Just like the old days before primary inspection kiosks at Pearson Airport, both NEXUS and the electronic self-serve booths at international customs were not working yesterday.

It was chaos.

@TorontoPearson - because there is no order, people keep streaming in from the right (of photo) while those who have been lining up (backing image) continues to languish. This is the level of mediocrity at #PearsonAirport pic.twitter.com/o2Uz6uEuMP

— Kowlasar Misir (@kowlasarmisir) July 28, 2019

The IT problems were due to a nationwide outage of the kiosks operated by Canada Border Services Agency, which impacted both terminals one and three.

It’s not uncommon for there to be long lines at Pearson, but this was abnormal. Each customer had to submit a hand-written customs form and wait for inspection.

I was here this evening and utterly shocked by the total lack of communication and handling of the situation. We were packed into hallways like cattle with no triage for small children or elderly passengers. . Total fire and health hazards all around. #PearsonAirport #Chaos

— dervishgirl (@dervishgirl1) July 29, 2019

Passengers were outraged. Twitter was lit up with complaints all weekend.

Those who were stuck for hours at the airport said there were no announcements communicating what was going on.

Disaster today at #PearsonAirport . Waited in a line with angry frustrated passengers for hours. Only got out because a kind employee dragged me and my family out to spare my 8 month old baby.

— Serenity (@serenity003) July 29, 2019

These problems were mostly resolved around 9 p.m. last night.