A Canadian airline owes you compensation for a delay when you reach your final destination 3 hours or more late, for a reason within its control. The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) sets three more conditions. The delay must not be needed for safety, and the airline told you about it 14 days or less before departure. You must also claim in writing within 1 year.
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The rules come from the Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR), in force since 2019. They cover flights from, to, and within Canada.
What counts as the airline’s fault
The CTA sorts every disruption into three levels of control. Scheduled maintenance, the choice of aircraft, and staffing schedules sit within the airline’s control. Extreme weather, security, airport problems, government travel bans, and labour issues sit outside it. An unplanned event the airline could control but that poses a safety risk falls in the middle.
Only the first level pays compensation for inconvenience. Whatever the cause, the airline must still get you to the end of your journey as soon as it can. If rebooking no longer suits you and the disruption was within its control, it must refund the unused part of the ticket.
Labour disputes show how the line works. In August 2025, a cabin crew strike at Air Canada cancelled flights for about 700,000 passengers, by The Independent’s count. The airline then said it would pay for hotels, meals, and replacement flights as an exception.
How much, and in what form
The CTA ties the amount to how late you arrived and to the size of the airline. Size depends on how many passengers the airline flew worldwide over the past 2 calendar years. The CTA names Air Canada, WestJet, Sunwing Airlines, Air Transat, Porter, and Flair Airlines as the large Canadian carriers.
The airline must offer the money as money, such as a cheque or a bank transfer. It may offer a voucher instead only if the voucher is worth more, never expires, and you agree in writing. You cannot claim twice for one delay under the rules of two countries, but you may pick which rules to use.
On an international trip, the Montreal or Warsaw Conventions may also cover expenses the delay caused. Court action on those claims has a 2-year time limit.
Why the rules are changing
The government says parts of the scheme have proved too complex or unclear. In December 2024 the Canada Gazette published proposed amendments to the APPR. They follow changes Parliament made to the Canada Transportation Act in June 2023. The Gazette notice says the old three categories of cause let airlines and passengers read the rules in different ways, most often when an airline refused a claim.
The government put the cost to Canadian carriers at $512.4 million over 10 years. It put the gain to passengers at $527.3 million. Spread by year, the cost to airlines comes to about $0.99 per passenger segment.
