Air Canada delay and cancellation compensation: what you're owed and how to claim

Updated November 1, 2026 · Checked against the regulations as current to September 30, 2026 · By LandedLate

Air Canada owes $400, $700 or $1,000 per passenger, in money, for a delay or cancellation within its control; for a cancellation, only if it told you 14 days or less before departure. The amount depends on how late you reach your final destination: 3 to 6 hours, 6 to 9 hours, or 9 hours or more. No compensation is owed if the cause was outside Air Canada's control or required for safety (a safety label can be challenged); you still get a new flight or a refund, and in safety cases meals (and a hotel overnight) if you were told less than 12 hours ahead. You claim on Air Canada's online form before the first anniversary of the delay or cancellation (section 19(3)), and Air Canada then has 30 days to pay you or explain why not. These are the rules in force on November 1, 2026.

Whether your own flight qualifies depends on its details: the reason the airline gave, how late you reached your destination and how much notice you had. Check it free at landedlate.ca/check.

How much Air Canada owes

Air Canada, delay or cancellation within its control
You reached your destination	Per passenger
3 to 6 hours late	$400
6 to 9 hours late	$700
9 hours or more	$1,000
Less than 3 hours late	$0

Per passenger, section 19(1) of the regulations. Data as of November 1, 2026.

Bumped from an overbooked flight on Air Canada for a reason within its control? The amounts are $900 if you arrived less than 6 hours late, $1,800 for 6 to 9 hours, $2,400 for 9 hours or more, paid within 48 hours (section 20). For a delay or cancellation within Air Canada's control (not for safety) that you were told about 14 days or less ahead, if you took a refund because the new flight didn't meet your needs, you're still owed at least $400 (section 19(2)). Every amount in one chart

If Air Canada cancelled your flight

Look at the replacement flight. When the cause was within its control, Air Canada says it will rebook you “on the next available Air Canada, Air Canada Rouge, or Air Canada Express flight, or on one of our partner airlines within 9 hours of your original departure time”. If it can't, it must put you on any airline that leaves within 48 hours (section 17(1)).
Choose between flying and a refund. If you fly, the amount depends on how late you reach your final destination (section 19(1)). If the new flight doesn't meet your travel needs and you take a refund, you get the ticket back plus at least $400 (sections 17(2) and 19(2)). Both need a cause within Air Canada's control, not required for safety, and notice of 14 days or less (section 12(3)(d)). Air Canada's page promises the $400 without that notice condition.
Make two separate requests. Ask for the refund through Air Canada's refund page (Trips) if you booked with Air Canada, or through your travel agent; Air Canada must pay it within 30 days (section 18.2). Ask for compensation through Air Canada's eligibility check; you can submit a claim from it even if it says you aren't eligible.
Claim after 72 hours, within a year. Air Canada says it assesses a cancellation's cause 72 hours after you reach your final destination, and its check opens then. Your claim must still reach Air Canada before the first anniversary of the cancellation (section 19(3)).

The agency can fine airlines for this: a March 19, 2026 notice of violation from the Canadian Transportation Agency alleges 71 failures to offer a refund or a flight on another airline after the August 15 to 20, 2025 cancellations ($426,000 penalty, section 18(1.1)). A notice is an officer's allegation, not a ruling on your claim.

Check my cancelled Air Canada flight

When Air Canada has to pay, and when it doesn't

You're owed

The cause was within Air Canada's control (crew, scheduling, a plane swap, most mechanical problems it could have prevented), you arrived 3+ hours late, and you were told about the delay or cancellation 14 days or less before departure (section 12).

Worth challenging

Air Canada says the problem was “required for safety” or gives a vague reason. The label alone doesn't settle it. Ask for the records behind it.

Not owed

A genuine cause outside Air Canada's control: weather that made flying your flight unsafe, an air traffic control instruction, a security threat, or a strike or other labour disruption. You still get a new flight, or a refund if Air Canada can't rebook you within 48 hours (section 18). No meals or hotel are required (section 10(3)).

