What You Need to Know Before Flying Flair, The New Budget-Friendly Airline

You have probably heard from friend of a friend that Flair is the cheapest airline on the Canadian market. I am sure you are all curious about this new ultra-cheap Canadian airline because I sure was! I am a person who is ready to try new brands and share my personal experiences — the good and the bad. Before you book your flight here is everything you need to know.

About Flair

Flair offers a list of travel locations within Canada and the United States. Click here to check out their destintation list. They also offer car rentals and hotel bookings through their website. This allows you to book your flight, sleeping arrangements and your car rental all on Flair. I haven’t booked a hotel stay and a car rental on Flair yet but I am curious to know how the service is.

Online Booking

We booked on the Flair website and found it easier this way as we are booking for a total of 5 people. Purchasing on the Flair website was not the smoothest experience in comparison to other websites. When browsing around for flights, we found that the cost was the same on Flair’s website compared to other websites offering Flair flights; this may vary to everyone’s research. Booking for August 29th 2021, the Flair round trip to Halifax (nonstop) costed $176 CDN before the add-on fees. After adding a carry on bag (both ways), and choosing my seat (one way) to Halifax, it all costed $316.15 CDN. We used websites such as Flighthub to compare flights to Halifax from other airlines and the next cheapest flight would have costed $700 CDN, saving me a significant amount of money. I personally love saving money when I can and I’ve never experienced a low flight cost like this!

Before you book for your family or friends’ make sure to jot down all their info prior (full name, date of birth, yes or no to baggage, what type of baggage their bringing and their seating preference). We say gather all the information before because the Flair website has a very short timeout period. I had to restart this process from the beginning four times. Flying to Halifax we only had the choice of one flight time for the day. Although I am sure there are more flight times for other destinations with Flair. Flair Airline is well priced, but there are extra fees you need to account for.

Changes/Refund/Cancellation Policy: It’s important to read on the changes, refund and cancellation policy on any given airline. Click here to read their policy. Note that refunds are not given after 24 hours from booking and any route or date changes will cost you $125 change fee. If your flight is cancelled or alternate flight arrangement is made by the carrier, you will be given full refund or a change in flight. Click here to read more about cancellations.

Bringing baggage on your flight: This is an extra fee on top of your flight rate. The prices vary depending on the type of baggage you are bringing. I decided on keeping it light by bringing a free personal bag (fits under the seat in front of you) and purchasing a carry on (a small bag you store into the overhead cabinet). Each of the baggage has a size and weight limit so please read carefully before deciding on which baggage to purchase. Click here to find the baggage types because checked bag will cost you anywhere from $39-$59 and a second checked bag for $59-$79. When purchasing baggage space, you have to do it for both the trip there and back, meaning the fee is charged twice. The baggage fee is not exactly cheap but it may encourage you to pack less and travel light. The Flair website is arranged in “tabs” which is different than most airline websites. When you book your flight, your baggage options page will have 2 tabs to fill out. The first tab is the flight to your destination and the second tab is the flight back from your destination. When purchasing your baggage space make sure to fill out both tabs or you will only have baggage space for the flight there and not back.

Seating on Flair Airlines: Choosing your seats is also an extra fee on top of your flight rate. If you decide that you don’t care where you sit then this will be free of charge, in which Flair will decide where you sit. Depending on your seating requests some are more expensive than others. Click here and scroll all the way down for seating prices. My friend Britney requested a seat with extra legroom, which provided her more leg room but at an extra cost. Like with your baggage, when choosing your seats you will have to pay twice, paying to choose your seats to and from your destination. What my party did was we paid to choose our seats to Halifax and used the free option of allowing Flair Airlines to randomly pick our seats flying back to Ottawa. We thought it was nice to sit together flying to Halifax and saved money on flying back to Ottawa. Remember when choosing your seats make sure to fill out both tabs on the website.

Checking in at The Ottawa International Airport (YOW)

We Arrived at the (YOW) Ottawa International Airport at 05:00am — 2 hours before our 7 am from Ottawa (YOW) to Halifax (YHZ). Take note that Flair check-in counters open 3 hours before departure and close 45 mins before departure. A flight from Ottawa to Halifax is roughly a 1 hour and 30 mins to 2 hours, nonstop flight. Checking in with Flair is all done digitally which means you will receive an email to check in on your mobile device or laptop a day prior. Only one of the members of your party need check in for everyone in the group which makes this a great perk! If you checked in online, you would not need to check in at the Flair front desk and can head straight to security. For baggage check in, you must head to the Flair front desk. They will weigh your checked bags so make sure to keep it under the weight limit. This is very important, make sure to bring a valid government issued I.D and is not expired. You will be asked for it when boarding Flair. During the onboarding flight process, customer service was friendly, efficient and organized — no complaints.

