WestJet, Porter fined tens of thousands over delays, not giving flyers enough food and drink

Getting hungry while waiting for a delayed flight could put you in a foul mood. It could also cost your airline tens of thousands of dollars in penalties, as two notices within a week by the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) show. Here’s what to know.

What were the rulings?

Last Thursday, the CTA announced a penalty of $70,000 against WestJet in relation to a flight from Calgary to Nanaimo, B.C., on Feb. 16, 2025.

The decision said WestJet failed to provide 16 passengers with “food and drink in reasonable quantities” when they had to wait more than two hours after their scheduled departure time.

It also found that the airline failed to offer 19 passengers free accommodation and transportation “while the passengers were required to wait overnight for their original flight or for a flight reserved as part of alternate travel arrangements.”

Then on Tuesday a similar decision levied a fine of $90,500 against Porter Airlines . In this case it was a flight from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to Montreal on March 30, 2025.

The flight was delayed and eventually cancelled after the aircraft doors were closed for takeoff, but the airline did not provide passengers with food and drink in reasonable quantities. It also failed to provide 13 passengers with information, including the reason for the cancellation, in a timely fashion.

The CTA said Porter also failed to provide alternate travel arrangements to six passengers. Finally, as of May 5, it failed to provide four passengers with the minimum compensation set out in the Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR), or an explanation as to why compensation was not payable. Airlines have 30 days to do this after receiving passengers’ requests.

What do the Air Passenger Protection Regulations say?

The APPR is a novella-length and sometimes complex document of more than 24,000 words, but it lays out requirements for airlines to provide passengers with compensation such as the items mentioned above. It also allows for fines of up to $25,000 per infraction.

A small claims case against Air Canada in 2021, however, noted: “When consumer protection is the intended outcome of a regulatory regime, it should be assumed the regime will be in plain language, easy to understand and supports a simple claims process. The APPR, which was intended to accomplish enhanced passenger rights, accomplishes none of these.”

Is it sufficient?

Gábor Lukács, president of the  advocacy group Air Passenger Rights , doesn’t think so.

“What you see here is a notice of violation (like a parking ticket), not a ruling,” Lukács told National Post in an email. “The CTA’s enforcement actions are making a mockery of Canadian passengers’ rights. The vast majority of violations go without any consequences, and in those cases where there is a fine issued, it is a symbolic amount for the airline that has no any meaningful effect to foster compliance.”

He added: “The only way to meaningfully tell airlines that they must follow the law: through their bottom line. The amount has to be big enough to counterbalance unlawful revenues/profits from many thousands of cases where the airline breaks the law and does not get caught.”

It’s also worth noting that the penalties are collected by the government and are not passed along to the passengers. “The fines, if they are significant, benefit the travelling public as a whole, not the individual victims,” said Lukacs.

According to the CTA’s website, in the last four years it has levied fines totalling $3.8 million, plus another $980,000 this year to date. (The CTA year-end is March 31, 2026.) Westjet and Porter are not publicly traded, but Air Canada last year reported a profit of $918 million.

What do the airlines say about the fines?

A spokesperson for Porter said the incident in Florida involved “an unusual set of circumstances” including rolling thunderstorms, a maintenace issue and then a passenger medical issue that pushed the crew past its maximum duty time, forcing the aircraft back to the gate and ultimately cancelling the flight.

“Given the limited availability of seats due to the storm, some passengers were rebooked on a newly-scheduled Porter flight that departed within one hour of the allowable 48-hour re-protection requirement,” the spokesperson said. “We have already implemented several procedural changes to minimize recurrence of a similar event.”

National Post has reached out to WestJet for additional information.

How does the CTA work?

In an email to National Post, a CTA spokesperson explained that the agency “is both an independent regulator and quasi-judicial tribunal.”

On the regulation side, “the CTA continually monitors regulated entities for non-compliance” and may conduct investigations that can lead to notices of violation and administrative penalties.

“Separately, the CTA also operates an air travel complaints resolution office, which is used to settle disputes (upon application by a passenger) between passengers and airlines. Through that process, compensation, refunds or reimbursements can be ordered when airlines fail to meet their obligations.”

Passengers who believe an airline has not met its obligations must first submit a claim to the airline. If the airline does not respond within 30 days or the passenger is not satisfied with the result, they can file a formal complaint with the CTA. The agency lists its decisions by case number, flight number and date but does not publish a dollar amount of any decisions.

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