How Bad Are Canada’s WORST RATED AIRLINE? 

I love the juxtaposition of flying an ultra low-cost carrier and then staying at the Fairmont 😂

Many years ago I was in one of the Vancouver harbour hotels and was watching a seaplane depart. He sped up and then started to wobble side to side. Then dipped a wingtip and cartwheeled - AND ENDED UP UPRIGHT (very rare). I saluted him as he cleaned out his shorts and idled back to his mooring. I'll never forget that. Also saw a motor-yacht with a helicopter on board. Thanks for sharing Noel.

In website view: It's really the worst ultra low cost airline ever! In reality: It doesn't look too bad to me!

Flair is fine if you expect ULCC service/additional fees. With the lack of ULCC in Canada, I think the reviewers are often comparing them to WestJet/Air Canada, so it's not a fair comparison. One of the most common complaints that I've seen about Flair is their frequent cancellations with alternative flights being scheduled days later.

I have no experience with Flair, but my experience with low-cost carriers is that they're usually fine as long as everything goes to plan. It's when delays happen and you need to reschedule on the fly, when luggage gets lost etc that you realize that you get what you pay for which is basically a bus service.

I have flown flair several times and have nil complaints. Great crew, clean cabin, and we arrived alive! We were delayed once at boarding due to a maintenance issue with the aircraft but Flair resolved the issue and utilized a new aircraft within an hr so water under the bridge. I have experienced much more unpleasant flights with Air Canada.

At the time of this filming, Flair Airlines was not the only ULCC airline in Canada. Swoop was also in business (and you captured one of their planes at 4:54). As of today, Lynx is also operating. By and large, the reviews (to-date) of all 3 are highly critical. It appears that on this trip, with the exception of a surprise "no food catering" announcement after take-off, all went well, including the arrival of your bag at the destination, YVR. Canada definitely needs more airline competition. Fingers crossed these ULCC's make a successful go of it.

It's the same as all ULCC's like Ryanair, Easyjet, Spirit, British Airways Eurotraveler. As long as nothing goes pear shaped it's fine. Yes they should have told you at check in there was no buy on board, that's really not good.

Just would like to point out that Toronto is not “one end of the country” . It is more in the centre. The east end of the country is probably St. John’s Newfoundland.

I guess it's good Canada has an ULCC considering the cost of the regular carriers up there, although I wonder how long they can get away with the "ruse" of no BOB due to "Covid".

Thank you so much for this Noel. I work at Phx Mesa-Gateway Airport and Flair is going to be flying in and out soon. I've been wondering about them since they announced the new routes. Wonderful review as always

Flying to Morocco next week so I’m binging your videos again in my attempt to keep the fear of flying away. Your videos are therapeutic.

I take web reviews with a grain of salt. They're usually heavily skewed toward the negative as "usually" the only people who take time to write a review are those with an axe to grind. If all goes as planned and the trip is uneventful then most people just go on with their days.

As is always the case with nearly all bad reviews, cheap people paying very low prices, and not understanding (not reading) what they purchase

Welcome to Vancouver! Be sure to take a Harbor Air seaplane flight to Victoria. If you ask, you can usually sit in the co pilot seat in the cockpit.

ALWAYS bring packaged food with you on ANY flight! You never know what might happen. Long haul, short haul, doesn't matter. I always bring something along that's proportional in quantity to the estimated duration of the flight.

I was visiting Vancouver a few weeks back! I don't know if it's just me but, it seems like a lot of Canadians don't fly within Canada for travel, mostly just for business maybe. Flights within Canada are usually very expensive, so it's nice to know that Flair is a low cost option.

Never take opinion pieces from Trip Advisor seriously. They are usually written by self-righteous elitists who think that the Airline should always cater to them. I've flown many times on Flair and its been a relatively pleasant experience on most of their flights. At the end of the day, you're only paying for a seat to get to your destination. I would recommend Flair or Swoop especially to those who are on a budget, or don't want to pay for the unnecessary extras.

I never personally took Flair, but my friend did to go from YUL to YYZ, which is normally a 1 hour flight. Not only was the plane delayed by almost 8 hours due to non-weather issues (apparently there were some mechanical problems with the airplane, and once that was fixed part of the crew was MIA) but, once they landed, they waited another good hour on the runway because they couldn't get the door to open. As a compensation, they were all offered during the flight a "meal" of a granola bar and a bottle of water. Considering a full-service carrier on this route would have costed about 50$ more, I really question wether or not this experience was worth it.

I've stayed at the Fairmont YVR and you can get an excellent view of the north runways. The room even had a telescope for spotting.

