Bumped from a flight in Canada: $900 to $2,400, paid within 48 hours

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

If an airline bumps you from a flight to, from or within Canada for a reason within its control and not required for safety, it owes you $900, $1,800 or $2,400, depending on how late you reach your destination, paid within 48 hours. (Air Passenger Protection Regulations, sections 12(4) and 20.) The amount is the same for every airline, large or small. Overbooking is within an airline's control, and so is a commercial switch to a smaller plane. In that case it must also rebook you, and give you food and drink until the new flight boards.

Whether you're owed depends on the reason the airline gave and how late you arrived. Check it free at landedlate.ca/check.

What you're owed

Denied boarding within the airline's control, any airline, per passenger
You reached your destination	Compensation
Less than 6 hours late	$900
6 hours or more, but less than 9	$1,800
9 hours or more	$2,400

The clock runs from the arrival time on your original ticket to when a door opens at your destination after the replacement flight lands (section 20(1)). In a 2023 decision on an overbooked flight, the Canadian Transportation Agency (the agency) worked out the delay from the original itinerary and the replacement boarding pass, and ordered $1,800 for 8 hours 29 minutes (Decision 125-C-A-2023; the airline filed no answer).

If the airline can't pay before your new flight boards, it must confirm the amount in writing, and adjust it if you land later than expected (section 20). Compensation is money unless you agree in writing to something worth more that doesn't expire. Voucher or cash? Every amount in one chart

Volunteer or bumped?

When the cause is within its control or for safety, before it bumps anyone against their will, the airline must ask all passengers whether they will give up their seat (section 15(1)). If you accept an offer, it must confirm the benefit in writing before the flight leaves (section 15(3)).

	You volunteer	You are bumped
Who decides	You, by accepting an offer	The airline, after too few volunteered
What you get	Whatever you agree, confirmed in writing before departure	$900 to $2,400 if within its control, plus care and rebooking
Regulation entitlements	The agency says they don't apply to volunteers	Sections 16, 17 and 20

If no one volunteers, the airline must protect some passengers: unaccompanied minors come first, then passengers with a disability and their support person or animal, then passengers travelling with family, then anyone previously denied boarding on the same ticket (section 15(4)). It can't take a seat from someone already on board unless safety requires it (section 15(2)).

Why you were bumped decides what you get

You're owed

Overbooking, or a switch to a smaller plane for commercial reasons. The agency counts both as within the airline's control. Scheduled maintenance is also within its control, not safety.

Worth challenging

A safety reason, such as a breakdown that leaves only a smaller plane, a seat that can't be used, or weight limits (the agency's examples). No compensation, but rebooking and care are still owed, and the airline has to show the reason really was safety.

Not owed

A cause outside its control, such as a seat needed for an air marshal or an emergency medical flight. You still get a new flight (section 18), but no compensation and no meals or hotel.

“Required for safety” means required by law to reduce risk to passengers, and it excludes scheduled maintenance (section 1(1)).

What to ask for at the gate

The reason, in writing if you ask, and whether compensation is owed and how much (section 13).
A confirmed new flight, free. A large airline must offer one leaving within 9 hours of your original departure if it can, then any airline within 48 hours (section 17). If the new flight no longer suits you, you can ask for a refund of the unused ticket.
Food, drink and a way to communicate until you board, and a hotel with transport if you wait overnight, when the cause is within the airline's control or safety (section 16). The airline may refuse if that would delay you further. Meals and hotels
The money, or the amount in writing before you board the new flight (section 20(4)).

Some airline pages add conditions. Air Canada's says bumped passengers get meals if they were told less than 12 hours ahead and waited two hours; section 16 has neither test. Ask anyway, and keep your receipts.

If you aren't paid

Keep the paperwork: original itinerary, boarding passes for both flights, any written offer, and receipts.
Wait for the 48 hours, then write to the airline with your flight, the new arrival time and sections 12(4) and 20. The one-year filing rule in section 19(3) is written for delays and cancellations, and section 20 has no equivalent, but send it promptly. If the airline hasn't paid
After 30 days with no resolution, you can complain to the Canadian Transportation Agency. It asks for your written request to the airline and, for a bump, what the airline offered you in writing. How to file

Check my bumped flight

Free. LandedLate takes no share of what the airline pays you.

Questions

What does an airline owe you if you're bumped from a flight in Canada?

If the cause was within the airline's control and not required for safety, it owes $900, $1,800 or $2,400 depending on how late you reach your destination (section 20). It must also rebook you, and give you food, drink and a way to communicate until the new flight boards, plus a hotel if you wait overnight (sections 16 and 17). That applies to every airline on flights to, from and within Canada.

Is overbooking within the airline's control?

Yes. The Canadian Transportation Agency calls overbooking "the most common situation within an airline's control leading to denied boarding". So is switching to a smaller plane for commercial reasons.

Do volunteers get compensation?

Not under the regulations, according to the Canadian Transportation Agency: its guide says the entitlements "do not apply to volunteers who move to a later flight". The airline must put any benefit it offers in writing before the flight leaves (section 15(3)). Compare the offer with $900 to $2,400 before you accept.

How fast must the airline pay?

As soon as it is operationally feasible, and no later than 48 hours after you were denied boarding (section 20(2)). If it can't pay before your new flight boards, it must confirm the amount in writing, and adjust it if you land later than expected.

Can the airline pay me in vouchers or travel credit?

Only if the voucher is worth more than the cash, never expires, the airline tells you the cash amount in writing, and you confirm in writing that you chose it (section 21). Otherwise the compensation is money.

What if the airline says the bump was for safety?

If it really was safety, no compensation is owed, but rebooking and care still are. The airline has to show it was safety, not overbooking or a commercial plane swap. The Canadian Transportation Agency says a breakdown forcing a smaller plane is more likely to count as safety than a commercial swap.

I arrived late at the gate and wasn't allowed on. Is that bumping?

No. The regulation counts a bump only when you checked in and reached the gate on time (section 1(3)). Missing a cut-off is a refusal to transport, and your rights are in the airline's tariff, not the regulations.

Sources

General information, not legal advice.