More Flair passengers stuck in Cancun 24 hours after scheduled flight

Margaret McPherson/Submitted

A flight of Flair passengers is stuck in a Mexican airport nearly 24 hours after the scheduled takeoff time, and say the airline isn’t giving them answers, providing food, or booking them on competitor’s flights.

Margaret McPherson was supposed to fly from Cancun to Calgary on Sunday, March 17 at 6:05 pm on Flair flight F89966. But the flight got delayed in 10-minute increments until 11 pm, she told Daily Hive.

The airport was closing for the night when passengers picked up their luggage and got shuttled to an airport hotel. Buses fetched them Saturday morning to go back to the airport. But they still don’t know when they’ll be leaving.

McPherson says they’re waiting at a basement gate in the Cancun airport, unable to see if a plane is outside, as security personnel keep watch.

Margaret McPherson/Submitted

“We haven’t received anything official except those very early emails from Flair,” she told Daily Hive. “No food, no idea of what we’re going to be doing… and when I asked to be accommodated under air passenger rights on a competitive flight, they said that cannot be done.”

Passengers are speaking to representatives wearing Flair lanyards over top of Menzies jackets. Menzies Aviation is the company contracted for ground services at Cancun International Airport.

“They’re wearing Flair lanyards, they’re standing at the gate we’re supposed to go from, but they say they cannot help and they do not work for Flair,” she said. “They’re either unable or unwilling to help.”

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The latest information McPherson got from Flair was the flight would be delayed until Saturday afternoon, but the departure time near 3 pm has come and gone.

She’s slamming Flair for its lack of regular announcements and its lack of inclination to provide refunds, book alternate flights, or provide food to customers. Flights on other airlines leaving Cancun cost about $1,000 one-way right now.

Some passengers are crying, others have animals at home, and many including McPherson are missing work. They want Flair to follow its obligations under Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations.

The emails McPherson received from Flair said the delay was “due to unanticipated maintenance delays within airline’s control, but required for safety.”

Daily Hive has reached out to the airline for comment, but has not yet heard back.

Air passenger rights advocate Gábor Lukács says the incident concerns him, especially as questions emerge about the status of Flair’s finances.

“For now, I would say we don’t know that this company is bankrupt. So assume that they are not. Buy a ticket to get home that mitigates your damage, and then sue Flair for damages and hope that they may not go bankrupt after all.”

Lukács has been outspoken about the federal government’s lack of enforcement of Air Passenger Protection Regulations, saying failure to enforce the rules has led to airlines blatantly disregarding the law as customers head to small claims court for justice.

“There are significant questions here about not only what Flair is doing but what the federal government is doing that permits such events to happen,” he said.

The latest group of passengers stuck at the Cancun airport comes just days after another flight of Flair passengers spent 48 hours being shuttled back and forth from the terminal to hotels. That group was supposed to leave Thursday, but didn’t end up getting out until Saturday — due to what the pilot announced was an issue with the plane’s navigation system.

Daily Hive has reached out to the Canadian Transportation Agency for comment but has not yet heard back.