How to claim from Air Canada

Find your ticket number. It has 13 digits (Air Canada's own example starts with 014) and is on your e-ticket receipt, booking confirmation or boarding pass.
Start Air Canada's eligibility check at sset.aircanada.com and enter the ticket number and your last name as it appears on the booking. The check leads on to Air Canada's claim.
Don't stop at the eligibility check. The check tells you whether Air Canada thinks you're eligible, and you can still continue and submit your claim if it says you aren't.
Say what happened and what you're claiming. Give the cause Air Canada told you, how late you arrived and the amount. LandedLate drafts this for your flight and cites the sections Air Canada has to answer.
Keep a copy and note the date. Air Canada must pay or explain within 30 days of receiving your claim.

Write my Air Canada claim

Free. LandedLate takes no share of what Air Canada pays you.

Flights sold as Air Canada Express or Air Canada Rouge are claimed through Air Canada's form, and the large-airline amounts apply even when a regional airline flew the plane (section 1(4)). The agency ordered Air Canada itself to pay $1,000 each for a cancelled flight that Jazz operated (Crawford v. Air Canada, 107-C-A-2022). For a codeshare flight sold under an Air Canada number but operated by another airline (not Air Canada Express or Rouge), claim from the airline that operated it (section 2(1)), as Air Canada's own conditions of carriage page also says.

What Air Canada says when it refuses, and how to answer it

Air Canada's first answer is not the final word. A CBC News analysis of agency data found that between September 30, 2023 and June 30, 2024, Canadian Transportation Agency officers ordered airlines to compensate or refund passengers in 50% of the 9,740 cases they resolved. Of the passengers' wins, 1,553 involved Air Canada. The burden is on Air Canada: in a complaint, a disruption is presumed to be within the airline's control and not required for safety unless the airline proves otherwise (Canada Transportation Act, section 85.07(2)).

If Air Canada says	How to answer it
“Crew constraints” or a crew shortage	Staffing is within the airline's control. In August 2022 the Canadian Transportation Agency ordered Air Canada to pay $1,000 each to two passengers after it blamed “crew constraints”: it ought to have known its first officer hadn't finished required training (Crawford v. Air Canada, 107-C-A-2022). In WestJet v. Lareau (2025 FCA 149), the Federal Court of Appeal found no error in the agency requiring WestJet to show it had a reasonable contingency plan before accepting that a crew cancellation was required for safety, and upheld the $1,000 award. More on crew shortages
“Required for safety” or unscheduled maintenance	The agency found that a delay caused by a heater being switched off, which let a lavatory pipe freeze and rupture, was within the airline's control: the maintenance and ground crew could have prevented it. It ordered $400 per passenger (Anslow v. Sunwing, 20-C-A-2023). Moving your scheduled plane to cover another plane's mechanical problem is the airline's own decision, so your cancellation is within its control (Lubky v. WestJet, 137-C-A-2022). Ask what failed, when it was found, and whether your plane was swapped.
Weather	Weather excuses payment only if it actually caused your disruption, and the airline has to show it. The agency rejected a weather defence backed only by undecoded weather reports and a list of other delays at the airport, and ordered $1,000 (Beauchamp v. WestJet, 68-C-A-2023). More on weather delays
A late incoming aircraft	A knock-on delay is treated like its original cause only if the airline took all reasonable steps to limit it (section 10(2)). Moving your flight's crew to rescue another flight is the airline's own decision (Paridon v. Sunwing, 16-C-A-2022).
Air traffic control	A genuine air traffic control instruction is a real defence. Ask which instruction, when, and how it caused your specific delay.
“Here's a travel voucher”	You're entitled to money. A voucher only counts if it's worth more than the cash amount, never expires, and you accept it in writing (section 21).

What else Air Canada owes you during the disruption

Care while you wait, if you were told less than 12 hours before departure: food and drink after 2 hours, a way to communicate, and a hotel plus transport if you're stuck overnight (section 14). This applies when the cause was within Air Canada's control, including safety-related problems, but not to causes outside its control such as weather (section 10(3)).
Rebooking or a refund after a delay of 3 hours or more or a cancellation. When the cause is within its control, Air Canada must offer the next available flight, its own or a partner's, that leaves within 9 hours of your original departure, and otherwise a flight on another airline within 48 hours (section 17). More on cancelled flights and refunds
Refunds of extras you didn't get, such as paid seat selection (section 18.1).
Expenses on international trips. If you were travelling internationally, you may also be able to claim proven expenses the delay caused under the Montreal Convention (article 19), or the Warsaw Convention where Montreal doesn't apply. A court action under the Montreal Convention must be brought within 2 years (article 35). It helps to ask Air Canada in writing first.

