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. Swapped shows flight data only and isn't legal advice.

Each case has an Export for your claim section: a printable fact sheet, CSV, JSON or plain text with the flights, times, aircraft and sources.

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, that aircraft was at the airport when your flight was due to leave, and it then left on a different route under a different flight number, between an hour before your departure and an hour after your scheduled arrival.

If the plane was still arriving late, or the flight that left was its own earlier flight running late, it doesn't count. 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. When the same plane flew your route under another flight number, we show it as "Combined with another flight".

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

When we can, we check the plane's transponder (ADS-B) tracks to confirm independently that it flew, and add the weather and airport notices at the time. Weather is context, not the airline's reason.

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.

Context sources: Transport Canada CADORS open data (Open Government Licence – Canada), METAR weather from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet and aviationweather.gov, airport notices from NAV CANADA, ADS-B tracks from adsb.lol (© adsb.lol contributors, ODbL 1.0) and OpenSky Network, airport locations from OurAirports and map outlines from Natural Earth (public domain).

Helpful links

Flight delays and cancellations (CTA)
How to contact the airline
Air travel complaints (CTA)
Documents you need for a complaint
Complaint form

Swapped shows flight data only and isn't legal advice.

Watch a flight to get an email if it's cancelled and its plane flies elsewhere.