What should I do immediately after a flight cancellation?
First, preserve the reason the airline gives you. Section 13 of the Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR) requires the airline to tell you why the flight was cancelled, what compensation may be available, what standards of treatment apply, and what recourse you have against the carrier. If the reason appears in an email, text message or airline app, save it and take a screenshot. If it is given only verbally, ask for it in writing and make a contemporaneous note of what you were told.
Preserve every explanation the airline provides. Airlines sometimes provide additional or different information as an operational situation develops. If the explanation changes later, the different versions may become important evidence.
Second, decide whether you still want to travel. If you do, ask the airline to provide the alternate transportation required by the APPR. If the trip no longer makes sense, tell the airline and ask what refund rights apply. A refund is available in every category under specified circumstances, but it is not always an immediate alternative to rebooking.
Before buying your own replacement flight, give the carrier a reasonable opportunity to meet its rebooking obligations and document what it offers or fails to offer. Reimbursement of a self-booked replacement ticket is not automatic.
Finally, keep every receipt. Meals, hotels, taxis, ground transportation and replacement flights can all become relevant. Whether those expenses are recoverable depends on why the flight was cancelled and the legal basis of the claim, but expenses are much harder to recover if you cannot prove them.
Your three rights: rebooking, refund, compensation
A cancelled flight can engage three different sets of APPR rights, but they do not all operate in the same way.
- How will the airline get you to your destination? The APPR requires alternate travel arrangements after a cancellation. What the airline must offer, and how quickly, depends on whether the cancellation was within its control or outside its control.
- When can you choose a refund instead? A refund is available in every category under specified circumstances, but it is not always an immediate alternative to rebooking. For cancellations within the carrier's control, section 17 provides a refund where the alternate arrangements offered do not accommodate your travel needs. For cancellations outside the carrier's control, section 18 provides a refund choice if the carrier cannot provide the initial required rebooking within 48 hours.
- Is compensation for inconvenience also payable? Standardized compensation of $125 to $1,000 may be payable where the cancellation was within the airline's control, was not required for safety, and you were informed of the cancellation 14 days or less before the scheduled departure time.
Standards of treatment—such as food, communication and overnight accommodation—are another set of rights. They can apply where the cancellation was within the airline's control, including cancellations required for safety, and the passenger was informed less than 12 hours before departure.
Rebooking after a cancellation
The reason for the cancellation determines how far the airline must go to find you another flight.
Within the airline's control, including safety. Section 17 applies to cancellations within the carrier's control, including those required for safety.
For a large carrier, the airline must first provide a confirmed reservation on the next available flight operated by it or by a carrier with which it has a commercial agreement. That flight must depart within nine hours of the departure time on your original ticket.
If the airline cannot provide that, it must place you on the next available flight operated by any carrier travelling on a reasonable route to your destination, and that flight must depart within 48 hours of the original departure time.
If that is still not possible, the airline must arrange transportation to another nearby airport, if there is one, and provide a flight from there on any carrier.
The alternate transportation must complete your itinerary as soon as feasible. The carrier must, to the extent possible, provide services comparable to those on your original ticket. If the only available seat is in a higher class, it cannot charge you extra.
A small carrier has a more limited obligation. It must provide a confirmed reservation on the next available flight operated by it or by a commercial partner on a reasonable route to your destination. The nine-hour and 48-hour escalation rules described above apply to large carriers.
Outside the airline's control. Section 18 applies to cancellations caused by events outside the airline's control.
The airline must first provide a confirmed reservation on the next available flight operated by it or by a carrier with which it has a commercial agreement, on a reasonable route to your destination, if that flight departs within 48 hours of the departure time on your original ticket.
If the carrier cannot provide that reservation, further rights arise. You may choose a refund instead of continuing the trip. If you still want to travel, a large carrier must provide the next available flight operated by any carrier on a reasonable route from the same airport. If that is not available, it may have to transport you to a nearby airport and arrange departure from there.
The important point is that a cancellation does not always give you an immediate choice between any replacement flight you want and a refund. The APPR establishes a sequence.
When can I take a refund?
For cancellations within the airline's control, section 17 allows you to choose a refund where the alternate travel arrangements offered by the airline do not accommodate your travel needs.
If you are still at your point of origin, the airline generally refunds the unused portion of the ticket.
If you are already partway through the trip and continuing no longer serves the purpose of the journey, the airline must refund the ticket and provide a confirmed reservation back to your point of origin, free of charge, as soon as feasible.
For cancellations outside the airline's control, the refund option under section 18 arises if the carrier cannot provide the initial required rebooking within 48 hours. At that point, you may choose between the further alternate arrangements prescribed by the Regulations and a refund.
Refunds must generally be returned to the person who purchased the ticket using the original method of payment within 30 days.
The airline may offer another form of refund, such as a voucher, but only if it provides the value of that alternative in writing, the alternative does not expire, you are told you are entitled to a refund by the original payment method, and you choose the alternative in writing.
If you are rebooked under sections 17 or 18, the carrier must also refund an additional service you paid for if you did not receive that service on the alternate itinerary or had to pay for it again. This can include things such as baggage fees or seat-selection charges.
