APPR C$Canadian North delay and cancellation compensation under APPR

Checked 22 Sep 2026·9 min read

C$125, C$250 or C$500 is what Canadian North owes under the Air Passenger Protection Regulations for an arrival delay of 3 hours or more that was within its control, not required for safety and notified to you 14 days or less before departure, on the small-carrier scale: the Canadian Transportation Agency names it a small carrier. Its own tariff agrees, declaring Canadian North a “[Small Carrier APPR]”. A separate, lower passenger threshold in the accessibility regulations makes it large there — a different question, covered further down this page, that does not change the compensation figures above.

• APPR C$C$125–C$1,0003 h or more late, by carrier size

Key facts: Canadian North

Source: APPR ss.10-20 — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca; CTA large/small guidance — protection-passager-passenger.otc-cta.gc.ca; Canadian North Domestic Tariff (19 Mar 2026) — canadiannorth.com, checked 2026-09-22.

#APPR C$How much does Canadian North pay under APPR for a delay of 3 hours or more?

C$125, C$250 or C$500: those are Canadian North’s three APPR bands, on the small-carrier scale, not the C$400-C$1,000 a general guide might quote for a large airline. Two conditions gate the payment regardless of the band: the disruption was within Canadian North’s control and not required for safety, and you were informed 14 days or less before departure.

Source: APPR s.19(1)(b) — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca; CTA large/small guidance — protection-passager-passenger.otc-cta.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-22.

If the disruption qualifies and Canadian North refunds your ticket under s.17(2) instead of rebooking you, the payment is a flat C$125 under s.19(2), whatever the delay would have been. Run the compensation calculator, read the APPR delay compensation guide, or check the large-versus-small carrier rules for how the CTA draws this line.

On a large carrier, a 4-hour delay in the same category pays C$400, more than three times Canadian North’s C$125. Size, not conduct, decides that gap.

Note the exact minute a door opened at your destination, since APPR measures arrival from then; a delay of 5 hours 59 minutes pays C$125, one minute later it pays C$250.

#Why is Canadian North small under APPR but large under the accessibility rules?

2,000,000 passengers worldwide, in each of the two preceding calendar years, is APPR’s large-carrier threshold, and the CTA names Canadian North as a small carrier. A separate rule, the accessibility regulations, sets its own line at 1,000,000 passengers, half of APPR’s, and under that test the CTA lists Canadian North as large.

Source: APPR s.1(2) — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca; Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations (SOR/2019-244) ss.25-26 — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca; CTA large/small guidance — protection-passager-passenger.otc-cta.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-22.

Both answers come from the same CTA guidance page, and both are correct for their own regulation: “Currently, Canada Jetlines, Canadian North, and other Canadian airlines are considered small carriers” under APPR, while the accessibility test applies a different, lower passenger count and reaches the opposite label. The two labels never combine into one carrier size, and neither overrides the other. This page covers only the APPR compensation question; what the accessibility regulations require belongs to the disability travel rights guide for US and Canadian flights, not to this card.

Read which regulation a source is quoting before trusting a “large” or “small” label for Canadian North; the same word means a different threshold in each.

#Which APPR disruption category did Canadian North give?

3 categories decide whether Canadian North owes you anything under APPR: outside its control, within its control but required for safety, and within its control. Only the third pays, and only where notice was 14 days or less, on this small carrier the same as any other.

Category 1 covers events outside Canadian North’s control: weather making safe operation impossible, air traffic control instructions, a security threat, an airport problem, a medical emergency, a wildlife strike, and a labour disruption inside the airline itself. None of category 1 pays compensation; Canadian North owes information and re-routing or a refund. Category 2, within Canadian North’s control but required for safety (a term that excludes scheduled maintenance), again pays nothing, though it adds care duties after a two-hour wait if you were told less than 12 hours ahead: food, drink and a way to communicate, plus a hotel and transport if the wait runs overnight. Category 3, everything else within Canadian North’s control, is the only category that reaches the compensation table above. Money turns on that one label.

In a CTA complaint, the law presumes the disruption was within Canadian North’s control and not required for safety; Canadian North has to prove otherwise, not you. Ask Canadian North to name the exact category in writing, because that single word decides whether any money is owed at all.

Source: APPR s.10(1)-(2), s.11, s.12(2)-(4) — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca; Canada Transportation Act s.85.07(2) — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-22.

#How do you claim from Canadian North before the first anniversary?

1 year: file a written APPR claim with Canadian North before the first anniversary of the delay or cancellation, or it can refuse the claim on timing alone. Canadian North owes money unless it offers another form of greater monetary value, disclosed in writing and non-expiring, and you confirm it in writing.

Source: APPR s.19(3)-(4), s.21, s.18.2(1)-(2) — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-22.

Name the flight number, the date, the length of the delay and the reason Canadian North gave; that reason is what fixes the category from the previous section. Canadian North then owes a written decision within 30 days of receiving your claim, either paying or explaining its refusal. A refund on an unflown ticket runs the same 30-day clock, paid to your original payment method unless you agree in writing to a non-expiring alternative. That clock starts when Canadian North becomes obligated to refund.

