Flair Airlines Passengers Angry, Confused, After Flight Delayed In Halifax
HALIFAX – Tina Rennie woke up at the Best Western in Truro Nova Scotia Friday morning with no idea how she would get to the Halifax Airport for her afternoon flight back home to Ottawa.
For reasons unknown, Flair Airlines bussed her to Truro for the night on Thursday after mechanical issues delayed her plane. According to Rennie, she, and other confused, frustrated passengers were stuck at the airport for up to 11 hours, before a Maritime Bus took her to the hotel in Truro. The distance between Truro and the airport is 75 kilometres.
At first, Rennie didn’t even want to get on the bus, because Flair didn’t even tell her how she would get back to the airport on Friday.
“It doesn’t make sense. There has to be one hotel room here in Halifax. Like, I could take the city bus here to the airport,” said Rennie.
“I said, I don’t even want to get on this bus, you’re not going to be able to get me back.”
Rennie claims a Flair representative, at one point suggested she pay for the long cab ride to the airport and get reimbursed later. An option that wouldn’t work for her.
“You want me to pay for a taxi from Truro to the Halifax Airport tomorrow morning? I said I can’t do that.”
A cab ride from Truro to the airport costs $80, according to one cab company.
She was also told that the same bus driver taking her to Truro would pick her up the next morning. But, according to Rennie, the bus driver knew nothing of these plans.
“No, he’s not, he’s standing here right now with me, he does not have this information,” recalled Rennie.
Huddle was talking to Rennie with her flight just a few hours away, and she still didn’t know how she would get from Truro to the Airport.
A Flair representative told her to take an uber and send in a receipt for reimbursement, only for Rennie to inform the representative, over text chat, that Uber isn’t available in Truro. She also told the Flair rep she doesn’t have money on hand to pay for an expensive ride out-of-pocket.
At one point during the conversation, a rep told Rennie to “please calm down,” even though he also said he understands her frustration.
Eventually, Flair asked the hotel to call Rennie a cab, which they agreed to do, and she eventually got on her flight later that day. The hotel is now supposed to be reimbursed by Flair for the cost of the cab.
“Please don’t call anymore,” was one of the last messages Rennie received from the Flair rep.
Rennie sent Huddle Today a series of screenshots of her conversations with Flair to back up her claims.
Delayed flight, confusion, and demands for compensation
Rennie was in Newfoundland for a week on vacation. She arrived on a WestJet flight in Halifax around 8 am. Earlier that morning, Flair had sent out an email, informing passengers of the delay to the 10:15 am flight to Ottawa.
When she got there, she was offered a refund so she could book with another airline. But that wasn’t an option, since her plane tick was so cheap, it wouldn’t come close to paying for another airline’s flight.
“I didn’t want to get a refund because, even if I got a refund for the whole flight, it was only $167. And word-about in the lineup was Air Canada was going for $800 to $1,000.”
Passengers who did rebook with other airlines did, indeed, face major expenses. Mark Albright flew his wife and daughter home to Ottawa on Air Canada, which cost him nearly $800 per each ticket.
“Of course, when you book last minute like that, the total cost of the two tickets was $1,550.”
“There are some (flights) more expensive than that, so we’re lucky we got that one.”
Albright’s 16-year-old daughter was playing in a soccer showcase tournament in Halifax with 17 other teammates. Many of them, plus parents and a coach, were also stranded when the flight was delayed.
According to Albright, one father was thinking of driving from Ottawa to Halifax to pick up her daughter, when they found out another plane may not be available until Saturday.
Albright said his family couldn’t wait until Saturday either for a new flight.
“That wasn’t an option for them, they had to get home; my wife works, and they’ve already been away a week,” he said.
Now Albright is wondering if Flair will compensate him for the $1,550. If not, he is hoping the insurance on his travel credit card will kick in. But he knows others may not have that insurance option.
WestJet Employees Help Out
According to Rennie, a Flair employee wrote down people’s names and contact info and told the stranded passengers that an email would be sent out to everyone with information-including what would be happening with hotel rooms.
But Rennie said she waited at the airport all day and never received an email. She tried calling Flair but was on hold for hours. Rennie says sending out such important information through email was not a good idea, since some passengers had no means of accessing it.
“When I was in the lineup, there was a man in front of me and he was an old man, and he had a flip phone. And I thought, how is this old man going to get (the email)?” Asks Rennie.
Then, at one point, the Flair employees seemed to have left, with multiple passengers still with nowhere to go.
“There were three employees there; the next thing you knew, they were all gone. As soon as their line was finished, they leave,” said Rennie.
Fortunately, sympathetic WestJet employees offered to help.
“WestJet staff came up and they were really helpful and nice to us, and they tried to help us as best they could,” recalled Rennie.
“He said, ‘I contacted the (Flair) guy in Moncton, and he’s going to make sure staff came back to the airport.’”
Eventually, Flair employees came back, and Rennie was bussed to the Best Western in Truro.
Rennie believes Flair owes her and other passengers some compensation for the long delay and the whole ordeal and plans to pursue the matter further.
The delay has also interfered with her business. Rennie operates Merry Pop-Ins Housesitting in Ottawa and was supposed to meet with clients on Friday
“My clients are going on holidays today, and I’m supposed to be there to look after their house, a puppy, and two dogs,” she said.
A Spokesperson for Flair Airlines said they are investigating what happened on Thursday and would get back to Huddle. As of publication, Huddle hasn’t yet heard back from Flair.