Flair flight cancellation leaves Guelph traveller stranded, uninformed
Andrew Mackay from Guelph says he was left stranded in Florida last year after his flight with Flair Airlines was cancelled without his knowledge.
In December he purchased round-trip flights from Waterloo to Fort Lauderdale. On the day of his return flight home, he got to the airport but the plane wasn’t there.
“[I] checked all day that the Kitchener to Fort Lauderdale flight was on time. They kept saying ‘it was, it was, it was,’” Mackay said. “The communication, I thought, was terrible.”
He said he was informed at the airport that the plane never left Kitchener and there was no flight.
“They had cancelled it but they never told anyone,” he said.
Mackay was offered another flight that wasn’t taking off until the following evening. Since he had to return home for work, he chose to pay for a second flight to Pearson International Airport, the same day.
He said he also had to take an Uber from Pearson to Kitchener.
It all added up to over $1,100, according to Mackay.
He said he was never reimbursed for the added costs and added that Flair refunded only a portion of the cancelled flight.
“I’m just not going to trust them anymore,” he said.
CTV News reached out to Flair Airlines and were told the company is looking into the situation and would get back to us. CTV News did not hear back from the discount airline by the time this article was posted.
"The miscommunication and the lying really. When they keep saying on the website that the plane is on time and it never even left. That's really unfortunate,” Mackay said.
Mackay said he travels to Florida once a month and plans to continue to do that but said it won’t be with Flair.
“They just don’t know how they disrupt people’s lives. It just happens a lot with them and a lot of cancelled flights,” he said.
Flair responds
Flair Airlines told CTV News the flight was cancelled due to maintenance.
“The safety and wellbeing of our customers is paramount and we apologize for any inconvenience the flight disruption caused,” Flair said in a statement.
Flair went on the say passengers receive regular communication updates through email and text.
“In this specific incident, passengers received three emails/SMS over the course of the delay,” Flair said.
When a flight is cancelled, Flair said customers are automatically rebooked on the next flight. In this case, the next available flight wasn’t until the following day.
The company said travellers can cancel for a refund if the new flight doesn’t align with their travel requirements.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6972494.1721646739!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
BREAKING Canadian killed near Gaza border after threatening forces with knife: Israeli police
Israeli police say a Canadian citizen was killed Monday after threatening Israeli security forces with a knife near the Gaza border.
Harris looks to lock up Democratic nomination after Biden steps aside, reordering 2024 race
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris moved swiftly to lock up Democratic delegates behind her campaign for the White House after President Joe Biden stepped aside amid concerns from within their own party that he would be unable to defeat Donald Trump.
What to know about the Canadian ties of Kamala Harris, Biden's choice for successor
U.S. President Joe Biden is stepping aside as the Democratic candidate in that country's November election and throwing his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris -- a Montreal-area high school graduate who spent several years in the city.
The pilot who died in crash after releasing skydivers near Niagara Falls has been identified
Officials on Sunday released the name of a pilot who died in a skydiving flight after her passengers jumped from the aircraft near the Niagara Falls.
Markets bet on second Bank of Canada interest rate cut coming this week
Economists and market watchers are betting the Bank of Canada will deliver another interest rate cut this week amid mounting evidence that inflation is sustainably easing.
10,000 unionized employees return to work, stores to reopen Tuesday: LCBO
Workers are back on the job today at Ontario's main liquor retailer, but the Liquor Control Board of Ontario says stores won't be open for business until Tuesday.
Canadian musicians struggle to get visas to perform in the U.S., some cancel shows
Backlogs and processing delays of temporary U.S. visas required by entertainers, athletes and artists has forced some Canadian bands to cancel U.S. tour dates because paperwork wasn't processed in time.
Mom wants quicker reform on disaster preparations, one year after flood took son
The mother of a boy who died a year ago in a Nova Scotia flood says her grief returns daily, along with frustration over what she considers the province's slow pace in reforming its preparations for climate disasters.
Ottawa man waiting nearly a year for car to be fixed at Acura dealership
An Ottawa man says he’s been waiting nearly a year for his car to be repaired after it was damaged during a storm in August.