Keep the date you filed. Thirty unresolved days open the route to a CTA complaint, covered at the end of this page. A phone call does not start this clock; only a written request does.

#What does Canadian North owe if you are denied boarding?

C$900, C$1,800 or C$2,400: those are Canadian North’s denied-boarding bands, and unlike the delay table above, they do not split by carrier size. The floor applies under 6 hours' delay to your rearranged arrival, the ceiling at 9 hours or more.

Category 3 gates this scale: the denial must be within Canadian North’s control and not required for safety. Canadian North must pay as soon as operationally feasible and no later than 48 hours after denying you boarding, and if it has not paid by the time you board the replacement flight, it must confirm the amount in writing.

Source: APPR s.20(1)-(2), (4)-(5) — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-22.

Picture a passenger denied boarding for a reason within Canadian North’s control, not safety, and rerouted to arrive 7 hours late: Canadian North owes C$1,800, the middle band. Ask for written confirmation of the exact figure before you board; if you arrive later than expected, the amount must be adjusted.

#How do you take a Canadian North claim to the Canadian Transportation Agency?

30 days without a resolved written claim is what lets you file a CTA complaint against Canadian North. A resolution officer begins mediating within 30 days of that filing, and, if mediation brings no agreement, an order must follow no later than the 60th day after mediation began.

Source: Canadian Transportation Agency, air travel complaints — protection-passager-passenger.otc-cta.gc.ca; Canada Transportation Act ss.85.04-85.07 — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-22.

Once your written request to Canadian North has sat unresolved for 30 days, take it to the Agency directly through the CTA online complaint form, or read the CTA complaint guide first if you want the steps laid out in order. An agreement or order filed at that point is enforceable as an order of the Agency.

#If Canadian North rejects your claim

In a CTA complaint you do not have to prove Canadian North was at fault: the law presumes the disruption was within its control and not required for safety, and Canadian North must prove the contrary. The general steps for any airline that refuses a claim still apply. File before the first anniversary regardless of how weak the refusal looks, because a late claim can be refused on timing alone, whatever category applies. Note whether Canadian North answers within 30 days at all; silence past that point is itself a reason to escalate.

Which rules apply to your Canadian North flight

Source: APPR s.19; Canada Transportation Act s.86.11(1) — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca; EU261 art. 3(1) — eur-lex.europa.eu; UK261 art. 3(1) — legislation.gov.uk; EASA TCO list — easa.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-22.

For a Canadian North passenger APPR is the rulebook that counts, on the small-carrier scale.

Not your situation? Flights departing a UK or EU airport run on UK261 or EU261; US federal rules are on the US DOT hub; see which law covers my flight. The Canada APPR hub covers every other Canadian carrier and situation.

Closest Canadian cards: Porter Airlines and Flair Airlines are both large under APPR, unlike Canadian North, so their compensation figures run on the C$400-C$1,000 scale instead. Keep a copy of everything you send to Canadian North.

General information, not legal advice. For your specific case, contact the CTA, a legal aid clinic or a lawyer.

#Sources

• Air Passenger Protection Regulations (SOR/2019-150) - laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-22.
• Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations (SOR/2019-244) - laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-22.
• Canadian Transportation Agency, “Large and small airlines” - protection-passager-passenger.otc-cta.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-22.
• Canada Transportation Act - laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-22.
• Canadian Transportation Agency, air travel complaints - protection-passager-passenger.otc-cta.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-22.
• CTA online complaint form - formulaires-forms.otc-cta.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-22.
• Canadian North, Domestic Tariff CTA (A) No. 12 Rev. 5 (19 Mar 2026) - canadiannorth.com, checked 2026-09-22.
• EASA, Authorised Third Country Operators (last updated 22/09/2026) - easa.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-22.

#FAQ

Is Canadian North a large or small airline under APPR?

Small: the Canadian Transportation Agency names Canadian North a small carrier under APPR, whose large-carrier test is 2,000,000 passengers in each of the two preceding calendar years, and its own tariff declares it a '[Small Carrier APPR]'. The separate 1,000,000-passenger accessibility test (ATPDR) lists it as large - a different regulation.

How much compensation does Canadian North pay for a 6-hour delay?

C$250, on the small-carrier scale, once an arrival delay reaches 6 hours but stays under 9. That figure applies only if the delay was within Canadian North's control, was not required for safety, and you were informed 14 days or less before departure; otherwise no compensation is owed under APPR.

How long do I have to claim from Canadian North?

Before the first anniversary of the delay or cancellation, in writing. Miss that date and Canadian North can refuse the claim on timing alone, whatever caused the disruption. Canadian North then owes a written decision, paying or explaining its refusal, within 30 days of receiving your claim.

How do I complain about Canadian North to the CTA?

Canadian North's small-carrier status changes nothing about escalation: 30 unresolved days after a written claim opens the door to the Canadian Transportation Agency, filed through its online form. From there, a decision can take up to 90 days in total - 30 for a resolution officer to begin mediating, 60 more if a binding order becomes necessary.