Anyone every flown on Flair Airlines?

[schiff1997]

If you have can I get your honest opinion please 

[acshelco]

I flew from Toronto to Saskatoon. It's a budget airline where they will charge you for any bags other than a personal bag which is smaller than a regular carryon. Other than that flight was great. Departed and arrived on time no food offered. I would use it again if I didn't have a lot of luggage.

[ctlyf]

I flew it a couple of times a few years ago, between Edmonton and Kelowna (I think it was called New Leaf at the time). Aside from charges for carryon being higher than checked bag (if paid in advance), my experience was it was just as good as WJ or AC. The one flight coming back to Edm was delayed a couple of hours, after we boarded, but nothing serious. As noted, this was a few years ago, so not sure if current experience would be similar. For me, it was worth it to take a budget flight between provinces.

[iancal]

Yes.  My spouse had to go to Toronto on short notice (from Calgary) pre covid.   Westjet and AC fares were an incredible $475 ish each.   My son has also done the same trip.  No issues.  

 

 Flair was $225...this included her one checked bag.

 

I asked her about it.  Her response....it was no different than the AC or the Westjet seat.  Bottom line is that this is a bus type route if you are travelling economy.  We have both it often, too often, on the other two airlines.

 

The Flair flight departed and arrived on time.   It was late summer.   My only concern would be wintertime.  They do not have a large fleet if a there is an equipment issue.

[schiff1997]

Thanks for the honest reviews, they have direct flights for a cheap price from Ottawa to Lauderdale non stop, which is hard to find and I had never heard of them 

 

 

 

[Fouremco]

10 minutes ago, schiff1997 said:

Thanks for the honest reviews, they have direct flights for a cheap price from Ottawa to Lauderdale non stop, which is hard to find and I had never heard of them 

 

 

 

Nor had I until you started this thread. I checked for a return flight to FLL but couldn't find anything for the dates I wanted.

 

 

[Josie201]

I like the new competition and love the idea of a direct flight to FLL. However, I believe they have a small fleet so for their twice per week route YOW to FLL I’d be nervous about delays.  (Mechanical, staff,  and weather). 

Edited October 22, 2021 by Josie201

[schiff1997]

12 hours ago, Fouremco said:

Nor had I until you started this thread. I checked for a return flight to FLL but couldn't find anything for the dates I wanted.

 

 

the prices are good even if you need to check a bag, its really hard to get direct flights from Ottawa these days!

[Fouremco]

45 minutes ago, schiff1997 said:

the prices are good even if you need to check a bag, its really hard to get direct flights from Ottawa these days!

My problem is that because of the lack of daily service, I'd have to spend extra nights in a hotel in Fort Lauderdale coming and going. Not only would that bring the price much closer to that of a regular airline, but it would also mean spending time in a city that I want to avoid as much as possible during the pandemic.

 

 

[iancal]

23 hours ago, Fouremco said:

My problem is that because of the lack of daily service, I'd have to spend extra nights in a hotel in Fort Lauderdale coming and going. Not only would that bring the price much closer to that of a regular airline, but it would also mean spending time in a city that I want to avoid as much as possible during the pandemic.

 

 

When we fly to FLL we check schedules, pricing, etc on two one ways as well as a return on the same airline.  We look at MIA, FLL, and PBI (if we have a car for pre/post).  In the past we often found that two one ways were better...either because of price, schedule, or both.

[Fouremco]

13 minutes ago, iancal said:

When we fly to FLL we check schedules, pricing, etc on two one ways as well as a return on the same airline.  We look at MIA, FLL, and PBI (if we have a car for pre/post).  In the past we often found that two one ways were better...either because of price, schedule, or both.

That's pretty much our routine as well now, although I've never looked at PBI in the past. That wasn't always the case, but in recent years, service for Ottawa has really deteriorated. 

 

[iancal]

1 hour ago, Fouremco said:

That's pretty much our routine as well now, although I've never looked at PBI in the past. That wasn't always the case, but in recent years, service for Ottawa has really deteriorated. 

 

We live in Calgary.  Usually takes a day and 2 flights to get to FLL.  Sometimes much easier to fly direct to Cuba, Mexico, CR, or DR and do an AI and/or independent travel. 

 

[DirtyDawg]

1 hour ago, Fouremco said:

That's pretty much our routine as well now, although I've never looked at PBI in the past. That wasn't always the case, but in recent years, service for Ottawa has really deteriorated. 