Great review Noel. However, I’m sick of airlines using covid as an excuse to provide poor customer service or poor customer experience with shit like no food and beverage service when in reality, it’s a way for them to cut costs. Most airlines however are now back to giving snacks, meals and beverages or selling them so this makes no sense other than a way for them to be cheap.

Amazing view from the hotel

I found Flair to be almost identical to Swoop and AC Rouge. Which in turn are the same thing as WestJet and Air Canada itself. Its always a tiny seat in a crowded plane

Flair left me stranded across the country and though they promised to comp my expenses it’s been four years and I’ve received nothing. Canada’s weak enforcement means these criminals will continue to rip off and abuse customers with impunity.

9 months ago Air Canada didn’t give snacks either, but now they are all giving them. West jet even give snacks and water on their flights from Kamloops to Calgary 1 hour 10 min flightb

They’re cheap, and you get what you paid for, I personally fly WestJet for more reliable on time flights, also Flair has very few planes so when one plane goes late, it’s messes up the whole network, it’s getting better now vs over summer when they took on a ton of new routes. Great video!!

I flew with them a few months ago and it was quite good. The MAX I flew on did not have reclining seats, but they were leather as opposed to cloth. In my case they did make it quite clear that nothing would be available for purchase.

It's too costly to fly in Canada. I look for the best deals. Great video Noel!

Every time I think of the route Toronto- Vancouver flying on a CPAir DC-8 comes to mind.

This airline would infuriate me, I completely understand when things go wrong it’s when they don’t tell you that there’s a problem until it’s already happened that drives me nuts, whether it’s being delayed but I’m not actually ever telling you why or in your case not telling you that there is even water on the plane. It’s the things like that that make me really angry at airlines just a sheer lack of communication.

Great review as always! Hope you'll be taking harbour air over to Victoria in next weeks video!

To be fair, Flair's service itself is reasonably good, particularly for a ULCC. It's the delays and operational issues that are the real problem -- half-day delays are not uncommon, and a cancelled flight means you are rebooked on the next available Flair flight, but with the frequencies Flair has on many non-trunk point-to-point routes, that may mean the next available flight is several days in the future! That's where most of the complaining comes from -- if your flight on Monday afternoon cancels, AC or Westjet will put you on the Monday evening flight, but Flair might tell you "we've booked you on Friday afternoon, that's OK right?".

It gets its reputation based on 1 star reviews from single time complaints. Your flight might garner 5 to 10 four and five star reviews, whereas a canceled flight will instantly generate 40 to 50 one star reviews and that is before any other off hand complaints like re-booking issues. I ALWAYS review the first ten 5 star reviews and the first 50 or so one star reviews on anything that is new to me. At least half of the 5 star reviews are just the product or company doing their jobs and at least 75% of the 1 star reviews could be cut-and-paste nonsense of those thinking they are "special"...

gee it was extremely windy and rainy yesterday here...in Vancouver...lol....apparently not in your video!

Great work Mr Philips ^_^ would love to hear about your favorite airports, airplanes, lounges and the lot keep up the great content

I really like how you showed the taxi out. That’s shows part of the air port a lot of people don’t get to see. Unless you’re a frequent flyer. Thanks

Hi Noel, I’d love to know how you kept your channel going thru Covid, I think you’ve done remarkably well! My favourite was the boat to Scandinavia when you hit the mini bar, RU-vid gold!

Agree. It’s a seat you mostly want at a reasonable price and if that’s efficiently provided what more do you need

Having flown Swoop (the other ULCC in Canada) and Flair many times, I find if you get what you pay for: a basic flight experience with no frills, which is fine for many people flying (including myself). If you expect a premium airline, you will be disappointed. But you shouldn't be expecting that

Thanks for the review Noel. Everything is relative. I have paid the same amount for a full economy fare for the same route on AIr Canada and West Jet. That is where the complaints come from.

We did the float plant trip from VAN -> VAN Island a few years ago now. It was a very surreal flight, watching our luggage getting packed into one of the waterskis! The flight itself, if a bit loud was a superb way to island hop for us.

Flair is not the first low cost carrier. Can't forget about swoop, zoom, and Air Canada Rouge.

First

When we’re you here? It’s not sunny now, just pouring rain. Welcome! We live near where you are and watching the seaplanes from the seawall is always fun!

sunday morning are my favorite time eat breakfast and watch you videos.

I find that even in flight mode, the GPS will still work, so on low cost airlines, you can still see where you are if you have the phone by the window (takes about 30 seconds fo the phone to triangulate).

