“All of our planes are brand new!” the steward announced when we boarded the flight to Cancún.
Maybe he had noticed a few of us pausing upon stepping inside the Boeing 737 MAX 8, wondering how we would fit into the seats.
He was right, though. The aircraft did look new.
Why Flair Airlines?
And why Cancún?
Because like everything else these days in Canada, Air Canada tickets to South America were outrageously expensive.
We realized we needed a plan B back in September. Normally, Feng and I have this informal agreement we don’t start planning for any winter trip until after Thanksgiving and the guy’s birthdays, but we had a bad feeling this year. Indeed, when Feng checked the price of tickets to South America, we realized Air Canada was now charging almost triple the price.
Yeah… no.
We didn’t have many options either because only Air Canada flies direct to South America. Going through the US with an American airline? Almost as expensive, with potential headaches because it would include a stopover in the US in the winter during the busy holiday season—flights could easily be delayed or cancelled.
So we looked for cheap tickets to Mexico and we discovered Flair Airlines, Canada’s only “ultra-low-cost carrier,” was flying directly to Cancún from Ottawa.
“Can’t be worst than spending two days in Greyhound buses across the US, right?”
Deal.
The flight was only 4 hours and 40 minutes and the schedule was pretty convenient with a departure at 2:30 p.m. I had zero expectations from Flair Airlines for this “short” trip. It’s not like Air Canada is particularly fancy, anyway…
We were lucky, we left on December 19 right after the first winter snowstorm and before what’s apparently coming right now to most of North America.
Last Monday, “YOW,” Ottawa’s international airport, was actually pretty busy—the first trip in two years for most people, I guess. It’s still a surprisingly small airport considering it’s the national capital, so no big lineup for boarding passes even though the flight was almost full.
It was so efficient my in-laws who were dropping us off at the airport barely had the chance to lecture us and give us “essential” items we didn’t want to bring.
We were a mismatched group of passengers—a few Mexicans-Canadians, some families with kids, a few snowbirds, and what looked like a wedding party. At least, the three guys dressed in Christmas-themed pyjamas with Santa hats didn’t board with us, they were apparently on the Swoop flight to Edmonton, -28⁰C at the destination according to the airport board that includes local temperature in weather-obsessed Canada. I guessed when you fly to Edmonton for the holidays, you earn the right to dress how the fuck you want.
The seats had very little legroom and didn’t recline, and there was absolutely nothing free on board, not even water. Apparently, Fair Airlines doesn’t hire professional translators either because the menu had a very funny translation fail.
Don’t expect the usual in-flight entertainment system, seats don’t come with TVs. It wasn’t a surprise for us but it may explain why several kids—not babies, 5-10-year-old kids!—spent the entire flight screaming. Must have been screen-time withdrawal symptoms.
So yes, it was a boring, noisy and fairly uncomfortable flight but we left and arrived on time and the crew was very professional.
We watched the sun disappear and we landed in Cancún a few minutes later.
Passports were stamped, no questions asked, no form to fill up, and no vaccine certificate required.
Luggage took forever to be unloaded because apparently, all the gringos had landed at the same time from Toronto, Ottawa, Los Angeles and Frankfurt.
We stepped out of the airport and started looking for a ride to Playa del Carmen, an hour away, final destination of the day and first stop of the trip.
Made it!
I’ve been busy with work lately, then I realized….my favorite time of the year has arrived….reading your south amerixan trip! I’ll fly to Malaysia as well next morninf, my first (our —- with my two kids) after 3 years
PS : I guess on the next winter, Mark will be taller than you! Hahaha he’s so handsome
Oh, Malaysia, that’s awesome! Please do report on your trip if you can and enjoy the moment. Eat great food and have fun!
Have a great time!
Wow, those seats on the flight… I wonder how people fit. The English on that menu is too.
I was also wondering what the first language is on that trilingual airport sign!
The language is Inuktut, spoken in Nunavut. Ottawa is one of the two Canadian airports with direct flights to Iqaluit, the capital, so it makes sense to have signs in Inuktut 😉
It’s very uncommon to get fed intraveinously in a commercial airplane.
However, I could see a future for passengers donating blood to pay for airfare and food on board…
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Piqûres légères- amazing hahaha.
I’m that close to sending my resume…
Awww look at Mark being so grown up!
Question: would you recommend Flair? And would you retake it in the future?
We are planning to go to Cancun with my mom in August and I am 50/50 about Flair.
I’d fly Flair again, they did the job. Tickets were cheap plus it’s rare to have the “chance” to leave from Ottawa. The flight was on time, everything was fine, just bring your own entertainment/drinks/snacks if needed. For a five-hour flight, no big deal.
Now, the seats are TIGHT. Like, really. So I would recommend comparing with other airlines to make sure you are all comfortable. I’m not implying anything BTW, you would definitely fit into the seats, but I don’t know how tall monsieur is for instance (these Canadian guys are strong :lol:) and I wouldn’t recommend it if you have long legs. You know me in real life, I’m not a giant and I’m not super big, and I barely had any legroom. Actually, I’d say the main issue is legroom rather than seat width.
If you get a good price, honestly, Flair is as good as any other budget airline.
Thank you for this! My mother and J have long legs and they both get cranky (like super cranky) when they don’t have space so I think Flair is out for now. But definitely will consider them if I do a trip by myself.
I would also NOT recommend Sunwing based on this year’s disaster and the long lineups I keep on seeing in Cancun Airport… At least, Flair was reliable. Honestly, I’d take Flair over Air Canada Rouge.
Definately no Sunwing!!
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