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What are my rights if my flight is delayed or cancelled, or my baggage is lost?

✓ Verified answer Written from official pages, with checked citations and a verification date.

According to the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA), the airline must always try to get you to complete your itinerary as quickly as possible when your flight is delayed or cancelled. What you are entitled to (assistance, rerouting or refund, compensation) depends on the cause of the disruption and the size of the airline. Fixed compensation for inconvenience is provided only if the situation is within the airline's control and is not required for safety. Lost, damaged or delayed baggage has its own rules and claim deadlines. If your written claim to the airline is not settled after 30 days, you can file a complaint with the CTA.

Official page: Flight delays and cancellations (Canadian Transportation Agency) ↗

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Key facts

Compensation for delay or cancellation (cause within the airline's control, not related to safety): Large airlines: $400 (3 hours or more, but less than 6 hours late at arrival), $700 (6 hours or more, but less than 9 hours), $1,000 (9 hours or more). Small airlines: $125, $250 and $500 for the same ranges. Amounts set by the Air Passenger Protection Regulations, according to the official page (they may change).
Denied boarding (cause within the airline's control, not related to safety): $900 (less than 6 hours late at arrival), $1,800 (6 hours or more, but less than 9 hours), $2,400 (9 hours or more). The airline must first look for volunteers. Refusal of transport (documents, behaviour, etc.) is different: the regulations do not apply, check the airline's tariff.
Large Canadian airlines: Air Canada (including Jazz and Rouge), WestJet, Sunwing Airlines, Air Transat, Porter and Flair Airlines. All other Canadian airlines are small.
Baggage: Lost or damaged: maximum compensation of 1,519 special drawing rights (about $2,780 CAD) for flights since December 28, 2024, plus a refund of baggage fees. Delayed baggage on an international flight: compensation for items you need; for a flight within Canada, see the airline's tariff.
Claim deadlines with the airline: Compensation for delay or cancellation: one year. Damaged baggage: 7 days after receipt. Delayed baggage (international flight): 21 days after receipt. Lost baggage: as soon as possible. The airline has 30 days to respond to a compensation request.
Complaint to the CTA: For flights to, from and within Canada. You must first write to the airline and give it 30 days. Once the opening notice is sent, the decision is made within 90 days, but the page states that the review can take more than 24 months before it is assigned to an officer.

Steps

Keep your documents (ticket or booking confirmation, booking reference, itinerary, boarding pass, airline notices) and all your receipts for expenses during the delay (meals, hotel, taxis).
Ask the airline for the cause of the delay or cancellation (within the airline's control, within the airline's control but required for safety, or outside its control) and whether it is a large or small airline: this changes your rights.
Ask for the assistance provided for if it applies: food and drinks, a means of communication and, if you must wait overnight, accommodation and transportation. It applies, among other cases, if you waited at the airport 2 hours or more after the departure time on your ticket, or if you were informed less than 12 hours before departure.
Choose between rerouting and a refund: if the alternative travel arrangements offered do not meet your needs, the airline must refund the unused portion of your ticket.
For compensation: send a written request to the airline within one year. The conditions are that the cause is entirely within the airline's control (and not required for safety), that you were informed 14 days or less before departure, and that you reached your destination 3 hours or more late. For denied boarding (overbooked flight), the amounts are different (see the information below).
For baggage: report the problem before leaving the airport and fill out the airline's report. Then make your written claim within the deadlines (7 days for damaged baggage, 21 days for delayed baggage on an international flight).
If the airline does not settle your file after 30 days, or does not answer, you can send a complaint to the CTA using the online form, with proof that you wrote to the airline.

Sources

Retards et annulations de vol (Office des transports du Canada (OTC))
Retards et annulations de vol : réacheminement, remboursements et indemnisation (Office des transports du Canada (OTC))
Refus d'embarquement : réacheminement, remboursements et indemnisation (Office des transports du Canada (OTC))
Refus d'embarquement et refus de transport (Office des transports du Canada (OTC))
Indemnisation pour les bagages perdus, endommagés ou livrés en retard (Office des transports du Canada (OTC))
Délais pour déposer une réclamation auprès de la compagnie aérienne (Office des transports du Canada (OTC))
Processus de règlement des plaintes relatives au transport aérien (Office des transports du Canada (OTC))

Checked on October 5, 2026. Rules, deadlines and fees can change: always confirm on the official page above. Demande au Québec is an independent website, not a government site.