Family Removed from Alaska Flight Due to Visa Rule Glitch
OMAAT reader Christophe recently recounted his experience with his wife and their two young children while trying to fly on June 23, 2026, with Alaska Airlines from Missoula (MSO) to Seattle (SEA) to Vancouver (YVR). They all possess Swiss passports and are permanent residents of the United States, frequently traveling to Canada multiple times a year. In this instance, they purchased four first-class tickets to attend the World Cup match between Switzerland and Canada.
Since 2022, Canada has not necessitated a visa for permanent residents of the United States for entry, regardless of their nationality. Christophe had visited Canada multiple times since this change, but to be cautious, he checked the travel requirements in the Alaska app… which confirmed they would not need a visa.
They attempted to check in online, but were unable to do so, as the system indicated a document verification was required at the airport. Fair enough. They arrived at the airport with ample time, despite being in first class and not checking any bags.
Christophe describes that the first agent who assisted them appeared to be inexperienced and had difficulty. Her system couldn’t recognize their passports, so she had to manually enter all the details. She then informed them they required a visa for Canada. Christophe showed her the Alaska app, and even the Canada immigration website, both of which confirmed that no visa was needed.
Subsequently, a more senior employee arrived, who Christophe states immediately blamed them and claimed they lacked the correct documents. After struggling with the system for a period, the agent eventually contacted someone at Alaska in Seattle, where he confirmed that the passengers were indeed correct. Their boarding passes were issued, they passed through security smoothly, and they reached the gate just before boarding wrapped up.
However, when their boarding passes were scanned at the gate, a warning still appeared in the system indicating that a visa was needed, prompting them to be pulled aside. They once again contacted someone at Alaska in Seattle, who informed them that the procedure was effectively to offload them from the aircraft and then reissue the boarding passes.
As a side note — during this incident, they observed their first-class seats being reassigned to individuals on the upgrade list. In short, the process was tedious and manual, consuming so much time that the flight departed without them, as the captain stated the flight needed to be closed, leading to their denial of boarding.
They were then rebooked on a flight leaving nearly six hours later, downgrading to coach. The agents asserted that everything was resolved, so they shouldn’t encounter any problems on their new itinerary. No compensation, meal vouchers, or anything of the sort was offered, despite the travelers clearly being in the right.
Christophe also notes that one of the agents remarked to his colleague that this was finally resolved and “we can get all of these out of our face.” Christophe mentioned overhearing this, at which point the agent claimed he was referring to the old boarding passes. Regardless, it was rather unprofessional, especially considering the passengers were the ones most inconvenienced.
The Same Issue Happened Again, and Then They Were Kicked Off
Hours later, they returned to the gate. They inquired if they could board with first class (noting their downgrade), so if another issue with their travel documents arose, they would have sufficient time to address it. This request was declined, with assurances that there would be no issues.
Well, when it was time to board, guess what? The system flagged them again for not having visas. Once again, the entire process of offloading and reloading the passengers occurred, taking about 30 minutes, during which they patiently remained seated in the gate area.
The agents assured them all was well, and they were allowed to board without having their boarding passes scanned, to circumvent that issue. They didn’t realize that during this process, the agents had swapped their seats. This is where the situation escalated further.
Aboard the plane, Christophe claims there was an Alaska employee with her badge occupying the middle seat in row 10, seat 10B. Christophe’s wife had been assigned to seat 10A, so she asked for access to her seat, but the employee refused and called the purser instead, stating that “you told me the three seats were empty,” or something similar. The purser, however, directed Christophe’s wife to take seat 9E, a middle seat one row up.