Find cheap Flair Airlines flights

Flair Airlines is a Canadian ultra-low-cost airline flying mostly within Canada and to snowbird destinations in the southern US, Central America and the Caribbean.

Ultra-low-cost means seats are packed tight and there’s a fee for anything beyond a basic seat and a small personal item, like a shoulder bag or backpack. If you’re willing to work with that and set your expectations right, you can build yourself the travel experience you want on Flair. Here’s what you’ll find.

The Flair Airlines model

Flair is the ultimate example of an ultra-low-cost carrier. The tickets are all sold unbundled, which means that everything from seat selection and using the airport check-in desks to carry-on bags and a drink of water on the plane are separated as extra fees rather than being included in the ticket price.

Whenever considering a flight with Flair, I always make sure to compare the price with other airlines only after I add in all the extras I need for a fair comparison.

In the past, Flair had a reputation for delays, mainly because its timetables and turnarounds are rather tight in order to keep costs low. Recently, though, the airline has made big improvements in this area, and I don’t consider delays to be any more of an issue for Flair Airlines than any of its low-cost competitors anymore.

Flair has 2 separate apps you’ll want to use if flying with the airline. The Flair Travel app is used for booking and managing flights, and the Flair Inflight app is for onboard ordering and watching streaming in-flight entertainment. Make sure you have both downloaded before your flight.

You can book connecting flights either between Flair flights or to and from other airlines using the airline’s Flair Connect network of partner airlines. Connections aren’t Flair’s core business, though, so you’ll probably need to claim and recheck your bags during a layover. If connecting with Flair, be sure to double check that your trip is protected by a missed connection guarantee in the event one of your flights is delayed or canceled.

Fare bundles and baggage details

Flair is an all-economy airline, so there are no premium cabins for built-in extras.

When you select your flight, Flair offers you 3 kinds of bundle packages for add-ons to upgrade your experience: Bare, Basic and Big. The bundles save you roughly a third on buying all the options separately, but if you only want one or two perks you don’t necessarily need a bundle – it is often cheaper to just pay for the ones you want individually.

The Bare bundle lets you bring a 15.4-pound (7-kilogram) personal item that’s no larger than 6 x 13 x 17 inches (15 x 33 x 43 centimeters). And that’s it.

The Basic bundle adds a carry-on bag and a checked bag, while the Big bundle also adds priority boarding and the airline’s TravelFLEX free-changes option. Unusually for a low-cost airline, none of the bundles offer an included seat selection option.

Carry-on bags must weigh less than 22 pounds (10 kilograms) and measure no more than 8.5 x 16 x 22 inches (22 x 40 x 55 cm). You can also check this size of bag for the same price. A 50.7-pound (23-kilogram) checked bag allowance is also available for purchase. This bag must be less than 62 inches (158 linear centimeters), which is the sum total of all 3 dimensions of your bag – height, width and depth.

If you’re bringing certain sporting equipment like bikes, golf clubs, skis, snowboards or hockey gear, you’ll need to pay a separate fee to check these.

Flair also offers several flexibility and service add-ons, including TravelFLEX. This lets you adjust the date, time and route one time, provides a disruption rebooking or refund guarantee (which I would definitely select if I were connecting), priority boarding and a discount on the airline’s airport check-in fee.

Seats, onboard experience and in-flight entertainment

Seats on Flair are as bare bones as the rest of the experience. Expect a very simple seat with minimal legroom, no recline, no seatback screens and no at-seat power options. Download your own entertainment to a personal device in advance, and consider packing an extra power bank, as well. The newer slimline seats in some Flair planes do carve out a bit of extra legroom in the otherwise tight rows, though.

Flair is in the process of updating the in-flight app, which includes some light streaming entertainment and at-seat ordering via your own device. There’s a web version of this app, but you’re much better served by downloading the app on your phone. Note that this doesn’t include in-flight internet connectivity – all the entertainment and ordering is via the onboard server, not the wider Wi-Fi.

Flair seat selection options

Flair seat selection is an extra charge, of course, and prices differ depending on the kind of seat you choose.

XL seats are the most expensive, with the priciest being in the front row of the plane, as well as at the overwing exit rows. Other XL seats are found in some of the other forward rows of the plane, and these offer some extra legroom.

Note that passengers at the overwing exit rows must be over 12, not pregnant, not deaf, blind or mobility impaired, and must not need a seat belt extension or be flying with a pet. Passengers in the front row can’t be flying with a pet either.

All other seats on the plane are Standard seats, and prices vary across the plane with forward seats more expensive than those toward the back. Counterintuitively, some rows are priced with the window seats only slightly more expensive than the middles, which are oddly more expensive than the aisles. The cheapest option on Flair is usually the aisle seats toward the back of the plane.

When booking, be aware that Flair’s seat reservation page pre-selects a paid seat for you. If you’d rather not pay for this and be assigned random seats for everyone in your traveling party, you need to click on this random seat to unselect yourself and avoid paying for the seat reservation.

Checking in for Flair flights and the airport experience

Online check-in is free, but checking in at the airport comes at an extra charge, although there’s a discount if you book this service in advance. Pro tip: If you try to check in online but encounter an issue, take a screenshot or a photo of the error message so that the airport staff don’t try to charge you the airport check-in fee.

The rest of the airport experience is fairly standard for the airports it serves, although one of the low-cost elements of Flair operations is that it doesn’t have the number and variety of airport customer service staff that other airlines do. That’s usually not an issue, but in the event of a delay, cancelation or other issue I’m always prepared to call the customer service hotline rather than expect solutions at the airport itself.

In-flight food and drinks

Onboard food and drink is fee-based, as you’d guess, but you might not expect the additional small charge for a plastic cup, too. I recommend bringing your own. My trusty refillable water bottle gets filled up for the flight after security, and if it’s a long flight I might even bring a larger empty plastic bottle from home to fill up, too.

Pricing for snacks and drinks in the sky on Flair is not cheap, although there are a few combo bundles that’ll save you a bit on multiple items. Payments are by American Express, MasterCard and Visa only – no cash.

There are some basic options on board, like chips, chocolate and muffins, as well as some limited hot options like instant cup noodles. I definitely recommend bringing something from home for better variety and cost. On some flights, hot breakfast sandwiches or mini pizzas are available, but even an airport sandwich will be a better deal.