The short answer
If your flight to, from or within Canada reached its final destination 3 hours or more late, and the cause was within the airline’s control and not required for safety, the airline owes each passenger $400 to $1,000 (large airlines) or $125 to $500 (small airlines).
When you’re owed money
Under Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR), cash compensation for a delay is owed when all four of these are true:
- The flight is covered. Any flight to, from or within Canada, including connections, on any airline, Canadian or foreign.
- You arrived 3 hours or more late at the final destination on your original ticket. Arrival is when a door opens to let passengers off, not when the plane lands.
- The cause was within the airline’s control and not required for safety. Crew shortages and scheduled maintenance count; weather and strikes don’t. See why the reason matters.
- You were told 14 days or less before departure. If the airline warned you earlier, the APPR amounts don’t apply.
How much
The amount is fixed by the regulation. It depends on how late you arrived and on the size of the airline:
| Arrived late by | Large airline | Small airline |
|---|---|---|
| 3 to under 6 hours | $400 | $125 |
| 6 to under 9 hours | $700 | $250 |
| 9 hours or more | $1,000 | $500 |
- It’s per passenger, in Canadian dollars, and goes to the person who was delayed, whoever paid for the ticket.
- The cause doesn’t change the amount: once you qualify, you’re owed the full figure for your delay.
Large or small airline?
Air Canada (including Air Canada Rouge and Air Canada Express), WestJet, Sunwing, Air Transat, Porter and Flair are large. Other Canadian airlines are small. A foreign airline is large if it carried 2 million passengers or more worldwide in each of the two previous years.
A small airline flying on behalf of a large one, like a regional partner under the large airline’s flight number, owes the large-airline amounts.
Rebooked onto a later flight?
Accepting a new flight doesn’t cancel your compensation. The amount follows how late you finally reached the destination on your original ticket. On a codeshare, you claim from the airline that operated the flight, not the one that sold you the ticket.
An example
A Toronto to Vancouver flight on a large airline arrives 4 hours 10 minutes late because of a crew shortage: $400 per passenger. A family of four is owed $400 each. If the same flight had been held by a snowstorm that made flying unsafe, no cash would be owed, though the airline must still rebook you.
What it doesn’t cover
- Stress, inconvenience beyond the fixed amount, or lost income.
- Meals and hotel are a separate obligation: see meals and hotel during a delay. You can be owed both.
How to claim
- Send your claim to the airline in writing, within one year of the delay. Keep a copy.
- The airline has 30 days to pay or explain why not.
- If it refuses or doesn’t answer, you can complain to the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA). It’s free.
More on timing in how long you have to claim.