours on September 11, affecting both Terminals 1 and 3. Reports describe the issue as part of a broader Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) systems disruption that also impacted other large Canadian airports, including Montreal.
According to airport advisories captured on Toronto Pearson’s website, the outage affected Primary Inspection Kiosks, which are normally used by most international passengers to verify identity and submit customs declarations. During the disruption, notices warned travellers to expect longer than normal wait times at customs and emphasized that processing capacity in the arrivals halls was reduced. ([torontopearson.com](https://www.torontopearson.com/en/?utm_source=openai))
Travel industry reporting notes that the kiosks, sometimes referred to as e-gates, are now back in service. However, the same reports describe lingering congestion as airport staff and border officers work through accumulated backlogs. Images shared in that coverage show long lines snaking through customs areas and up escalators in Terminal 1 while the outage was ongoing. ([the1news.com](https://www.the1news.com/article/inspection-kiosks-back-online-at-toronto-pearson-airport-after-lengthy-outage-th?utm_source=openai))
Social media posts from passengers arriving on Friday evening describe waits of up to two hours or more to clear immigration while the kiosks were offline. Some travellers reported being held on aircraft at the gate or on the taxiway as the flow of passengers into the customs halls was deliberately limited to avoid overcrowding. ([reddit.com](https://www.reddit.com/r/askTO/comments/1wdwa67/does_anyone_have_info_on_customs_systems_being/?utm_source=openai))
Long lines and on-board holds for arriving passengers
The outage meant that every passenger who would normally use a kiosk had to be processed directly by border officers. Passengers posting on community forums reported that all inspection machines in the international arrivals area were either powered down or displaying error messages, with only a small number of lanes open for manual inspection. ([reddit.com](https://www.reddit.com/r/toronto/comments/1wdqwnm/pearson_airport_return_home_customs_warning_3/?utm_source=openai))
As queues inside the customs area quickly stretched to capacity, arriving travellers described being required to remain on board their aircraft for extended periods while ground staff "metered" the number of people released into the terminal. One widely shared account from an inbound flight to Terminal 1 referred to more than an hour spent waiting on the aircraft door-side due to the customs backlog ahead. ([reddit.com](https://www.reddit.com/r/askTO/comments/1wdwa67/does_anyone_have_info_on_customs_systems_being/?utm_source=openai))
For some, overall arrival time increased significantly. Travel media coverage of the disruption referenced passengers facing waits in excess of two hours between landing and exiting customs, with lines reaching up multiple levels in Pearson’s international arrivals hall. These conditions were consistent with earlier kiosk outages in 2025 and 2024, when similar technical failures created bottlenecks at major Canadian hubs. ([paxnews.com](https://www.paxnews.com/news/buzz/passport-kiosk-outage-snarls-arrivals-toronto-montreal-airports-reports?utm_source=openai))
A limited number of travellers enrolled in trusted-traveller programs, such as NEXUS, reported comparatively faster processing because those programs rely on separate infrastructure and dedicated lanes. However, publicly available information and user reports suggest that the majority of passengers had no alternative but to join the main customs lines during the outage. ([author.torontopearson.com](https://author.torontopearson.com/en/departures/nexus-global-entry?utm_source=openai))
Why inspection kiosks matter for airport operations
Toronto Pearson handles tens of millions of passengers annually, and customs processing is a critical part of its international arrivals operation. CBSA guidance describes Primary Inspection Kiosks and e-gates as the default option for most travellers landing from overseas destinations. The devices scan travel documents, capture passenger photos and accept customs declarations for up to five people travelling together. ([torontopearson.com](https://www.torontopearson.com/en/arrivals/customs-and-immigration?utm_source=openai))
Airport planning documents highlight the role of kiosks in maintaining throughput and managing wait times in customs halls. Pearson’s recent corporate reports emphasize investments in self-service infrastructure and monitoring tools designed to improve resilience and allow processing to continue even during partial system issues. These measures are intended to reduce the kind of cascading delays experienced when kiosks go offline unexpectedly. ([cdn.torontopearson.com](https://cdn.torontopearson.com/-/media/project/pearson/content/corporate/who-we-are/pdfs/annual-reports/gtaa-annual-report-2024.pdf?hash=B505B43E4DB497BFCC9DD844AA9E0FCF&rev=e7b70e97c9df4e1582632d7f1e5019e1&utm_source=openai))
Research published by Toronto Pearson and municipal partners has also noted that extended security and border waits may influence traveller behavior, including the choice of routing or even whether to travel at all. In that context, disruptions to automated border systems are not only a customer service problem but can also affect the airport’s competitiveness as a global hub. ([cdn.torontopearson.com](https://cdn.torontopearson.com/-/media/project/pearson/content/corporate/our-future/pdfs/growing-canada-with-a-mega-hub-report.pdf?hash=5169143586C35F2361201EC7C8C42DAF&modified=00010101000000&rev=4ae015d69dc1475a88aae5b3b95dfa70&utm_source=openai))
Because customs and immigration processes are managed at the federal level, any nationwide CBSA system outage can quickly affect multiple airports at once. Previous incidents, including a widely reported kiosk failure in late 2025, show similar patterns of long queues, aircraft holds at the gate and advisories warning of possible hours-long delays. ([reddit.com](https://www.reddit.com/r/aircanada/comments/1nt01rr?utm_source=openai))
Current conditions and advice for upcoming trips
Toronto Pearson’s live wait-time dashboard, which aggregates real-time data from security and border processing points, showed normal or near-normal customs waits by early September 12. That suggests that much of the immediate backlog from the outage has been cleared, although conditions can fluctuate depending on flight arrival peaks. ([torontopearson.com](https://www.torontopearson.com/en/?utm_source=openai))
Travel advisories and digital tools promoted by the airport encourage passengers to monitor wait times before heading to the airport and, when possible, to complete pre-arrival digital declarations. CBSA’s Advance Declaration system, accessible through the ArriveCAN platform or online, can cut processing time at kiosks once passengers reach the customs hall, particularly when all systems are operating normally. ([torontopearson.com](https://www.torontopearson.com/en/arrivals/customs-and-immigration?utm_source=openai))
For travellers arriving over the coming days, publicly available guidance suggests building extra time into itineraries that involve tight connections through Toronto. Although kiosks are back online, residual delays can linger after a major disruption as staffing patterns and flight schedules readjust. Passengers with onward flights may wish to leave larger buffers between international arrival and subsequent departures than they might during fully normal operations.
Frequent users of Pearson note that outages affecting inspection kiosks have occurred intermittently over the past several years at Canadian airports. While recent infrastructure upgrades are intended to improve resilience, the latest incident underlines that even highly automated border systems can experience interruptions, with direct impacts on passenger experience when they do. ([cdn.torontopearson.com](https://cdn.torontopearson.com/-/media/project/pearson/content/corporate/who-we-are/pdfs/annual-reports/gtaa-annual-report-2024.pdf?hash=B505B43E4DB497BFCC9DD844AA9E0FCF&rev=e7b70e97c9df4e1582632d7f1e5019e1&utm_source=openai))
Further reading
The1News: Inspection kiosks back online at Toronto Pearson Airport after lengthy outage
PAX News: Passport kiosk outage snarls arrivals at Toronto & Montreal airports