Flight home delayed by days? What the airline owes you when you're stuck abroad
Updated · Checked against the regulations as current to September 30, 2026 · By LandedLate
Canada's Air Passenger Protection Regulations cover your flight home to Canada on any airline. If the cause was within its control, a large airline can't keep you waiting more than 48 hours for a seat: it must book you on any airline (section 17). For weather and other causes outside its control, it has 48 hours to fly you on its own or a partner's plane; after that you choose between a refund and, from a large airline, the next flight on any airline (section 18). When compensation is owed (within its control, not for safety), it stops at $1,000 per passenger however many days late you are (section 19).
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 long the airline can make you wait
| Cause | What a large airline must offer | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Within its control, including safety | Its own or a partner's flight leaving within 9 hours of your original departure; if none, any airline within 48 hours; if none, a flight from a nearby airport plus the ride there | 17 |
| Outside its control (weather, air traffic control, security) | Its own or a partner's next flight within 48 hours. If it can't, your choice: a refund, or the next flight on any airline, including from a nearby airport | 18 |
Small airlines only have to offer their own or a partner's next available flight, with no time limit. The clock starts at the departure time on your original ticket. In July 2025 the agency fined Flair $174,000, including 48 violations of the rule on seats with other airlines (section 18(1.1)). The full rebooking rules
Think twice before taking a refund abroad. A refund ends the airline's duty to fly you home: on the way back your trip still serves a purpose, so you'd usually get the unused part of the ticket back and have to buy your own flight. And when the cause was within the airline's control, taking the refund instead of the new flight drops your compensation to $400, or $125 from a small airline (section 19(2)).
What you can claim for days of delay
Compensation
Up to $1,000 per passenger (large airline) or $500 (small), if the cause was within the airline's control and not for safety, and you were told 14 days or less before departure. Two days late pays the same as 9 hours.
Meals and a hotel
A hotel and transport if you have to wait overnight, and food and drink after 2 hours, if the cause was within the airline's control (including safety) and you were told less than 12 hours ahead (section 14). Keep receipts if the airline leaves you to pay.
Not required
For weather and other causes outside the airline's control, no compensation, meals or hotel. You're still owed a new flight or a refund under section 18.
Sun-destination flights
If your flight home was on one of these airlines, its guide has the claim form and what the airline says when it refuses: Flair · Air Transat · WestJet · Air Canada
Another passenger-rights law, such as Europe's, may also cover your flight. The airline can't refuse Canadian compensation just because you're also eligible under that law (section 3(3)), but once you've been paid under it for the same event, Canadian compensation is no longer owed (Canada Transportation Act, section 86.11(3)).
Questions
My flight home from Mexico was 2 days late. How much compensation am I owed?
At most $1,000 per passenger from a large airline, or $500 from a small one. That's the amount for reaching your destination 9 or more hours late (section 19(1)), and it doesn't grow after 9 hours. It's owed if the cause was within the airline's control and not required for safety, and you were told 14 days or less before departure (section 12).
Do I have to wait for my airline's next flight, even if it's days away?
Not if the cause was within its control and it's a large airline. It must first offer its own or a partner's flight leaving within 9 hours of your original departure, then a flight on any airline within 48 hours, then a flight from a nearby airport (section 17(1)). For weather and other causes outside its control, it must offer its own or a partner's flight within 48 hours; if it can't, you choose between a refund and, from a large airline, the next flight on any airline (section 18(1.1)). Small airlines only owe their own or a partner's next available flight.
Who pays for my hotel while I wait?
The airline must offer a hotel and transport to it if you have to wait overnight, the cause was within its control (including safety problems) and you were told less than 12 hours before departure (section 14(2)). For causes outside its control, such as weather, the regulations don't require it.
Do the Canadian rules apply on a foreign airline flying me home?
Yes. The regulations cover flights to, from and within Canada (Canada Transportation Act, section 86.11(1)), and the duties fall on the airline that operated your flight, Canadian or not (section 2(1)).
I paid for extra nights myself. Can I get that back?
Ask the airline in writing, with receipts. The regulations make the airline provide the hotel itself; they don't set out a process for refunding what you paid. Separately, the Montreal Convention makes an airline liable for damage caused by delay unless it proves it took all reasonable measures to avoid it (article 19); a court claim has to be brought within 2 years (article 35).
Sources
- Air Passenger Protection Regulations, SOR/2019-150, sections 2, 3, 12, 14, 17, 18 and 19 (Justice Laws)
- Canada Transportation Act, section 86.11 (Justice Laws)
- Montreal Convention, articles 19 and 35 (Carriage by Air Act, Schedule VI, Justice Laws)
- Canadian Transportation Agency: Flair Airlines Ltd. penalized for APPR violations (July 2025)
General information, not legal advice.