 

I guess the folks who run air service out of Ottawa are the same ones who run the O Train. 😇

[kwcruise]

On 10/21/2021 at 1:32 PM, schiff1997 said:

If you have can I get your honest opinion please 

I have flown on Flair in Canada, but recently read a news report about flights back into Canada with Flair. Looks like there have been some issues... Heres the link: https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2021/10/20/flair-sold-seats-for-florida-flights-it-couldnt-guarantee.html

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, DirtyDawg said:

I guess the folks who run air service out of Ottawa are the same ones who run the O Train. 😇

Ouch! But if you are thinking about our beloved LRT, you are wrong. If it was the same folks, all the planes would be grounded indefinitely! 

[LeDemonBlond]

I have not flown personally but have friends and family that have. Price very good, reliability and assistance when things go wrong not so good. I would check to see what the history has been with that Flair flight over a period of time. When you absolutely positively have to get there on time, I would look elsewhere. 

[ken_ll]

Have not flown Flair, nor will.  Reliability is not in the Flair vocabulary.

 

 Booked DW on Flair to Kelowna back in September for a return flight 2 weeks hence.  Checked bag was more expensive than the flight.  About 3 days later, her flights dropped from their schedule, no notice from Flair.  Seeking a refund, I emailed, no response; phoned and calls dropped after 40 minutes; went to Ottawa airport, staff there said you have to deal with Edmonton, email or phone.  Worse than dealing with a call centre in India.

 

Initiated chargeback with Amex and within 5 minutes, Flair responded that refund being processed and then my other emails were responded to.

 

Flair prices are cheap, there is no flexibility in their system, no service and if you have to be somewhere where you are not flexible, seek other transportation. Read reviews on Tripadvisor.

[WeExplore]

My one and only experience with Flair was horrific.  They cancelled the flight the day before citing mechanical issues.  They provided me wth a phone number to call to rebook.  Since they only offered flights twice a week to my destination and I could not delay my trip until the next available flight I had to book a very expensive flight last minute with another airline.  I then had to call the number provided to advise them that I wanted a refund.  It took days to get through to an agent.  When I finally did get to talk to an agent I asked when the next flight was that had an available seat.  2 weeks!  I will never fly Flair again unless I have lots of flexibility in my travel plans and a free place to stay if my flight is cancelled.  

[schiff1997]

Definitely some nightmares, all good Celebrity came through with unbelievable fare with AC glad I didn’t decide to go with Flare .  Thanks everyone 

[BatchawanaBabe]

On 10/23/2021 at 10:37 AM, iancal said:

When we fly to FLL we check schedules, pricing, etc on two one ways as well as a return on the same airline.  We look at MIA, FLL, and PBI (if we have a car for pre/post).  In the past we often found that two one ways were better...either because of price, schedule, or both.

We also check MIA, FLL and PBI.  However, you don't necessarily need a car because TriRail train service can take you between all the airports and cities in between for less than $10 and Bright Line (new train service) is supposed to be operational soon. TriRail has free bus transfers to/from both FLL and PBI and the train stations and their trains go directly into MIA which is very convenient. We often use TriRail instead of driving because I95 often has traffic delays due to accidents.  In fact, it's known as the deadliest highway in Florida. The Turnpike also has frequent traffic snarls. Also, since we have a condo in southern Florida, parking our vehicle at the port can get very expensive.

[GeriatricNurse]

On 10/21/2021 at 9:28 PM, Fouremco said:

Nor had I until you started this thread. I checked for a return flight to FLL but couldn't find anything for the dates I wanted.

 

 

YYZ - FLL, return with Flair would work for me.  The prices are super low, but with ONLY 12 planes in their fleet, I wouldn't want to risk booking with them!

[Princess Fi]

We have flown Swoop direct Toronto to Abbotsford and no issues. We have a 10 night Celebrity Pacific Coastal in May. We booked AC direct to San Diego with Flights by Celebrity. We booked Flair Abbotsford to Toronto as we will stay with our son and fiancé for few days. Amazing price as get got flights, Flex changes, carry on and checked bags for two for under $300. If we are delayed we will stay with our son.

[Downdie]

I may be the earliest flyer on Flair on this forum. Flew on a Flair Air ( based out of Kelowna BC) 737-400 from Ottawa to Santo Domingo DR as a replacement flight for a Zoom Airlines (bankrupted earlier) flight, to join a 7 day all- inclusive Caribbean cruise on Pullmantur’s Pacific Dream (Horizon) in February 2010. Both flights and cruise were excellent for a bargain price under C$1000.

[Froufie]

On 10/21/2021 at 9:15 PM, schiff1997 said:

Thanks for the honest reviews, they have direct flights for a cheap price from Ottawa to Lauderdale non stop, which is hard to find and I had never heard of them 

 

 

 

I too saw this and was a bit leery?  Especially flying to the cruise port in the winter - I might chance it for a return flight - but decided I wanted to use an airline that had more flights/planes in case anything when wrong !