Flair Airlines: the champion of complaints leaves Montreal and Ottawa

After the Montreal airport last month, Flair Airlines is now leaving the Ottawa airport. Champion of complaints for 18 months, the very low-cost air carrier is in financial difficulties and is withdrawing to the West.

• Also read: Sheltered from its creditors, Lynx Air ends its operations

“Flair’s slide is not over, its financial problems will get worse,” predicts John Gradek, an air transport specialist.

For three years, the Edmonton carrier had offered low-cost flights to Quebec. Last month, Flair announced that his flight to Montreal-Trudeau, on April 23, would be his last “for the moment.”

The carrier cited high airport improvement fees as well as low demand in Montreal to justify reallocation of its aircraft “where Canadians need them most.”

The same reasons would be behind his departure from Ottawa last week. There was insufficient demand to cover the costs.

“They will settle for Toronto and Western Canada. We’ll see if they survive the winter,” notes John Gradek. Flair will almost double its number of flights between Vancouver and Toronto, for example.

The company did not want to say yesterday if its departure from Quebec is irreversible. “We will continue to evaluate opportunities,” the company said.

Complaint Champion

Flair Airlines is the carrier that customers complain about the most in Canada. Its average is 15.8 complaints per 100 flights for the 15 months from July 2023 to September 2024, indicates the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA).

Number of complaints per 100 flights
For Canadian airlines, from July 2023 to September 2024

15,8 – Flair
11,5 – Sunwing
5,5 – WestJet
5,2 – Air Canada
3,4 – Air Transat
2,9 – Air Liaison
1,4 – Porter
_{Source: Canadian Transportation Agency}

“It’s better not to take Flair if your flight is on Sunday and you have to return to the office on Monday,” illustrates Carl Chapdelaine, from Trois-Rivières, a regular of the discount carrier.

His lifestyle – he is injured at work – allows him to worry about schedules less than others. On at least three occasions, he said, his flight with Flair took off more than six hours late, while at least two other times he left on Thursday instead of Tuesday.

“The benches don’t lean, the service is bad, but you don’t pay much,” summarizes the 46-year-old Quebecer.

Marie-Ève ​​Chabot, a worker in an organization in the Quebec region, found her experience less funny last August.

His flight from Toronto to Quebec was canceled at 10 p.m., the day before departure. Flair offered to refund his five tickets paid for $47 or let him board the next flight the next day.

“Coming back to Quebec by train or with another carrier was way too expensive,” says the woman who had to stay one more night in Toronto with her husband and their three children.

Flair refused to refund their $345 hotel night, as the weather was cited as the reason for the flight cancellation.

“The temperature was the same the next day, when we finally took off with 50 other passengers on the plane,” says the Quebecer.

See you next time!

After the sudden bankruptcy of Lynx Air last February, the departure of Flair sounds the death knell for Canadian ultra-low-cost carriers in Quebec.

“The big players don’t want them, they manage to undermine them. “Compete a lot with Flair by offering discounts on the same lines,” observes John Gradek.

Porter Airlines is rapidly expanding domestically, with the addition of numerous flights in the domestic market. Its number of devices increased from 2 to 40 in a short time.

The next ultra-low-cost carrier to try its luck in Quebec will be French Bee. Starting in July, the French company will offer five flights per week between Montreal and Paris starting at $430 per ticket.