Here’s something you don’t often see — a Canadian ultra low cost carrier is guaranteeing your flight will be on-time, or else you’ll be compensated. Is there a catch, though?
How Flair’s on-time flight guarantee works
Flair Airlines, a Canadian ultra low cost carrier with its headquarters in Edmonton, has just introduced the country’s first on-time guarantee for flights. With this guarantee, you can automatically receive a $60 CAD e-voucher if your flight is delayed or canceled within certain parameters:
- The delay guarantee applies when your fight is delayed by more than 60 minutes from the arrival time stated on your itinerary
- The cancelation guarantee applies when your flight is canceled within 72 hours of the departure time stated on your itinerary
In order to be eligible, you must be at least 18 years old, bookings must be made directly on flyflair.com, and you must have booked more than 72 hours before departure. If eligible, you should automatically receive an email with a voucher code no more than 48 hours after your flight arrives.
What’s the catch? Well, it’s how restrictive the voucher is. The $60 CAD e-voucher is only valid for base fare, and is only valid for the same traveler. Those two restrictions are fair enough. The most limiting factor is how the voucher is only valid for 60 days from when it’s issued. That’s rough, especially since the carrier is leisure focused, so it’s not like the average Flair customer flies with the airline every month or two.
This is a smart promotion on Flair’s part
In the past, Flair Airlines has had some major issues with operational reliability, so when I first read this, I thought this was a gimmick to mask the carrier’s on-time performance. However, as part of this guarantee, the company claims to be Canada’s most reliable airline, and I was wondering what that was based on, because that caught me off guard.
Flair has a page dedicated to its performance, which is surprisingly transparent in comparing its performance to other carriers. The company is updating this, even in months where it’s not in first place. For example, in October 2024, Flair claims to be number one in completion factor, while it’s in third place in terms of on-time performance, only beating out Air Canada.
But I’ve gotta Flair credit here, this is a smart offer. Handing out vouchers to delayed passengers isn’t going to cost the airline much. If anything, it’s an initiative to encourage repeat business, since those with vouchers will have to book another ticket for travel within two months.
And since we’re talking about an ultra low cost carrier, and the voucher can only be applied to base fare, the airline can still make a lot of money on passengers on fees.
So I think this is a pretty creative initiative. The airline is basically handing out vouchers like candy, but the condition to using them is having to plan Flair travel again within two months, so that should be pretty profitable. All of that says nothing of Flair’s major financial issues, which make one wonder how long the airline will even be around.
Bottom line
Canada’s Flair Airlines has introduced an on-time guarantee. With this, you can receive a $60 CAD e-voucher if your flight is delayed by at least an hour. The catch is that the voucher has to be redeemed within two months.
Ultimately a good number of Flair flights are delayed, so this isn’t some guarantee in the unlikely event a flight doesn’t operate as scheduled. Quite to the contrary, the airline will be handing out a lot of these vouchers, with hopes of generating quite a bit of incremental business.
What do you make of Flair’s on-time guarantee?
Membership is free and takes no more information than commenting as a guest. Earn status points for good contributions, and see fewer ads as your status grows.