I had a wild incident with Flair Airlines all the way back in 2023, and it has only just been resolved in 2026. Call me stubborn or whatever, but I’m an Aries and the situation wasn’t right, so I couldn’t let it go. (And good thing I didn’t, I got $1,600 back!) Here’s what happened and how I finally won my case against Flair Airlines. Beyond letting me rant, hopefully this can help you find a solution if you’ve been wronged by Canada’s worst airline as well.
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The tl;dr version of my case against Flair Airlines
- Flair Airlines rescheduled our flight (early) by 10 hours without telling us, effectively abandoning us in Mexico.
- When seeking a refund, Flair staff flat out lied several times with conflicting excuses that weren't based in any reality but would make me ineligible for compensation.
- The airline avoided a resolution for months, so I filed a formal complaint with the Canada Transport Agency (CTA).
- Three years later, I won my case against Flair Airlines. The CTA ordered the airline to pay me $1,600 to cover replacement flights.
Here's what happened: Why I needed to file a case against Flair Airlines
I promise I’ll try to keep this part brief, but I find it hard to be succinct when recounting the whole debacle. My case against Flair Airlines started like this…
The incident
Chesney and I booked a one-way flight from Cancun (CUN) to Kitchener/Waterloo (YKF). It was scheduled for 18:50, but Flair rescheduled the plane *twice* and never told us. The newly scheduled time? 9:45 AM on the same day.
That’s right — 10 hours earlier than what we booked. Without any notification from the airline, we obviously missed our flight, and couldn’t even get in touch with them to find a solution. We would have happily just jumped on the next flight and called it even.
They didn’t have an international phone number at the time, so my parents called from a landline in Canada and waited over an hour on hold until the call randomly dropped. The online chat system was down. I sent emails with no reply. There was no Flair desk at the Cancun Airport where we could speak to a staff member. It was chaos.
Original booking
Actual flight departure time
Read more: Tips to Avoid Painful Airplane Ear
The in-the-moment solution
We had a flight from Toronto to Reykjavik 2 days later, so time was of the essence. To avoid a devastating knock-on effect of missed flights, we booked a ticket with Air Canada to get home. The cost of this last-minute journey? Around $2,200 CAD. Compared to the 500 CAD we’d spent with Flair, this was particularly painful.
We got home in time, made it to Reykjavik, and continued trying to get ahold of Flair. I wanted an explanation, a refund, and hopefully some compensation to balance out the cost of our Air Canada flights.
The ongoing struggle
I didn’t hear anything from Flair for over three weeks. I’d made several attempts to contact them. I legit waited in a call back queue for 24 hours before leaving Canada.
Calling from Reykjavik was not an option because, again, no international phone number. They publicly responded to my Tweet promising to get in touch to appear proactive, but never made any further contact. None of the chat support agents could do anything and only ever apologized and suggested I wait for a reply to my emails.
That said, one chat agent did confirm the airline had a “tool enhancement” that caused a glitch and ultimately resulted in us not being contacted about the significant change to our itinerary. So the fault was acknowledged. And yet!!
The flight was never cancelled, there was no operational requirement or safety issue.
When I finally spoke to a real person from the complaints/refunds department, they fought me tooth and nail. They made up several conflicting excuses, and twice even tried to claim the flight had been cancelled due to a safety issue — perhaps forgetting I could see that the flight took off and landed on both airports’ websites. Even Flair’s own website showed the flight wasn’t cancelled.
The best anyone ever offered me? A refund and $125 per person. But I think the more they tried to ignore me, gaslight me, and complicate things so that I’d drop it, the more I wanted to fight it. That measly $125 didn’t feel right.
Read more: The Full Breakdown of My Drama with Flair
The CTA case against Flair Airlines
When I realized I wasn’t getting anywhere, I contacted the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) to put in a formal complaint. I was number 63,587 in the queue. Thus the official Lai, Naomi v Flair Airlines case was born.
I put on my patience cap and continued to hold a grudge against Canada’s worst airline but moved on with my life. When I checked in on my CTA case again in 2024, I’d made it halfway to 35 thousand-and-something in the queue.
By January 2026, it was my time. I received a “Start Notice” from the CTA, indicating my case was finally in review and would be resolved within 90 days.
Flair had the opportunity to address my complaint through the CTA, I had an opportunity to respond, and then a resolution officer would review the case and make a final ruling. There was also an option to go through mediation. I accepted, but Flair declined. (Which I think probably helped my case tbh.)
