Missed Your Connection Because of a Delay? How APPR Compensation Works

## It's the arrival at your FINAL destination that counts If flight one was late and you missed flight two, your compensation is measured by **how late you arrived at your final ticketed destination** — not the length of the original delay. A 90-minute delay in Toronto that costs you the last connection to Halifax and gets you in 11 hours late? That's a **9+ hour arrival delay**: $1,000 on a large carrier, if the cause was within airline control. ## One booking vs. two bookings — this matters - **Single reservation** (one booking reference covering both flights): the airline is responsible for the whole journey, including rebooking you on the next available flight — even on a competitor if it can't get you out within 9 hours. - **Separate bookings** (self-connected): each flight is treated on its own. If flight one landed under 3 hours late, no compensation — even if you missed a separately-booked onward flight. Book connections on one ticket when you can. ## International trips: two regimes may apply If your journey touches the EU, UK, or other jurisdictions, you may have a choice of claiming under APPR or the other regime (like EU261, up to €600). You can't double-dip, but you can pick the better one. Flights departing the EU on any airline fall under EU261; flights to Canada on Canadian carriers fall under APPR. ## Build the claim properly Missed-connection claims are the easiest for airlines to confuse and deny — they'll quote the short first-leg delay and hope you don't know the arrival rule. A claim letter that states the final-destination arrival time, the single-reservation structure, and the correct APPR provision is much harder to brush off. AirDelays's eligibility checker handles connection scenarios — enter your itinerary and see what you're owed, free. *General information, not legal advice.*