Travellers denied compensation for WestJet flight reroute and 11-hour delay

Compensation sought for a cancelled WestJet flight in Kelowna, B.C., was refused by the Civil Resolution Tribunal in August 2025.

A couple seeking compensation for an 11-hour flight delay have had their appeal dismissed, after the tribunal found the airline acted reasonably in the cancellation and rerouting of their journey.

Michael and Bernice Thurlow took WestJet to the Civil Resolution Tribunal over a rerouted flight from Kelowna to New Orleans, claiming $1,000 each in compensation and $76 for baggage fees.

According to the decision, published Aug. 11, the initial booked flight was planned to travel through Calgary and then Atlanta. After cancelling the flight’s first leg due to bad weather in Kelowna, WestJet rebooked the couple on another, later flight with a partner airline to New Orleans, via Seattle.

WestJet said the plane scheduled to fly the Thurlows from Kelowna to Calgary wasn’t able to land due to high winds, and so both the plane’s incoming and outgoing journeys to and from Kelowna were cancelled.

Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations state passengers are to be compensated for delayed or cancelled flights if their arrival time is more than nine hours after originally planned, but only if the delay or cancellation is “within the carrier’s control and is not required for safety purposes,” the decision reads.

According to the decision, meteorological conditions or natural disasters that make the safe operation of an aircraft impossible are deemed outside the carrier’s control.

The Thurlows, who arrived at their intended destination 11 hours and 22 minutes later than planned, argued that the cancellation was not for safety purposes because “other planes were able to take off from Kelowna around the same time their flight was scheduled to,” the decision reads.

Tribunal member Andrea Ritchie found WestJet acted reasonably in cancelling the flight for safety purposes, and would have acted reasonably even if safe operation was “not impossible,” given many flights were being diverted away from Kelowna’s airport.

Ritchie noted a section of the APPR that states a second delay or cancellation is considered to be outside of the carrier’s control if it is directly attributable to a first delay or cancellation considered to be outside of the carrier’s control.

As a result of the first cancellation to Kelowna, WestJet says no aircraft was available to fly to Calgary, so that flight had to be cancelled as well. WestJet does not have reserve planes in Kelowna, the decision noted.

“While the Thurlows argue the windy weather subsided and other planes were able to take off from Kelowna by their scheduled departure time, a pilot cannot fly an aircraft that is not there,” Ritchie said.

The Thurlows were only entitled to the baggage fees of $76, alongside $125 in tribunal fees, the tribunal member ruled.