WestJet delay and cancellation compensation
WestJet delay compensation runs C$400 to C$1,000 per passenger under the Air Passenger Protection Regulations, since the CTA classifies WestJet a large carrier, once the disruption was within WestJet’s control and you had 14 days' notice or less. Denied boarding within WestJet’s control, not required for safety, adds C$900 to C$2,400. A labour disruption inside WestJet, such as the flight-attendant strike that grounded WestJet flights in early August 2026, counts as outside its control: no APPR compensation, only re-routing or a refund. WestJet is a third-country operator, so a flight departing a UK or EU airport on WestJet still qualifies for £220–£520 or €250–€600, even though WestJet’s own inbound flights carry no such cover.
WestJet delay compensation runs 
CTA classifies 
UK or 
EU airport on 
- APPR C$C$125–C$1,0003 h or more late, by carrier size
- UK261 ££220–£520per passenger, 3 h or more late at arrival
- EU261 €€250–€600per passenger, 3 h or more late at arrival
- Claim service
No win, no feeHand the claim over →
Key facts: WestJet
Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
Legal entity | WestJet; third-country operator, not a UK or EU air carrier |
APPR carrier size | Large (Canadian Transportation Agency classification, checked 2026-09-17) |
APPR delay/cancellation compensation | C$400–C$1,000; WestJet is a large carrier (CTA classification) |
APPR denied-boarding compensation | C$900–C$2,400, any carrier size |
UK261 (UK departures only) | £220–£520 |
EU261 (EU departures only) | €250–€600 |
Claim deadline | Before the first anniversary of the disruption |
Escalation | Canadian Transportation Agency; CAA's PACT for UK-related complaints — WestJet is not in an approved ADR scheme |
CAA's PACT for UK-related complaints — Source: APPR ss.19-20 — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca; UK261 art. 7(1) — legislation.gov.uk; EU261 art. 7(1) — eur-lex.europa.eu; EASA TCO list (14/09/2026) — easa.europa.eu; CTA large/small guidance — protection-passager-passenger.otc-cta.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-17.
#How much does WestJet pay under APPR for a delay of 3 hours or more?
C$400 to C$1,000 in Canadian dollars, not the €250 to €600 a European page will quote you. WestJet’s APPR compensation runs from a three-hour arrival delay, on the large-carrier scale the CTA assigns it. Two conditions gate the money — the disruption sat within WestJet’s control, and nothing about it was required for safety.
Canadian dollars, not the Arrival delay | WestJet owes |
|---|---|
3 h to under 6 h | C$400 |
6 h to under 9 h | C$700 |
9 h or more | C$1,000 |
Distance is what separates the two systems. UK261 and EU261 step their payments by how far the flight was going, at 1,500 km and 3,500 km. APPR ignores distance altogether, so a one-hour domestic hop and a transatlantic sector both owe C$400 at three hours. Only the clock moves a WestJet figure.
Some rival pages put WestJet’s maximum at “up to €600”. That figure belongs to a departure from an EU airport; it never reaches a Canada-bound delay, which APPR caps at C$1,000. If the August 2026 cabin-crew strike is what brought you here, the scale above pays nothing at all — a labour dispute inside the airline is category 1, set out below. Run the compensation calculator or the APPR calculator, and check the large-versus-small carrier rules.
Source: APPR s.19(1)-(2), s.1(2), s.1(4) — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-15; CTA large/small guidance — protection-passager-passenger.otc-cta.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-17.
#Which APPR disruption category did WestJet give?
3 categories under APPR decide whether WestJet owes you anything: outside its control, within its control but required for safety, and within its control. Only the third category pays, and only when WestJet gave 14 days' notice or less before departure. A labour dispute inside WestJet counts as outside its control, not the third category.
Category 1 covers events outside WestJet’s control: war or political instability, weather that makes safe operation impossible, air traffic control instructions, a security threat, an airport problem, a medical emergency and a wildlife strike, plus a labour dispute inside WestJet itself — why the August 2026 cabin-crew strike paid no APPR compensation, only rebooking or a refund. Cirium counted 922 of the 2,365 WestJet-operated flights scheduled 1-5 August as cancelled, as of 3 August — a Cirium count carried by Reuters, excluding WestJet’s regional partner WestJet Encore, that sizes the disruption without fixing its legal category.
Category 2 covers disruptions within WestJet’s control but required for safety, excluding scheduled maintenance: still no compensation, only care after a two-hour wait if told less than 12 hours ahead. Category 3, everything else within WestJet’s control, is the only one that pays.
