Flair Airlines to offer ticket resale, a first in North America
Canadian ultra-low-cost carrier Flair Airlines is about to change how we cancel and book flights, becoming the first airline in North America to offer ticket resale.
The program, which will allow passengers who can no longer travel to resell their seat back to the airline, was created in partnership with French tech company Fairlyne. It’s set to launch in December, just ahead of the holiday travel rush.
The way it’ll work is if a traveller can no longer take their flight and the route is in high demand, Flair may buy the ticket back and resell the seat at a low fare. This gives passengers a way to recover some of their costs, while also helping last-minute travellers access cheaper seats.
Flair says the ticket resale program is part of its broader Flair FWD overhaul, a promise it made six months ago to improve customer experience without losing its low-cost identity.
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“Since launching Flair FWD, our teams have been hard at work, listening to our customers, reviewing our policies, and investing in delivering a better travel experience,” said Maciej Wilk, CEO of Flair Airlines.
The ticket resale program is not the only update arriving in December. Flair is launching Flair Express on Dec. 3 across its network. Anyone who purchases a carry-on bag will be allowed to board first through a dedicated line and will no longer need to stuff their luggage into the sizing bins unless it is clearly oversized.
Travellers will also start to see Flair’s new fare bundles roll out. The airline will offer four options: Basic, Lite, Plus and Max, designed to give passengers more control over what they pay for.
Flair Airlines
Flair Vacations, another December launch in partnership with HBX, will allow travellers to book flights and hotels together, coinciding with Flair’s expansion into the Caribbean and Latin America. Flights to Mexico City launch Oct. 27, and Montego Bay launches Dec. 14.
Some of Flair’s promised improvements have already arrived. The airline has launched a faster, redesigned website, now hosted on Amazon Web Services, and it sends digital boarding passes to every passenger after check-in to speed up airport lines.
If a flight is delayed, customers now receive an explanation instead of a generic “operational reasons” email. Flair also introduced an on-time guarantee last October, offering a $60 voucher if a flight arrives 60 minutes or more behind schedule. Earlier this year, it partnered with Apple to support AirTag tracking of checked luggage.
“We’ve always been a value carrier, but value is about more than price; it’s also a feeling,” said Eric Tanner, chief commercial officer. “New Flair is reliable, transparent and customer-centric.”
You can read more about Flair’s FWD overhaul online.