WestJet Flight Delay and Cancellation Compensation

Can I get compensation for a delayed flight with WestJet?

Yes, if the conditions in the Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR) are met.

For standardized delay or cancellation compensation under section 19, the disruption must have been within WestJet's control and not required for safety. You must have been informed of the qualifying disruption 14 days or less before the departure time shown on your original ticket. If you continue the trip, you must arrive at the destination shown on your original ticket three hours or more late.

WestJet currently declares itself to be a large carrier for APPR purposes in its tariff. That means the large-carrier compensation amounts apply to qualifying WestJet-operated flights.

Be careful with codeshare and partner flights. The APPR generally places the delay, cancellation and compensation obligations on the carrier that operated the affected flight. A ticket carrying a WestJet flight number is not necessarily a WestJet-operated flight.

Compensation under section 19 is standardized compensation for inconvenience. You do not have to prove that a nine-hour delay caused exactly $1,000 of actual financial loss. You do, however, have to establish the facts necessary for the statutory entitlement.

What WestJet pays: $400, $700, $1,000

For a qualifying delay or cancellation within WestJet's control and not required for safety, section 19 sets compensation according to how late you arrive at the destination shown on your original ticket:

The delay is measured against your scheduled arrival time at the destination on your original ticket. Under the APPR, arrival occurs when at least one aircraft door opens after landing to allow passengers to leave the aircraft. Touchdown time by itself is not the legal measure.

If the disruption otherwise qualifies under section 12 and your ticket is refunded under section 17(2), section 19(2) provides compensation of $400. Taking a refund does not automatically create a $400 compensation entitlement; the underlying disruption must still have been within WestJet's control, not required for safety, and otherwise satisfy the APPR requirements.

Denied boarding is governed by a different provision. For qualifying involuntary denied boarding within the carrier's control and not required for safety, section 20 provides $900 where the passenger arrives less than six hours late, $1,800 for six to under nine hours, and $2,400 for nine hours or more. That compensation must be provided as soon as operationally feasible and no later than 48 hours after the denied boarding.

WestJet states that it does not intentionally overbook its flights, but denied boarding can occur for other operational reasons. The legal question is whether the particular denied boarding falls within the APPR compensation provision.

Compensation is assessed per passenger. If several people travelled on the same reservation, each passenger has a separate potential entitlement. A claim or later proceeding must properly include every passenger whose compensation is being pursued.

Controllable, uncontrollable and safety: how WestJet labels your delay

WestJet uses the same three broad categories found in the APPR. WestJet also warns passengers that the explanation given during the disruption may change as more information becomes available.

Within WestJet's control. This can include ordinary staffing and scheduling decisions, commercial decisions, and other operational matters that fall within WestJet's responsibility. Qualifying disruptions in this category can trigger standardized compensation, standards of treatment and alternate-travel or refund obligations.

Within WestJet's control but required for safety. This can include a mechanical malfunction that reduces passenger safety or a safety decision made by the pilot or under the airline's safety management system. Standardized section 19 compensation is not payable, but standards of treatment and alternate-travel or refund obligations can still apply. Scheduled maintenance undertaken in compliance with legal requirements is expressly excluded from the APPR definition of "required for safety purposes."

Outside WestJet's control. This can include qualifying severe weather, air traffic control instructions, airport operation issues, security threats, collisions with wildlife, certain labour disruptions and other events listed in section 10. Standardized compensation and section 14 standards of treatment generally do not apply, but WestJet still has rebooking and refund obligations under section 18.

Do not assume the first explanation you hear at the gate is necessarily the final explanation. Preserve every reason WestJet gives you. Save emails, text messages and app notifications, and make a contemporaneous note of anything said verbally.

If WestJet later gives a materially different reason, keep both versions.

You can also ask WestJet in writing for the specific factual basis for its classification, including any relevant delay or cancellation codes and the operational chronology it relies on. WestJet is not necessarily required to voluntarily provide every internal record merely because you ask, but the request creates a useful record of the information you sought and the response you received.

Where WestJet relies on an earlier disruption, the details matter. Under section 10(2), a later disruption attributed to an earlier event outside the carrier's control must be directly attributable to that event, and the carrier must have taken all reasonable measures to mitigate its impact.

A disruption does not become legally "outside WestJet's control" merely because the airline uses the words weather, knock-on, or operational impact.

How to file an APPR claim with WestJet, step by step

WestJet provides an online Flight Delay and Cancellation Claims form. Its current form asks for information including the six-letter WestJet reservation code, the passenger's first and last name as shown on the itinerary or boarding pass, and the passenger's date of birth.

WestJet itself warns passengers that once the online form is submitted, the completed claim cannot later be retrieved, and recommends taking a screenshot or photograph before submitting it.

For that reason, we recommend an even more durable approach: submit your compensation request in writing by registered mail or another trackable delivery method to an appropriate published WestJet address. Keep an exact copy of the letter and every enclosure, together with the tracking information and proof of delivery. That gives you evidence not simply that a claim existed, but exactly what WestJet received and when it received it.

Your claim should identify the passenger, booking reference, affected flight, scheduled and actual arrival times, the reason WestJet gave for the disruption, the APPR provision relied on and the amount claimed.

You can also use WestJet's online claim form. If you do, take screenshots of the completed form before pressing submit, save the confirmation, and retain every email generated by the process.

Compensation is calculated per passenger. Where WestJet's claim system requires an individual submission for each traveller, submit the necessary claim for each eligible passenger.

Do not wait for WestJet to offer compensation voluntarily. For delay and cancellation compensation under section 19, the passenger must submit the request before the first anniversary of the disruption.