Flair’s response was also absolutely filled to the brim with typos, grammar errors, and incorrect information. I obviously don’t feel like I can share any of what they wrote. But it was legit embarrassing for the airline when you consider they’re communicating with the government? Maybe that’s just the editor in me.
The CTA's final ruling in my case against Flair Airlines
I tried to keep my expectations low and was prepared for the CTA to reject my request for compensation. I had accepted the $125 per person Flair offered in 2023, so that might have sealed the deal. And, since literally three years had passed, I was ready to forget (but never forgive) if the CTA told me to drop it.
However, to my absolute delight, the Canadian Transportation Agency’s Complaints Resolution Officer took my side. They ordered Flair to pay me $1,600. That’s the cost of my Air Canada flights minus the Flair refund. I’d only actually asked for about $1,350, but the CTA officer did some slightly different math that considered the $125 compensation as separate to the reimbursement, which resulted in a better payout. Iconic.
The case was immediately closed and I couldn’t even say so much as a thank you to my little CTA guardian angel. I could have cried I was so happy.
How to file a case against any Canadian airline with the CTA
If your situation with Flair (or any other airline) isn’t going anywhere and you know they’re in the wrong, take it to the CTA. The process is actually pretty easy! Just super slow.
- Gather all your evidence: emails, screenshots, flight details — anything you can think of to support your case.
- Go to the Canadian Transportation Agency website.
- Click Make an Air Travel Complaint.
- Start your Air Travel Complaints form.
- Expect to wait a long time. Unfortunately, I don’t think my three-year wait was unusual.
A tip for crafting your CTA communications
I have to come clean. When it came time for Step 3 of the CTA resolution process, where Flair provided an answer and I was able to reply, I ran it through AI. Say what you want about AI (it’s ruining the world), but it can come in handy for situations like this where professionalism and objectivity are essential.
I copied in Flair’s lame response, wrote out the main points I wanted to hit, and asked it to generate a statement that would highlight my position. It gave me a professional-sounding letter. I obviously fixed it up to reflect my exact situation and perspective, but it was a very helpful baseline to work with.
Here is an excerpt of what I wrote. For context, the “goodwill gesture,” as Flair kept calling it, was the measly $125 per person they offered as compensation.
Acceptance of this goodwill gesture was not presented to me, nor understood by me, as full and final settlement of my claim, and was accepted without prejudice to my right to seek further reimbursement for losses arising from the carrier’s admitted error. I therefore request that the CTA consider whether further reimbursement is appropriate in light of:
- Flair’s acknowledged notification failure
- The absence of accessible rebooking options on the day of travel
The reasonableness of my actions to mitigate escalating losses
What happened after my case against Flair Airlines closed
So I learned winning your case doesn’t actually guarantee you’ll be paid by the deadline lol. The CTA orders the payment, but they don’t facilitate or enforce it — that’s between you and the airline.
They gave Flair 30 days to pay me. I followed up almost immediately after the ruling to give them my banking details and open the door. Big shocker — no reply.
I sent a reminder a week before the deadline. No reply.
The deadline passed. I sent a strongly-worded email making clear they’d missed the CTA’s ordered deadline and that further action would follow if they didn’t pay immediately. (Tbh, did I know what that further action would be? No. But it felt suitably ominous.)
About a week later, the money arrived.
I hate to say it, but I’m not alone in this experience. Other complainants on Reddit’s r/legaladviceCanada have reported the same runaround after their rulings, and not just with Flair. Air Canada apparently pulls the same move. Some people have had to resubmit complaints with the CTA or threaten small claims court to get their money.
Airlines can be fined for non-compliance, so you do have options if it comes to that — but a few firm emails did the trick for me.
How Flair paid me
So Flair sent the payment through something called HyperWallet, which I’d never heard of. I did some quick Googling before clicking any links in case it was a phishing scam.
But turns out it’s a PayPal sub-brand — with a one-star rating on Trustpilot. Honestly, sooooo fitting. A one-star airline using a one-star payment platform. But it was legit for all intents and purposes, and the money landed in my PayPal account a few hours later.
Will I ever fly with Flair Airlines?
Absolutely not. I’m pretty off budget airlines altogether at this point. Sometimes the price makes it hard to say no, but I’d rather pay a bit more and actually get where I’m going. Between the often brutal service, the nickel and diming, the poor delay/cancellation track records… it’s not worth the headache. We’ve had pretty lame experiences on other budget airlines around the world, but this whole saga certainly made the case for me.