In a CTA complaint, the Canada Transportation Act presumes the disruption was within WestJet’s control, not required for safety; WestJet must prove otherwise. That presumption does not save a strike claim: once WestJet shows a labour dispute inside the airline, category 1 applies regardless of delay length. Note WestJet’s exact reason; the Canada APPR hub covers the Regulations in full.
Source: APPR s.10(1)-(2), s.11, s.1(1), s.12(2)-(4) — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca; Canada Transportation Act s.85.07(2) — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-15; Reuters, “WestJet resumes operations after tentative deal ends cabin crew strike” (3 August 2026), citing Cirium — reuters.com, retrieved via its U.S. News wire syndication, checked 2026-09-18.
#How do you claim from WestJet before the first anniversary?
File a written APPR claim with WestJet inside 1 year of the delay or cancellation, or WestJet can throw it out on timing alone, whatever caused the disruption. Absent a written, non-expiring offer of equal or greater value that you agree to, WestJet owes cash.
Submit your claim through WestJet’s own compensation claims form, naming the flight number, the date, the arrival delay and the reason WestJet gave, which decides the category. WestJet then owes a written decision, paying or explaining its refusal, within 30 days of receiving your claim; a refund on the unflown ticket runs the identical 30-day clock, to your original payment method unless you consent in writing to a non-expiring alternative. A Sunwing Vacations flight on or after 29 May 2025 is claimed here too, because WestJet operates it (Sunwing). Keep the filing date: 30 unanswered days open the route to a CTA complaint.
Sunwing Vacations flight on or after 29 May 2025 is claimed here too, because Source: APPR s.19(3)-(4), s.18.2(1)-(2), s.21 — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca; Canada Transportation Act s.85.01(2) — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-15.
Lost baggage runs on shorter clocks. The CTA gives 7 days to claim for a damaged bag and 21 for a delayed one. APPR section 23 counts a bag as lost once WestJet admits it or 21 days pass, and owes at least your baggage fees plus the Carriage by Air Act or Montreal Convention amount. Claim for the bag separately, in writing; the Canadian lost-baggage guide gives the 1,519 SDR limit and the dates.
Source: APPR s.23 — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca; CTA air travel complaints, checked 2026-09-15.
#What does WestJet owe you if you are denied boarding?
C$2,400 is WestJet’s denied-boarding ceiling, paid when your rearranged arrival lands nine hours or more late; the floor is C$900, under six hours late. Category 3 gates the whole scale — within WestJet’s control, not required for safety — and WestJet must pay no later than 48 hours after it denies you boarding against your will.
WestJet’s denied-boarding scale runs on the same three time bands as delay compensation, but with a single column that ignores carrier size: C$900 if your rearranged arrival is delayed less than 6 hours, C$1,800 for 6 to under 9 hours, and C$2,400 for 9 hours or more. Category 1 (outside WestJet’s control) or category 2 (required for safety) pay no denied-boarding compensation at all, only alternate arrangements.
If WestJet has not paid you before you board the replacement flight, it must confirm in writing what it owes, adjusted upward if you land later than that confirmation assumed. None of this reaches an ordinary delay, a cancellation, or a passenger who volunteers a seat for an agreed benefit — only an involuntary denial that sits inside WestJet’s control and carries no safety justification qualifies.
Source: APPR s.20(1)-(2), (4)-(5) — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-15.
#How do you take a WestJet claim to the Canadian Transportation Agency?
30 days without a resolved written claim lets you file a CTA complaint against WestJet. A resolution officer starts mediating within 30 days of filing; an order follows within 60 days of when mediation started if it fails. WestJet has no CADR-style pilot, unlike Air Canada, so the CTA is the only escalation route.
Air CanadaOnce your written request to WestJet has sat unresolved for 30 days, take it to the Agency directly, either through the online complaint form or the CTA complaint guide if you want the steps laid out first.
#If WestJet rejects your claim
You do not have to prove WestJet was at fault. Before a resolution officer the Canada Transportation Act assumes the opposite, and WestJet must displace that with evidence. WestJet must put its reason in writing within 30 days of your claim, tested against that presumption by a resolution officer. File before the first anniversary regardless of how weak the refusal looks, or WestJet can refuse on time alone. Ask WestJet to name the exact category, and read what to do when an airline refuses compensation.
Source: Canadian Transportation Agency, air travel complaints — protection-passager-passenger.otc-cta.gc.ca; Canada Transportation Act s.85.07(2) — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca; APPR s.19(3)-(4) — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-15.