If Air Canada refuses or doesn't answer in 30 days

Answer the refusal in writing and ask Air Canada to name the cause and show the records behind it. If that gets nowhere, you can file a free complaint with the Canadian Transportation Agency once you have written to Air Canada and either received its answer or waited 30 days. Expect a long wait: the agency says it may take more than 24 months before an officer reviews a complaint, and about 98,000 complaints were waiting, as reported on September 24, 2026 (The Canadian Press). How long the agency takes. LandedLate writes your reply to the refusal and prepares the answers for the agency's complaint form. What each refusal reason means. How to file a complaint with the agency

Questions

How much does Air Canada pay for a cancelled flight?

If the cancellation was within Air Canada's control, not required for safety, and announced 14 days or less before departure, it owes $400, $700 or $1,000 per passenger. The amount depends on how late you reach your final destination on the replacement flight (section 19(1)); under 3 hours late pays nothing.

Can I get a refund and compensation for a cancelled Air Canada flight?

Yes, if the replacement flight Air Canada offers doesn't meet your travel needs. It must refund the unused ticket within 30 days and, for a cause within its control announced 14 days or less ahead, pay at least $400 on top (sections 17(2), 18.2 and 19(2)). They are two separate requests.

Air Canada cancelled my flight weeks ago: am I owed anything?

That depends on when Air Canada told you. If it was more than 14 days before departure, no compensation is owed (section 12(3)(d)), but you were still entitled to a new flight or a refund. If it was 14 days or less and the cause was within its control, you can claim until the first anniversary of the cancellation (section 19(3)).

Is Air Canada compensation paid per person?

Yes. The amount is per passenger, so two people on the same booking delayed 6 to 9 hours by a cause within Air Canada's control are owed $700 each, $1,400 in total.

Can Air Canada give me a voucher or points instead of cash?

Only if you choose it. Under section 21 of the Air Passenger Protection Regulations, compensation is paid in money unless Air Canada offers something worth more than the cash amount, tells you its cash value in writing, the offer never expires, and you confirm in writing that you want it instead.

How long do I have to claim compensation from Air Canada?

File your claim before the first anniversary of the delay or cancellation (section 19(3)). Air Canada then has 30 days to pay you or explain why it won't (section 19(4)).

Does the delay count from departure or arrival?

Arrival. What matters is how late you reached the final destination on your ticket, including any connections and rebooked flights.

Do I get compensation for a 2-hour Air Canada delay?

No. Compensation starts when you reach your final destination 3 or more hours late. At 2 hours you're owed food, drink and a means of communication if Air Canada told you about the delay less than 12 hours before departure and the cause was within its control (section 14); not for causes such as weather.

What does Air Canada owe for a mechanical problem?

It depends on the cause. A fault that made the plane unsafe to fly is usually treated as required for safety: no compensation, though you're still owed a new flight or a refund, and meals (plus a hotel if you're stuck overnight) if you were told less than 12 hours before departure (sections 11 and 14). But the agency found a delay caused by a heater being switched off, which let a lavatory pipe freeze and rupture, to be within the airline's control and ordered $400 per passenger (Anslow v. Sunwing, 20-C-A-2023), and in a complaint to the agency the airline has to prove a disruption was required for safety (Canada Transportation Act, section 85.07(2)). In WestJet v. Lareau (2025 FCA 149), the Federal Court of Appeal found no error in the agency requiring WestJet to show it had a reasonable contingency plan before accepting that a crew cancellation was required for safety, and upheld the $1,000 award. It is a crew case; passengers cite it by analogy when an airline gives a bare 'safety' label. Ask for the maintenance records.

What if Air Canada cancelled or rescheduled my flight more than two weeks ahead?

Then no compensation is owed, because the rules only pay for a delay or cancellation you were told about 14 days or less before departure (section 12). You're still entitled to a new flight, or a refund if the new one doesn't suit your travel needs.

Sources

General information, not legal advice.