Once WestJet receives the request, it has 30 days to either provide the compensation or explain why compensation is not payable.

Expenses are different from standardized compensation. WestJet operates a separate reimbursement process for eligible out-of-pocket expenses such as meals, accommodation and transportation. Keep itemized receipts and preserve a copy of everything submitted.

How to get reimbursed from WestJet for meals and hotels

Standards of treatment can apply where the delay or cancellation is within WestJet's control, including where it is required for safety, and you were informed of the disruption less than 12 hours before the scheduled departure time.

After you have waited two hours beyond the original scheduled departure time, WestJet must provide reasonable food and drink and access to a means of communication, provided doing so would not cause further delay.

The hotel obligation is separate from the two-hour rule. If WestJet expects that you will have to wait overnight for your original flight or alternate transportation, it must provide reasonable hotel or comparable accommodation and transportation between the airport and the accommodation where the statutory conditions are met.

If WestJet does not provide the required treatment and you incur reasonable expenses yourself, keep itemized receipts and submit them for reimbursement. WestJet currently provides a separate expense-reimbursement process.

The fact that WestJet publishes internal reimbursement guidelines or usual limits does not necessarily determine the full extent of its legal obligations in every case. The APPR requires reasonable treatment in the circumstances.

Where the disruption is outside WestJet's control, section 14 does not require WestJet to provide meals or accommodation. Travel insurance and credit-card insurance may still provide coverage.

For qualifying international carriage, another legal regime may also matter. Article 19 of the Montreal Convention can permit recovery of proven damages caused by delay, subject to WestJet's defence that it and its servants and agents took all measures that could reasonably be required to avoid the damage or that it was impossible to take those measures.

A Montreal Convention claim is different from standardized APPR compensation. It concerns proven loss and has its own legal requirements and limits.

When WestJet denies your claim: what to do next

Start with the reason WestJet actually gives you. Keep the refusal and do not rely solely on what you remember from a telephone conversation.

WestJet commonly disputes compensation on the basis that a disruption was outside its control, required for safety, or caused by an earlier disruption. Each classification has a different legal test.

"Outside our control." Ask WestJet to identify the specific event it says caused your flight disruption and the evidence connecting that event to your flight. If it relies on an earlier outside-control event, section 10(2) requires the later disruption to be directly attributable to the earlier event and requires WestJet to have taken all reasonable measures to mitigate the impact.

In a complaint to the Canadian Transportation Agency, WestJet bears a statutory burden on this question: the disruption is presumed to have been within its control and not required for safety unless WestJet proves otherwise. Do not automatically assume that the same statutory presumption governs a provincial court or tribunal proceeding; the evidentiary rules depend on the forum and legal basis of the claim.

"Required for safety." Ask what the specific safety issue was, when it arose, and what facts support the safety classification. A genuine unscheduled mechanical problem affecting passenger safety may qualify. Scheduled maintenance undertaken in compliance with legal requirements does not.

Where an earlier safety-related event is said to have affected your later flight, ask what connection existed between the two events and what WestJet did to mitigate the resulting disruption.

"You accepted a refund." A refund does not automatically eliminate every possible passenger claim. Section 19(2), for example, expressly preserves reduced standardized compensation where a qualifying section 12 disruption leads to a refund under section 17(2).

WestJet's current tariff also contains a refund-release provision stating, in substance, that acceptance of a refund releases WestJet from further liability, but expressly makes that provision subject to the APPR, the Montreal Convention, the Warsaw Convention and other applicable law. The tariff applicable on the date of your travel should be checked because tariff wording and rule numbering can change.

If the claim remains unresolved, consider sending a formal demand letter with a defined deadline and then deciding which enforcement route is appropriate.

One option is a complaint to the Canadian Transportation Agency. Another, where provincial jurisdiction exists, is a civil claim. In British Columbia, Air Passenger Rights v. WestJet Airlines Ltd., 2026 BCCA 357 confirms that the Civil Resolution Tribunal has jurisdiction to decide APPR compensation disputes falling within its statutory jurisdiction.

Other provinces have their own small claims systems and procedural rules.

Strike notices and WestJet: what the courts said

Labour disruptions have become particularly important in WestJet passenger claims.

Section 10(1)(j) of the APPR identifies certain labour disruptions within the carrier or an essential service provider as events outside the carrier's control.

In 2023, WestJet's pilots issued a formal 72-hour strike notice. WestJet began cancelling flights in anticipation of the threatened labour disruption. The strike was ultimately avoided, but passengers affected by the cancellations pursued compensation claims.

The resulting litigation reached the British Columbia Court of Appeal in Air Passenger Rights v. WestJet Airlines Ltd., 2026 BCCA 357.

The Court of Appeal upheld the result of the Civil Resolution Tribunal proceedings on the merits. The CRT had concluded that the statutory strike-notice period constituted a "labour disruption" for purposes of section 10 even though the threatened strike ultimately did not occur. The cancellations caused by that labour disruption were therefore treated as outside WestJet's control.

The decision does not mean that mentioning a strike or strike notice automatically defeats every compensation claim. The required causal connection still matters. WestJet must establish that the particular flight disruption was due to the labour disruption or otherwise falls within the applicable section 10 framework.

If the APPR classifies the cancellation as outside WestJet's control, section 19 standardized compensation is generally not payable. WestJet's rebooking and refund obligations under section 18 remain.

International passengers should also distinguish APPR compensation from damages under the Montreal Convention. A labour disruption may prevent standardized APPR compensation while a passenger may still have a separate Article 19 claim for proven delay damages, depending on the circumstances and whether WestJet establishes the Convention's reasonable-measures defence.