Flying With Flair

We arrived 1 hour before the flight and it’s mandatory to wear a mask when your waiting in the airport and during the entire flight. The Flair terminal is located in the middle to the end of the terminal, it was a slight trek. When boarding Flair they ask for a valid government issued I.D and your digital or printed boarding ticket. Our 7 am flight to Halifax had a 30 minute delay and a 1 hour delay coming back to Ottawa. I’ve heard numerous stories of long delays and cancellations by the carrier which I was very grateful not to experience. Remember with all airlines, delays and cancellations do happen so please read the fine print of their policies before purchasing your tickets. Here is my personal experience onboarding and flying with Flair below.

Customer Service: The staff I encountered were very friendly and inviting when onboarding the flight. Lot’s of warm eyes and hand gestures to guide you to your seat which I appreciated. Adequate staffing in the aisle to help you with seating and putting away your bags. We onboarded a smaller airplane, probably do to our destination to Halifax. Since it was a smaller airplane there was less seats but the bag cabinet was of regular size. Before sharing the safety guidelines the staff went around to notify everyone and I got told to remove one of my earbuds for when they were explaining. I appreciated that the staff was attentive and trying their best to have us all listen. I saw patrons ask for requests and a staff even walked them to the bathroom. Overall they provided great customer service, no complaints.

Comfort/Seating: Keep this in mind I did fly in a smaller airplane and my personal experience can differ to someone who flew in a larger Fair airplane. I found that the Flair’s small airplane is a standard size to other airlines. My fiancé and I purchased regular seats. The airplane seats were filled, no seat skipping or empty seats in any sections that I am aware of. Since I was flying in a smaller Airplane, the seat chairs can recline slightly and were smaller in size giving less space to my neighbour. Thankfully the seats were comfortable for our shoulders and arms. The leg room space between each chair were standard but when comparing it to larger airplanes its small. You are limited in the space to stretch out your legs. I was very lucky that the person in front of me did not recline their seat so my legs and knees got full capacity of comfort. If you are a person who needs much more space in a seat I personally may not recommend sitting in regular seats. Purchase the section with extra leg room as my friend Britney did and she enjoyed it a lot more. With the extra leg room seats, you might be in a row with no one in front of you, leaving you with extra room and less annoyance. The picture above shows my fiancé who is 280lbs sitting in the regular seat, as you can tell it’s snug but he stated he is comfortable. My fiancé did not mind the space and he slept the whole way through, which makes his ride much more enjoyable.

Food/Entertainment: We did not receive any beverages, snacks or meals on our 2 hour flight to Halifax. For Flair flights, I read that they do not offer food or beverages and they encourage you to bring your own. I recommend bringing a bottle of water and snacks on your flight. Unfortunately you do need to spend money in the store or vending machines in order bring beverages on the flight because during security clearance you cannot bring any liquids. Since we flew in a small airplane and in my experience smaller airplanes lacked entertainment console and wifi. There were no entertainment console available on my flight to Halifax. I also did not have wifi on the flight. Despite my experience, I am unsure if longer flights and larger Flair airplanes offer entertainment and wifi. Regardless, with all my flights I made sure I had Netflix shows pre-downloaded, music and mobile games that didn’t require data on my flight to keep me entertained. The seats had pull out trays which was great for when I edited any photos or videos on my laptop, Ipad or mobile device. Despite the lack of food and entertainment provided by Flair, I was content with my flight and I kept myself entertained. If you enjoy sleeping on your flight, then entertainment is not a deal breaker because my fiancé slept the whole way through!

Is Flair Airlines great for everyone?

Flair Airlines is great for any individual that does not care for flying in luxury. I personally think students, couples, families and avid travellers would be content flying with Flair. I would recommend families to fly with Flair because of the low fare. Flying with a family is very expensive so finding a low cost airline like Flair is a great option. I always recommend some sort of entertainment for your kids prior to the flight. For an older adult or any individual I would ask for what their priorities are and this way you can find an airline that can accommodate. Personally, I would have my mom and grandpa fly with Flair airlines but I do think they would need assistance on booking online with Flair because of the website structure.

Overall Flair Experience

To keep this blog short, yes I would fly with Flair again. I had a positive experience with some minor cons. The significant savings for my trip to Halifax was worth the extra fees of purchasing a carry on bag, choosing my seat, no entertainment console and no complimentary food and beverages. I would recommend Flair to students, couples, avid travellers and some families and older adults etc! I hope you find my personal review helpful and I am always happy to answer any questions or comments about your experience with Flair down below. Happy traveling on a budget!