Ottawa man denied boarding on Flair Airlines flight due to expired ID

What was supposed to be a weekend getaway with friends in Halifax, turned into a real life 'Planes, Trains, and Automobiles' experience for an Ottawa man.

Jake Maguire's driver's licence expired, and while Flair Airlines allowed him to fly out of Ottawa with the piece of ID, he was denied boarding for the flight home.

On Thursday, Maguire finally arrived home, four days after he was scheduled to arrive in the capital.

"Relief, for sure," he told CTV News, shortly after hugging his dad at the Ottawa train station.

Maguire arrived in Ottawa by train because, he says, Flair Airlines wouldn't let him board the return flight from Halifax with his expired driver's licence.

"At the gate, before we’re about to board, he looks at my ID and as he’s about to give it back to me, he’s like, 'Oh, this is expired,'" Maguire said. "My heart sank."

When he boarded a flight out of Ottawa to Halifax, he didn't know the licence was expired, and says Flair Airlines staff didn't say anything while allowing him to board.

"So, if I show up with an expired ID to the airport and they say your ID is expired but I’m in the city I live in, I can go home get my passport (and) take a later flight, I can go to a Service Ontario desk (and) get it renewed."

He does have a valid passport, but didn't bring it with him on the trip. A Canadian passport is optional for domestic travel.

"Yeah, bringing your passport is optional and I figure you only use it when I need to. It’s not something you just want to have on you."

In a written statement to CTV News, a spokesperson for Flair Airlines says travel requirements state the identification cannot be expired.

"This is a really unfortunate situation," Flair Airlines said Thursday.

"In order to fly domestically or internationally, all passengers are required to comply with the Canadian regulations regarding identification set forth by the federal government, available here: https://travel.gc.ca/air/identification-requirements as noted by Flair Airlines here. The identification cannot be expired." 

“I understand that he made a mistake here, but there was an equal mistake letting him get to Halifax,” Pat Maguire, Jake's father, tells CTV News.

His son was supposed to be home last Sunday, and couldn’t get on a train until Wednesday.

"It’s been an expensive experience for my son – four days pay, two nights in a hotel, meals he didn’t plan on buying, a train ticket he didn’t plan on buying.”

Maguire says he tried contacting the Ministry of Transportation and Flair Airlines, and even tried to courier his son’s passport to Halifax but that would’ve arrived the same day as the train.

It's a cautionary tale for travellers to check expiry dates on identification.

"Pay attention because the end of the day, you don’t want to go through this," says Pat Maguire.

At the end of the trip, perhaps a bit of luck for Jake Maguire. VIA Rail says it encourages passengers to travel with valid ID, as it may be checked at any time by onboard staff.

Maguire says he wasn't asked for ID during the train trip from Halifax to Ottawa.

"I’ll take any good luck at this point.”