Vancouver International Airport (YVR) says an equipment issue impacted travellers to the United States this morning.
Travellers to the U.S. who were using the new YVR Express program and some people connecting through the airport from international to domestic destinations may have experienced above-average wait times.
The YVR Express program allows travellers to the U.S. to book a time slot up to 72 hours in advance of their flight, allowing them to "skip the line" for security screening.
But an "equipment issue at some security screening checkpoints" impacted travellers early Friday (Jan. 20) morning, YVR told V.I.A.
While YVR said the issue "was quickly resolved," travellers who missed a flight due to the disruption "should check with their airlines" rather than the airport.
The YVR team first tweeted about the technological issue around 6:45 a.m., encouraging travellers to follow the direction of its Guest Experience teams and Green Coat volunteers.
Just before 7:30 a.m., the airport tweeted that the issue was resolved and apologized for the inconvenience to travellers.
Vancouver flights were delayed due to an equipment issue at YVR
The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) -- the corporation responsible for security screening at most airports across the country -- said that the main issue was a "power interruption" at YVR that impacted its equipment.
Even after the issue was rectified, however, travellers were advised to prepare for "longer than usual wait times."
Due to a power interruption at @YVR, some of our equipment was impacted. It’s been resolved, but travellers to the US, those using YVR EXPRESS, or connecting thru YVR from intl to domestic may experience longer than usual wait times. Thanks for your patience.
— CATSA (@catsa_gc) January 20, 2023
A frustrated traveller took to Twitter to say that she'd arrived three hours before her scheduled Air Canada flight but was concerned she may miss it due to the issue.
She added that the staff "suggested" she should tweet about it because they were also "frustrated."
In another tweet, she remarked that the family in front of her was heading to Hawaii and were "about to miss their Air Canada flight because of airport delays."
We arrived at @yvrairport THREE HOURS before our @AirCanada flight. But because the machines were down for ages this morning, we STILL may miss our flight. Because of @yvrairport’s incompetence.
— Jessica Langer, PhD (@DrJessicaLanger) January 20, 2023
The staff literally suggested I tweet about it. They’re frustrated, too.
This isn't the first time this month that an outage has resulted in an issue at YVR. A computer outage at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the United States resulted in some delays for flights originating or landing south of the border on Jan. 11.
