Flight delay compensation in Canada, worked out under the APPR
Enter the two airports, the hours lost at your destination and the reason the airline gave: the calculator applies SOR/2019-150 as published by Justice Canada.
Your compensation · YYZ · Toronto → YVR · Vancouver
$700
per passenger, no deduction · owed
- APPR (Canada)$700 · owed
Large Canadian carrier, cause within its control.
- Great-circle distance
- 3,346 km
- Distance band
- 1,500 to 3,500 km
- Claim to the airline (APPR, one year)
- 22 October 2027
Write the claim letter to the airline
Prepared by Radif Partners · Method · law as of October 22, 2026 · 4,008 airports (OurAirports)
Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations (SOR/2019-150) give a cash payment when a flight to, from or within Canada arrives three hours or more late, or is cancelled with 14 days’ notice or less, for a reason within the airline’s control that is not required for safety. The amount depends on the size of the carrier and on the delay at your final destination, not on distance. A large carrier, one that carried at least two million passengers worldwide in each of the two previous calendar years, owes $400 for three to six hours, $700 for six to nine hours and $1,000 beyond. A small carrier owes $125, $250 and $500. If you take a refund instead of being rebooked, the flat amount is $400 or $125. You must ask the airline in writing before the first anniversary of the flight, and it has 30 days to pay or explain why it will not. Weather, air traffic control, security threats and strikes, including a strike within the airline, are outside its control and give no compensation, although rebooking is still owed.
The three questions that decide the amount
Unlike the European regulation, the Canadian scheme ignores distance. Toronto to Vancouver, 3,346 km, and Toronto to Ottawa, 363 km, give exactly the same amount for the same delay. What matters is who operated the flight, how late you reached the destination on your ticket, and how the airline classifies the cause.
| Arrival delay | Large carrier | Small carrier |
|---|---|---|
| 3 h to under 6 h | $400 | $125 |
| 6 h to under 9 h | $700 | $250 |
| 9 h or more | $1,000 | $500 |
| Refund taken instead of rebooking | $400 | $125 |
APPR: compensation by delay
Minimum compensation
$700
| Refunded instead | $400 |
| Denied boarding, same delay | $1,800 |
Cause within the carrier’s control and not required for safety.
Within control, safety, or outside control
Every disruption falls into one of three categories. Within the airline’s control and not required for safety: crew shortages, overbooking, late aircraft from its own schedule. This is the only category that pays. Within control but required for safety: a mechanical malfunction found outside scheduled maintenance, or a decision taken under the airline’s safety management system. Outside control: weather that makes operation unsafe, air traffic control, a NOTAM, security threats, medical emergencies, wildlife strikes and labour disruption, including a strike within the airline itself. That last point is the sharpest difference with Europe, where the Court of Justice holds that a strike by the airline’s own staff does not excuse it.
Asking for the money
Write to the operating airline, before the first anniversary of the flight, with your booking reference and the arrival time. The Regulations give it 30 days to pay or explain. If you get no answer or a refusal you disagree with, the Canadian Transportation Agency accepts a complaint once you have given the airline those 30 days and can show your written request; the steps are on the complaint page. The calculator above builds the letter for you: it stays in your browser and is never sent by us.
Flights to and from Europe
On a return trip between Canada and the European Union, the outbound leg from Canada is covered by the APPR, and also by the EU regulation if a European airline operates it; the inbound leg from Europe is always covered by the EU regulation, which pays by distance: €600 for Paris to Montréal, 5,524 km. The calculator shows every regime that applies and the larger amount first.
From Toronto: amount by destination
APPR
$400
| Distance | 3,346 km |