Toronto man detained, locked in room overnight after Flair flight lands unexpectedly in U.S.

A Toronto man on a Flair flight that made an emergency landing in Florida said he was stripped of his belongings and locked in a room overnight by border officials.

Luis Alabarda, a Mexican citizen who is now living in Toronto for his studies, was returning to Canada from Cancun on Feb. 7 after travelling to help his wife recover from surgery.

After reaching cruising altitude, the Boeing 737, operating as F82615, experienced a depressurization issue and was forced to make an emergency landing at the closest airport, which was in Fort Lauderdale.

The 25-year-old said, when the plane landed, passengers waited for about an hour before they were allowed to leave the aircraft to be interviewed by U.S. border officials.

“We waited for hours. We started going one-by-one for interviews,” Alabarda told CTV News Toronto.

He said Flair employees told passengers they would be given a temporary visa to enter the U.S. and would be covered for all necessary expenses while they waited for another flight to Toronto.

Alabarda, who suffers from a heart condition, said the stress of the situation left him feeling very unwell. He said he asked for medical assistance, but was told there was no one to help him and that he should seek care after he was cleared by border agents.

But when it was his turn to meet with officials, Alabarda was left shocked by what they told him. They said he wouldn’t be allowed in the U.S. because he had been denied a visitor visa about a year ago. Alabarda said he was trying to visit the U.S. last year but didn’t have the proper paperwork to prove he was a student and was rejected.

This photo shows the inside of the cabin after the Flair plane made an emergency landing. (Supplied)

“They told me you’re not allowed to come to the U.S.,” Alabarda said. “They said ‘You’re not under arrest, but you are detained.’”

He was told he would be detained until the airline could get him on the next Flair flight, he says, which was not until 6 p.m. the next day.

Alabarda said he “begged” border officials to allow him to book an earlier flight and was given permission to contact his mother who was able to book him on an Air Canada flight at 8 a.m. the next day.

Luis Alabarda, a Mexican citizen living in Toronto while studying, was returning to Canada from Cancan on Feb. 7 after travelling to help his wife recover from surgery. (Supplied)

After booking his flight, he said border guards escorted him to a “special room.”

“They said ‘We have to put you in the room now.’ They put me in and took my things. They even took my shoes,” he said. “It was a little apartment for detained people.”

He said the guards shut the door and that he was left locked up with another person for the night.

The next morning, Alabarda said he banged on the door to try and get someone’s attention so he didn’t miss his flight.

“Then, like 30 minutes later, a police officer came but he was really mad with us,” he said.

Alabarda said at this point he was loaded into the back of a van and driven to his departing Air Canada flight.

“When I got home, I cried for three hours straight,” Alabarda said. “Now, I’m having panic attacks in the night.”

This photo shows the inside of the van Alabarda was put in after his night detained in Florida. (Supplied)

In an e-mail to CTV News Toronto, a Flair spokesperson said they “worked closely with Fort Lauderdale Airport and U.S. officials to ensure that all passengers were processed quickly and properly upon landing.”

Flair said it cannot comment on the specifics of Alabarda's situation because it "cannot comment on specific passengers related to their interactions with government authorities."

CTV News Toronto contacted U.S. Custom and Border Protection for a statement on the situation but they said they were not able to comment specifically on Alabarda's case.

"For privacy reasons, U.S. Customs and Border Protection is unable to discuss a specific individual’s processing/arrival into the U.S.," a spokesperson said Tuesday. "Admissibility is determined by CBP officers who are thoroughly trained on admissibility factors and the Immigration and Nationality Act, which broadly governs the entry of individuals into the United States. CBP officers make these determinations on a case-by-case basis dependent on the information available to the CBP officer at the time the person applies for admission."

Alabarda said since the incident, Flair has refunded him for the flight and offered him two round-trip tickets to anywhere they fly.

“There is no way they can take everything that happened and pull it out of my mind,” Alabarda said. “I’m at a point in my life where I have to be travelling so much. I have to take a plane every month because my wife just got surgery.”

“And now, I’m going to be scared every time I go on a plane.”