#Flying from the UK or Europe on WestJet? Which law applies
£220, £350 or £520 under UK261, or €250, €400 or €600 under EU261, is what WestJet owes for a delay of three hours or more from a UK or EU airport. Coverage runs one way: WestJet’s inbound flights from outside the UK or EU carry none of it, holding no UK or EU operating licence.
Which rules apply to your WestJet flight
Your route | Which rules apply |
|---|---|
Canada to, from or within Canada, including connections | Air Passenger Protection Regulations (C$) |
UK to anywhere | UK261 (£) |
EU to anywhere | EU261 (€) |
Outside Canada, the UK and the EU, arriving in the UK | No UK261 — WestJet is a third-country operator |
Outside Canada, the UK and the EU, arriving in the EU | No EU261 — WestJet is a third-country operator |
WestJet holds only EASA authorisation CAN-0030, no CAA Type A licence, so neither EU261 nor UK261 covers its inbound flights. Not your situation? Montreal Convention covers bags, US DOT rules cover US flights, an unusual routing goes here.
US flights, an unusual routing goes #UK261 on WestJet flights
£220, £350 or £520 is owed at the three-hour UK261 threshold, banded to 1,500 km, 1,500–3,500 km and beyond. WestJet belongs to no ADR scheme — not AviationADR, CEDR or the foreign-ADR list — so a refused claim goes only to the CAA’s PACT, an opinion, not a binding order, and PACT skips cases with under a year left to sue. Air Canada, by contrast, sits on the AviationADR list and gets a binding escalation route a WestJet refusal lacks. Court, inside the six-year England & Wales limit, is the only binding route; cross-check any other carrier on the ADR membership map.
AviationADR, 
CEDR or the foreign-ADR list — so a refused claim goes only to the 
England & 
Wales limit, is the only binding route; cross-check any other carrier on the #EU261 on WestJet flights
€250, €400 or €600 applies the same way from an EU departure, under Sturgeon (C-402/07 and C-432/07, 2009), since article 7 covers only cancellation and denied boarding. A UK261 or EU261 payment blocks an APPR payment for the same event, not the reverse; article 3(1)(b)'s anti-double rule never reaches WestJet, a third-country operator.
Source: UK261 art. 3(1), 7(1) — legislation.gov.uk; EU261 art. 3(1), 7(1) — eur-lex.europa.eu; CAA ADR and PACT — caa.co.uk; EASA TCO list (14/09/2026) — easa.europa.eu; APPR s.3(3), Canada Transportation Act s.86.11(3) — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-15.
AirHelp (third-party claim service)- Claim in writing; the airline can take up to 30 days
- Refused or no answer: a complaint to the CTA, free
- You keep all of the compensation
Hand it overAirHelp takes the claim, no win no fee- They deal with WestJet for you
- AirHelp's fee is 35% of the compensation, VAT included, and nothing if the claim fails.
Compare WestJet with Air Canada and Air Transat; Porter Airlines and Flair Airlines are large too, Canadian claims only here.
Air Transat
Porter Airlines
Flair AirlinesGeneral information on WestJet compensation, not legal advice. For your case, contact the CTA, a legal aid clinic or a lawyer; for a UK or EU departure, the CAA, Citizens Advice or that country’s enforcement body.
Citizens Advice or that country’s enforcement body.Source: APPR s.19(4) — laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, checked 2026-09-15.
#Sources
- Air Passenger Protection Regulations (SOR/2019-150) - laws-lois.justice.gc.ca.
- Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA), “Large and small airlines” - protection-passager-passenger.otc-cta.gc.ca.
- Canada Transportation Act - laws-lois.justice.gc.ca.
- Canadian Transportation Agency, air travel complaints - protection-passager-passenger.otc-cta.gc.ca.
- CTA online complaint form - formulaires-forms.otc-cta.gc.ca.
- WestJet, compensation claims - westjet.com.
- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 - eur-lex.europa.eu.
- UK261 as it forms part of UK domestic law - legislation.gov.uk.
- CAA, licence holders and Alternative Dispute Resolution - caa.co.uk.
- CAA, “How the CAA can help” (PACT) - caa.co.uk.
- EASA, authorised third-country operators - easa.europa.eu.
- Sturgeon, C-402/07 and C-432/07 (2009) - eur-lex.europa.eu.
- Reuters, “WestJet resumes operations after tentative deal ends cabin crew strike” (3 August 2026), citing Cirium flight-cancellation data - reuters.com; retrieved and saved via its U.S. News wire syndication (reuters.com itself gates the page behind a login) - money.usnews.com, checked 2026-09-18.