Air Passenger Protection Regulations: An Introduction

On December 15, 2019, Canada finalized its revised Air Passenger Protection Regulations. There are many parts to this, including rules about communication, delayed and cancelled flights, denial of boarding (overbooking), tarmac delays, seating arrangements for families, and lost/damaged baggage. These rules are only for flights that land or depart in Canada.

What is probably the most significant to me are the new rules surrounding denied boarding (overbooking) and delays/canceled flights.

What happens when you're denied booking?
When flights are overbooked, airlines will first solicit volunteers to give up their seats. If passengers volunteer to give up their seats, this is considered a voluntary denial of boarding. There is no prescribed amount that is required for a voluntary denial of boarding (VDB): if you feel like you didn't get enough compensation, then don't volunteer your seat. If airlines cannot solicit enough volunteers, they can remove people off of flights without their consent; this is considered an involuntary denial of boarding (IDB). In either case, airlines are expected to get you to the final destination.

For instances of IDB, the overall length of delay to your final destination determines your compensation. If you were supposed to arrive at 9am, and after involuntarily giving up your seat and being rebooked on a flight that will land at 4pm, your overall length of delay is considered to be 7 hours. The rules therefore are as such:

What happens when your flight is delayed?
When flights are delayed, you are still entitled compensation based on the length of time your arrival at the final destination is delayed by. There is a difference between large and small airlines, but given that I typically use "large" airlines, I will only focus on these amounts.

Caveats
The biggest caveat is that no compensation is awarded for situations which are outside of the airline's control. Weather is one example. Compensation is also not awarded for situations that are related to safety (e.g., mechanical problems with the plane). This is a big catch-all, as ultimately, everything and anything can be funnelled into the category of safety.

How to claim
In order to claim compensation, you are first expected to contact airlines directly. They have to respond within 30 days with payment or a reason why your claim does not meet criteria. They are expected to offer either cash as outlined above, or other forms of credit with a higher value than cash. The passenger is always allowed to choose which option they would like.

Have you ever had to use this?
Stay tuned for my own experience of trying to claim compensation ...