When does a cancelled flight qualify for cas compensation?
Standardized compensation under section 19 is payable only where the cancellation was within the carrier's control, was not required for safety, and you were informed of the cancellation 14 days or less before the scheduled departure time.
The amount is based on how late you ultimately arrive at the destination shown on your original ticket.
| Arrival delay | Large airline | Small airline |
|---|---|---|
| 3 hours to under 6 hours | $400 | $125 |
| 6 hours to under 9 hours | $700 | $250 |
| 9 hours or more | $1,000 | $500 |
If you take a refund instead of the rebooking, the airline still owes $400 (large) or $125 (small). Section 19(2).
Compensation is assessed per passenger, not per booking. A claim or proceeding must properly identify each passenger whose entitlement is being pursued.
Carrier size can change. Under the APPR, a large carrier is one that transported at least two million passengers worldwide in each of the two preceding calendar years. If the amount depends on whether your carrier is large or small, check its status at the time of the disruption.
If the cancellation otherwise qualifies for compensation under section 12 and your ticket is refunded under section 17(2), section 19(2) provides compensation of $400 for a large carrier and $125 for a small carrier.
A refund therefore does not automatically eliminate a compensation claim. But the cancellation must still satisfy the conditions for compensation under the APPR.
Do airlines have to provide hotels after a cancellation?
Sometimes.
If the cancellation is within the airline's control—including where it is required for safety—and you were informed less than 12 hours before the departure time on your original ticket, the standards of treatment in section 14 can apply.
After you have waited two hours beyond the original departure time, the airline must provide reasonable food and drink and access to a means of communication.
The hotel rule is separate. If the airline expects that you will have to wait overnight for your original flight or for alternate transportation, it must offer reasonable hotel or comparable accommodation and transportation to and from it.
The Regulations do not require you to wait two hours before the overnight-accommodation obligation can arise.
If the cancellation is outside the airline's control, such as qualifying severe weather, section 14 does not require the airline to provide meals or accommodation. Travel insurance and credit-card travel insurance may provide separate coverage.
Keep receipts whenever you pay for your own reasonable meals, hotel or transportation. They may support a claim for reimbursement if the carrier failed to provide treatment it was legally required to provide.
What if I was told about the cancellation more than 14 days before departure?
The 14-day threshold matters for standardized compensation under section 19.
If the airline informed you of the cancellation more than 14 days before the departure time on your original ticket, section 19 compensation is not payable merely because the cancellation was within the carrier's control.
That does not eliminate your other APPR rights. The carrier may still have rebooking or refund obligations, and other legal remedies may apply depending on the circumstances.
The 12-hour threshold is separate. Standards of treatment under section 14 apply only where the passenger was informed of a qualifying within-control or safety-related disruption less than 12 hours before the original departure time.
Keep the timestamp of the airline's notice. The relevant question is when the airline informed you relative to the departure time shown on the original ticket.
Domestic versus international cancellations
The APPR applies to flights to, from and within Canada, including qualifying flights operated by foreign airlines.
The Supreme Court of Canada confirmed in International Air Transport Association v. Canada (Transportation Agency), 2024 SCC 30 that the APPR's standardized compensation scheme can lawfully apply to international carriage alongside the Montreal Convention.
International travel can therefore involve two distinct forms of relief.
The APPR may provide standardized compensation and statutory rebooking, refund and treatment rights.
Separately, Article 19 of the Montreal Convention may permit recovery of proven damages caused by delay in international carriage. A cancellation that causes a passenger to reach an international destination late can potentially engage that provision. The carrier is not liable under Article 19 if it proves 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.
Article 19 claims concern actual proven loss, such as qualifying accommodation, meals or replacement transportation. They are legally different from the standardized compensation payable under section 19 of the APPR.
International Montreal Convention claims are also subject to the Convention's own rules and limits, including its two-year extinguishment period.
Some itineraries may additionally fall under another passenger-rights regime, such as EU261 or UK261. The APPR provides that an airline cannot refuse APPR compensation merely because the passenger is also eligible for compensation under another passenger-rights regime. However, Canadian law prevents double recovery of standardized passenger-rights compensation for the same event where compensation has already been received under another regime.
Strikes and labour disruptions
Section 10 lists certain labour disruptions as events outside the carrier's control. This includes a labour disruption within the carrier or within an essential service provider such as an airport or air-navigation service provider.
In Air Passenger Rights v. WestJet Airlines Ltd., 2026 BCCA 357, the British Columbia Court of Appeal upheld the CRT's conclusion that a formal 72-hour strike notice could constitute a "labour disruption" even though the threatened strike was ultimately avoided.
The existence of a strike notice does not automatically decide every passenger claim. The carrier must still establish the required causal connection between the labour disruption and the particular cancellation.
Where section 10 applies, standardized compensation under section 19 is generally not payable, but the airline's section 18 rebooking and refund obligations remain.
For qualifying international carriage, Article 19 of the Montreal Convention may separately provide a claim for provable damages caused by delay, subject to the carrier's defence that it took all measures that could reasonably be required to avoid the damage or that taking those measures was impossible.