As with all ultra low-cost carriers are perfectly fine when things are going right. try when they're having weather delays or something else is going on and you'll see how horrible they really are

I wonder how comfortable he would have been if the centre seat was occupied?

If you are still in Vancouver go eat at the Flying Beaver sea plane dock. Good food and great views.

13.58 Eyes right, Noel, Eyes Right!! Great stuff as always!!!

Nice, I loved this whole tour of Canada that you've done

So great to see you in Canada! Love your content.

vancouver is a lovely part of canada ,loved it when I was there in 2018 and will be going there again hopefully in june 2022 bar no problems with covid.,good video but you said you break down the prices of your leg room,baggage?

Noel you may know this trick but if you open google maps on your phone, and then go to the layers tab and go to the "default" map and hold your phone up to the window it will eventually load and show you where your at on the map

Seeing the cabin empty is cool and bring the First one Boarding is a cool feeling

Oh you flew on C-FLKC! I flew on that bird a few weeks before ya! Awesome video, love how you're giving Canadian Aviation some love!!

Haha I want to be the Noel Philips of Kenya. I have been reviewing local airlines in Kenya this year. I am remaining with just a few of them to go

Awseome value that. You can never please everyone. Thanks for the vlog ❤️✌️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Welcome to Vancouver! Hope you're enjoying it!

Flair's issue is no customer service, ZERO if something goes wrong. You end up in a call center in the middle of nowhere that has NO clue what is wrong/when it will be fixed. They will even forget to e-mail you when your flight changes because they couldn't fill the plane enough to be profitable.

The main gripes from people are the cancellations from Flair. Though the second largest passenger airline in Canada - westjet, has been cancelling tons of flights last minute in the last 3 years. I think it comes down to cheap people who pay less than $300 round trip relying on an ULCC, then getting upset when they get the ULCC treatment. Want someone waiting on you hand and foot, book with AC or WJ

First and only time I few with Flare was August of 2019 flying out of Edmonton to Vancouver the flight was delayed 8 hours with no notification.

Great vid 👍🏼

You lucked out. Booked my in-laws on a Ottawa to Abbotsford back to Ottawa in August 2021 and both legs were cancelled only after arriving at the airport. Trying to contact anyone at Flair has been a headache and when they do respond they claim they are not at fault and refuse to refund and compensate, even with the passenger bill of rights in effect. Horrific service!

Would be fun to see a followup review of Flair down the road, see how they've done since.

Really enjoying your videos. While in Canada I really hope you were able to get up to Yellowknife and fly on the only commercial DC-3 still in passenger service. It flies Yellowknife to Hay River. Buffalo Airways - and you should check out their other aircraft, C-47s and Electra mostly for cargo.

One of the things that stands out to me the most in videos of the MAX is how the engines sound like they're exerting way less effort than the 800s. I haven't flown one yet, but fingers crossed that I can next year

I've flown Flair many times and the only complaint was flight delays. I've had more flight delays with Air Canada and West Jet.

7:04 That's still more of a tray table then you get on Spirit or Frontier 🤣

People seem to expect the same service that you’d get from a full service airline, just for a cheaper price when flying low cost. I remember being crew for a low cost carrier back in the mid 00s and every expected blankets, IFE, free food and everything BA would give you, for the price of a low cost ticket.

Flair has put in A LOT of work to recover from their formerly well deserves awful reputation. They were notorious for canceling flights left and right, but since purchasing a large MAX 8 fleet and branching out their service, they've improved leaps and bounds

Hope you get a chance to fly Harbour Air and/or some of the other float plane airlines while in Vancouver. Add a Beaver, Otter, or Twin Otter to your resume. :)

If Flair gets you to where you need to go - which they do some of the time - congratulations, you got insanely cheap airfare. If not, which is also very common, expect no support from customer service, no compensation, no communication, and no reimbursement when you inevitably have to book on another carrier (as they tend to reschedule you for at least 3 days out without offering any hotel).

I don't know, I've found roundtrip east to west coast flights on major US airlines for as low as $300. It all depends on when and where you fly out of and if the sun, moon, and stars are all aligned when you happen to be looking at fares.

North Americans are spoiled, that's all. They expect Flair to have amenities like a prestige airline. Comfortable seats, decent leg room, clean aircraft, friendly crew. What's wrong with that? Bring your own lunch and a good book.

Vancouver is amazing!! It's so Beautiful there, I miss it!!

Sunday afternoon - another Noel adventure! Thanks as always

2:58 believe it or not, C-FLKC is currently leased to Bonza Airlines in Australia.

