{"id":549590,"date":"2026-03-20T19:10:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T19:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/549590\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T19:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T19:10:11","slug":"norad-scrambles-fighter-jets-to-accompany-flights-to-montreal-over-passengers-possible-ticket-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/549590\/","title":{"rendered":"NORAD scrambles fighter jets to accompany flights to Montreal \u2013 over passenger\u2019s possible ticket fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"

The North American Aerospace Defense Command scrambled fighter jets<\/a> in response to a security incident involving planes heading for Montreal<\/a> this week \u2013\u00a0apparently over what turned out to be one passenger\u2019s ticket.<\/p>\n

NORAD responded Wednesday to an \u201cair security incident\u201d involving two aircraft bound for Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport<\/a> from overseas, a spokesperson told The Independent. The alert caused delays to domestic and international flights.<\/p>\n

Le Journal de Quebec<\/a> reports the incident may have been triggered after officials discovered a passenger who attempted to board a flight Wednesday already appeared to be on Air Canada flight AC833 from Brussels to Montreal.<\/p>\n

It is believed the passenger on board flight AC833 could have stolen that individual\u2019s Aeroplan points, the outlet reported, citing unnamed sources. Aeroplan is Air Canada\u2019s rewards points program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NORAD aircraft involved were three CF-18s, two F-16s and two KC-135s from the appropriate NORAD locations: all airborne on respective flight plans, in support of events,\u201d the NORAD spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\"NORAD<\/p>\n

NORAD responded to an ‘air security incident’ involving two planes heading for Montreal Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for S\u00fbret\u00e9 du Qu\u00e9bec, the provincial police agency, told The Independent that officers arrested and interrogated two men once the flight had landed \u2014 one in his 20s and another in his 30s.<\/p>\n

Both individuals have since been released, but the man in his 20s could face fraud-related charges, the spokesperson confirmed. The fraud investigation is related to how the individual\u2019s ticket was purchased, according to the spokesperson.<\/p>\n

The agency also did not confirm which airline had operated the flights involved.<\/p>\n

The S\u00fbret\u00e9 du Qu\u00e9bec spokesperson could not confirm or deny whether the alleged theft of Aeroplan points was involved, and said the agency is still investigating the incident. The spokesperson also said the suspect did not travel under a false identity.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport also told The Independent that \u201cstandard security protocols\u201d were activated Wednesday when a \u201csuitcase of interest\u201d was identified on a plane that had landed at the airport.<\/p>\n

However, the investigation was \u201cfound to be unfounded,\u201d and operations \u201creturned to normal afterward,\u201d the spokesperson added.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the two runways had been closed to ensure the safety of the ongoing investigation, but the other runway remained operational,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cThe situation caused some delays for both domestic and international flights.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Independent has contacted Air Canada and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The North American Aerospace Defense Command scrambled fighter jets in response to a security incident involving planes heading…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":549591,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[213737,49,48,213739,53948,2338,30847,35170,213738,36849,157880,55327],"class_list":["post-549590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-air-canada-flight","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fraud-investigation","tag-international-flights","tag-montreal","tag-norad","tag-north-american-aerospace-defense-command","tag-security-incident","tag-spokesperson","tag-surete-du-quebec","tag-the-independent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}