What is an aircraft reassignment?

Every plane has a tail number, like a licence plate. Sometimes an airline cancels your flight, then sends that same working plane on a different route the same day.

Swapped spots those cases: the plane was on hand, it just flew someone else.

Why it matters to you

Under Canada's Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR), what you're owed depends on whether the cancellation was within the airline's control.

If the plane flew elsewhere, that can be useful context when you ask why your flight was cancelled. This isn't legal advice.

How we detect it

We match flight status data by tail number. A case only counts when a specific aircraft was assigned to your flight, and that aircraft then flew a different route under a different flight number the same day.

A cancellation with no aircraft assigned shows as a plain grey "Cancelled", never as a swap. A renumbered flight on the same route doesn't count either.

Occurrence data comes from Transport Canada's public CADORS reports. When we couldn't check them, we say so.

Where the data comes from

Flight status and aircraft assignments come from AeroDataBox and are updated once a day. Times are local to each departure airport.

We pick your nearest airport from your approximate IP location, or from your device location if you tap "Use my location". Your choice is saved only in your browser.