Small claims court vs. a CTA complaint
When the airline’s internal process is exhausted, Canada gives you two roads. They lead to the same place — a binding decision — at radically different speeds. And there’s one rule that overrides everything: never travel both at once.
The honest comparison
- Small claims court: filing fees run $50–$200 depending on province (recoverable if you win), timelines run months, hearings are informal and built for self-represented people, and airlines frequently settle before a hearing — sending a lawyer to fight a $700 claim costs more than $700.
- CTA complaint: free to file, and your claim documents double as the complaint. The trade-off is the queue: the backlog has been reported around 97,000 complaints, with end-to-end waits measured in years. Reform legislation is moving, but that’s the queue today.
The never-both rule
Courts and tribunals dismiss claims that have a parallel CTA complaint open on the same facts — it’s treated as an abuse of process, and airlines actively raise it. If you have a CTA complaint open and choose court, withdraw the complaint in writing first (email info@otc-cta.gc.ca with your complaint number, keep the confirmation), and only then file.
Small claims, province by province
| Province | Court | Limit | Fee (typical APPR claim) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ontario | Small Claims Court (Superior Court of Justice) | $50,000 | $108 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | Small Claims Court (Provincial Court of Newfoundland and Labrador) | $25,000 | $100 |
| Alberta | Alberta Court of Justice — Civil Division | $100,000 | $100 |
| Nova Scotia | Small Claims Court of Nova Scotia | $25,000 | $99.7 |
| Manitoba | Court of King's Bench of Manitoba — Small Claims | $20,000 | $75 |
| Saskatchewan | Provincial Court of Saskatchewan — Small Claims | $50,000 | $100 |
| New Brunswick | Small Claims Court of New Brunswick | $20,000 | $50 |
| Prince Edward Island | Small Claims Section — Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island | $16,000 | $50 |
British Columbia is a special case: whether its online tribunal can hear flight claims at all is before the BC Court of Appeal, so BC escalation currently means the CTA. Québec’s Small Claims Division (up to $15,000) actually bars lawyers from representing parties — friendly territory for self-reps — and its clerk serves the defendant for you.
What filing actually involves
- The province’s claim form (several courts’ forms are free fillable PDFs), with a numbered schedule of facts attached.
- The defendant’s exact legal name and registered-office address — from the corporate registry, not the brand name.
- Service per your province’s rules (some allow registered mail; Nova Scotia demands personal service; Manitoba requires a named director on the envelope).
- Then a response window, usually a settlement conference — where most airline claims end — and only rarely a hearing.
The Delayed.ca kit generates the whole package for eight provinces — schedule of facts, field-by-field form guide, verified defendant addresses, service steps — and for Ontario and Newfoundland it fills the court’s own form for you.
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