APPR Tarmac Delay Standards — Get Off the Plane or Get Mandatory Basic Care
What Is It?
APPR has a specific set of rules for tarmac delays, not just general delay rights. If passengers are stuck on a plane with the doors closed before takeoff or after landing, the airline must provide basic care and, with limited exceptions, eventually let people off.
These rules are important because tarmac delays can become health and safety problems quickly, and the obligations are more specific than people realize.
Do I Qualify?
- You were kept on board an aircraft on the ground with no immediate chance to get off
- The aircraft doors were closed during the delay
- The flight was to, from, or within Canada in a situation covered by APPR
- You want to check whether the airline failed to provide care or delayed disembarkation too long
How It Works
- During the delay, the airline must provide required basic conditions such as ventilation, access to toilets, and needed medical care.
- It must also provide food and drink in reasonable quantities, taking account of delay length, time of day, and airport location.
- Once the tarmac delay reaches the key time threshold, passengers generally must be allowed to disembark unless a narrow exception applies.
- Keep timestamps, photos, and receipts if the airline failed to meet these duties.
What Most People Don’t Know
- Tarmac-delay rules are more specific than generic delay rules. They focus on basic treatment and disembarkation, not only later compensation.
- Basic comfort and health protections are mandatory. Ventilation, toilet access, food, drink, and medical attention are not optional goodwill gestures.
- The three-hour point matters. In general, passengers must be allowed to disembark once the delay reaches three hours, unless takeoff is imminent and specific safety conditions are satisfied.
- Closed doors are a key part of the definition. If the plane is still at the gate with the doors open, that is usually not a tarmac delay under this rule.
Frequently Asked Questions
What counts as a tarmac delay?
A: It generally means you are confined on the aircraft on the ground, with no immediate opportunity to get off, and the doors are closed.
What does the airline have to provide?
A: Required basics include proper ventilation, working toilets, food and drink in reasonable quantities, and needed medical attention.
When do passengers have to be allowed off the plane?
A: In general, once the delay reaches three hours, passengers must be allowed to disembark unless a narrow exception applies.
Is this the same as delay compensation?
A: No. Tarmac-delay rights are about treatment and disembarkation during the event itself.
What evidence helps later?
A: Photos, timestamps, boarding records, messages from the airline, and notes about food, toilets, ventilation, and medical access.