Flights between the UK and Canada: what a delay is worth
Every route the CAA tracks between the UK and Canada falls in the same distance band (Over 3,500 km), so a delay of 3 hours or more pays a flat £520 per passenger under UK261 if the flight left the UK (€600 under EU261 if it left Canada instead and the airline was a UK or EU carrier). Find your route below.
| Route | 3h+ delay pays |
|---|---|
| Heathrow → Toronto | £520 |
| Heathrow → Vancouver | £520 |
| Heathrow → Montreal (Dorval) | £520 |
| Heathrow → Calgary | £520 |
| Gatwick → Toronto | £520 |
| Edinburgh → Toronto | £520 |
| Heathrow → Halifax Int | £520 |
| Manchester → Toronto | £520 |
| Glasgow → Toronto | £520 |
| Heathrow → Ottawa International | £520 |
| Gatwick → Montreal (Dorval) | £520 |
| Gatwick → Vancouver | £520 |
| Gatwick → St Johns | £520 |
| Gatwick → Halifax Int | £520 |
| Edinburgh → Halifax Int | £520 |
All 15 tracked UK ↔ Canada routes, sorted by yearly flight volume. Figures are per passenger under UK261; EU261 pays €600 for the same band.
In the last 12 months, 14,135 flights operated between the UK and Canada: 72.3% ran within 15 minutes of schedule, and 0.8% were 3 or more hours late, roughly 113 flights' worth of eligible passengers in a year. The CAA's figures don't separate arrivals from departures, so this covers the route both ways.
Punctuality is up on last year: 72.3% of flights ran on time against 72.1% in the twelve months before, and the average delay fell from 17.7 to 15.9 minutes.
Flights (12mo)
14,135
On time
72.3%
▲ 0.2pts vs last year
Avg delay
15.9 min
▼ 1.8 min vs last year
3h+ delayed
0.8%
Cancelled
2.0%
Canada, month by month
Worst month: January 2026, averaging 24.6 minutes.
Busiest routes between the UK and Canada
| UK airport | Destination | 3h+ delay pays |
|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | Toronto | £520 |
| Heathrow | Vancouver | £520 |
| Heathrow | Montreal (Dorval) | £520 |
| Heathrow | Calgary | £520 |
| Gatwick | Toronto | £520 |
| Edinburgh | Toronto | £520 |
| Heathrow | Halifax Int | £520 |
| Manchester | Toronto | £520 |
| Glasgow | Toronto | £520 |
| Heathrow | Ottawa International | £520 |
| Gatwick | Montreal (Dorval) | £520 |
| Gatwick | Vancouver | £520 |
| Gatwick | St Johns | £520 |
| Gatwick | Halifax Int | £520 |
| Edinburgh | Halifax Int | £520 |
UK airports flying to Canada
| Airport | 3h+ % | On-time % |
|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | 0.8% | 73.7% |
| Gatwick | 0.6% | 67.1% |
| Edinburgh | 1.1% | 68.0% |
| Manchester | 1.2% | 63.7% |
| Glasgow | 0.7% | 79.4% |
| Cardiff Wales | <0.5% | 87.0% |
Airlines flying between the UK and Canada
| Airline | 3h+ % | On-time % |
|---|---|---|
| Air Canada | 1.1% | 74.7% |
| British Airways | 0.6% | 71.4% |
| Air Transat | 0.6% | 69.8% |
| West Jet Airlines | 0.6% | 66.2% |
| Virgin Atlantic | 0.5% | 78.3% |
Your rights on this route
Every flight leaving the UK for Canada is covered by UK261, whichever airline operates it. Flights the other way, landing in the UK from Canada, are covered too if a UK or EU airline operated them; a return flight on a non-UK, non-EU carrier falls outside UK261, though the Montreal Convention and Canada's own rules may still give you a claim. See the full breakdown on the 3-hour rule. Cancelled instead of delayed? Broadly the same amounts apply under different conditions. See cancelled flight compensation.
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Source: UK Civil Aviation Authority punctuality statistics, July 2025 to June 2026. Analysis by CheckFlightCompensation; the CAA is credited as the data source as its publication conditions require. Figures cover the 25 largest UK airports.