TORONTO — An airline’s use of a safety-related maintenance exemption to deny passenger compensation is under the microscope after an Ottawa traveller successfully challenged the airline over a cancelled flight.

As reported by CBC’s Go Public, Juan Rojas was awarded $1,000 after the Canadian Transportation Agency determined that the cancellation of his September 2022 Air Canada flight from Montreal to Bogota resulted from a commercial aircraft swap.

It isn’t the first time out-of-pocket travellers with Canada’s carriers have cried foul. Under Canada’s APPR, passengers may be entitled to up to $1,000 for qualifying delays within an airline’s control. Disruptions required for safety are exempt from compensation.

In Rojas’s case, Air Canada submitted documents indicating that a catering truck had damaged an aircraft. According to the CBC, Rojas later discovered that the damaged plane was not the aircraft originally assigned to his flight. Air Canada told the CBC it moved Rojas’ aircraft to cover the damaged plane’s route.

In January 2026, a CTA complaints resolution officer ruled that the decision to swap aircraft was commercial and ordered Air Canada to pay Rojas $1,000.

Go Public also identified three other passengers whose flights were cancelled after Air Canada reassigned their originally scheduled aircraft to different routes. The airline acknowledged making the aircraft swaps but maintained that it did not owe compensation. Air Canada said its aircraft schedules must remain flexible to minimize disruptions across its network.

Montreal lawyer Sylvie De Bellefeuille told the CBC that “most passengers do not have enough information to counter whatever is said by the airline.”

Go Public said the CTA does not publish its decisions on air passenger disputes, however a CTA spokesperson told the CBC the agency plans to start publishing decisions in 2027, once issues around privacy concerns are worked out.