Well... they're not the only low cost airline in Canada per say. Westjet's Swoop airlines also brand themselves as a ULCC, and they're prices reflect that too.

I just flew lynx air round trip from halifax to toronto. and I'd like to say that lynx was great, great service and ultra low cost

lol Flair - I hope you're coming back via WestJet for the complete opposite experience.

great video noel i love the livery

Really love visiting Vancouver. Been a few years and don't know what happened to some old friends that used to live there and visit but I'd love to go back and well as Toronto which I visited frequently for 20 years

0:52 Swoop: exists

Traveled with them and had no issues. Air Canada changed my flight to one the next day 6 hours prior to takeoff when we were flying to Ottawa for a hockey game the same night. We lost all the money we paid for the hotel and the NHL tickets as there was no other flight, at any cost that could get us there in time. And they didn't even want to refund the flight but instead offer a voucher. I explained that we would not be taking that deal and eventually was able to secure a flight refund, but we lost out on About $550 in hotel and NHL ticket costs. Very much not impressed by "Canada's largest carrier". Nothing but good things to say for my flight with Flair though. I imagine if I had checked bags and large carry on stuff with the extra costs, perhaps it wouldn't have been worth while, but for a 2 day trip I was able to pack light enough that I could fit everything into a no charge backpack that fit under the seat. No screens like the AC versions of the Max 8, but honestly for a 2 hour tour it's easy enough to have plenty of content downloaded onto a phone or tablet. Leg room is "snug" for anyone over 6' but entirely tolerable. Might be less than stellar for 3+ hour flights but under that was fine. I suspect the bad reviews are for people that expected the same experience on a $100 flight that they do on a $400 flight. If you go in with the understanding that Flair is the greyhound of the sky, and is priced accordingly, you'll have a fine time.

Looking hood in the hoodie bruv love it and your stuff

They are not the only one , swoop is ultra low cost too , owned by westjet

Flair is not the only ULCC in Canada, there is also Swoop. Impressive seats tho, I was not expecting the seats to be reclines. I think this aircraft was white tailed since other Flair MAX aircraft have non reclining non-fabric seats.

Great video, customers need to remember this is a budget airline “you get what you pay for”. You’re not going to get free beverages or charging ports and the Tripadvisor complaints about cancelled or delayed flights, lol, and Westjet or Aircanada don’t do the same lmfao. And yes they are going to weigh and check size of your carryon cause they need to follow the rules, no sneaking on oversize carryon like the other airlines cause that’s worked into the price of the ticket. Bottom line is Flair is menu offering of services, if all you need is transportation from point a to b with no other expectations then it’s a great option in Canada. Does anyone really pay any attention to all the trolls on TripAdvisor anymore?

Next time you're in Canada, it would be cool to fly Flair at the lowest cost. I've had a condition last year where I flew it for only $20, now days, the cheapest routes are Toronto to Saskatoon, Toronto to Halifax, and Vancouver to Kelowna

As someone noted….it’s when things go wrong that makes an airline and Flair fails. I have a friend who’s flight was cancelled and was rebooked 4 DAYS later! Not 4 hours but days. That’s why they get 2 stars. No one comments when a low cost airline gets them to their destination but they do when things go wrong and their airline vanishes!

Not the only ULCC. Swoop is there too, and Lynx and Jetlines are launching soon .

For a hotel where layover is the only concern, the Vancouver Airport Fairmont is strongly recommended. Have stayed there many times. Excellent service and amenities.

I love Boeing and the Flair growth trajectory is interesting. I will check if they are a public company.

Noel, it seems you have a 'Flair' for ultra low cost travel (like the pun?) ... but most Canadians don't ... because as you stated, this is their first low cost airline. So while you (and a lot of the world) are already used to the low cost flying experience ... they aren't. Still, its amazing how the industry has changed. It used to be that I'd choose SouthWest in the US only if I had to .. they were the 'low frills, low cost' airline. They haven't changed, but compared to a lot of the legacy US carriers, the SouthWest experience today is 'first class' compared to the legacy carriers economy!

Besides sometimes being really late, I’ve had good experiences with both Swoop and Flair

Always nice reviews. People buy a cheap ticket and expect 5* service. It's cheap for a reason. Less staff, tighter seats, remote gates etc.

I have still to see any news of mass COVID outbreaks linked to airline in-flight service.

A lot like Spirit which I have flown a lot in the US out of Fort Lauderdale to South America (Peru Colombia) for less than $200. No frills everything extra great value if you are not too fussy.

Ah yes, Canada's Flair Airlines and their motto: "Flair: because we are still fixing the Hindenburg"