Good evening from Toronto-Pearson International Airport!
My name is Alex, and welcome back to the channel.
Today, I’m flying with Flair Airlines, from here in the centre of the universe, to Calgary,
Alberta, on their Boeing 737-400.
Now, I’ve flown with Flair a couple times already, they’re a Canadian low-cost carrier
that serves domestic routes between most major Canadian cities.
Quick disclaimer though, the ticket for this flight was paid for by Flair.
However, they haven’t screened this beforehand and, honestly, it’s a little out of date
anyway since they’re not actually flying the -400s anymore.
I’ll talk more about that later in the video.
At the time this took place, in January 2020, Flair had two flights a day between Toronto
and Calgary, a morning one, which was a nonstop flight on their 737-800, and an evening
one, which was part of a transcontinental milk run.
Back then, this flight originated in Abbotsford, flying on to Calgary, Winnipeg, and then Toronto,
and then flying the reverse on the way back.
Obviously though, I’m only going as far as Calgary today.
Flair’s website said that the total travel time would be about 5 to 6 hours, but if you
did book all the way from Toronto to Abbotsford, with the stops in Winnipeg and Calgary, it’d
be more like 8 hours total.
That’s a lot of time to spend on the same airplane while still in the same country!
Although there’s no shortage of direct flights between Toronto and Calgary, I thought this
would be a bit more of a unique experience, even if it does add 2 hours to the trip!
Flair flies out of Terminal 3 in Toronto, but today’s flight is departing from the
Terminal 3 Satellite, which means a bit of a walk...
Just a bit.
We’ll be departing from Gate B5, which had one of Flair’s 737-800s at the next gate over.
Today though, we’ll be flying on one of their 737 Classics in the 2017 livery -
C-FLRS, a 22-year-old Boeing 737-400.
At the time of filming, these aircraft were on their way out from Flair’s fleet, and
as of September, the remaining 737-400s have all been sold.
Although there are still plenty of 737 Classics within Canada, Flair’s were an inexpensive
way to fly the type, just as I did for the first time back in 2018!
Now thanks to the multi-stop nature of this flight, and it being January in Canada, there
was a chance of a delay at some point, and today’s flight was about 30 minutes behind schedule.
However, there was some issue the day prior that led to the flight being cancelled after
only making it to Winnipeg on the eastbound leg.
To rescue the stranded passengers, Flair chartered this Boeing 737-200 from Nolinor Aviation,
which happened to be the one in the special Montreal Alouettes livery!
Not gonna lie, part of me was a bit disappointed that I happened to miss flying on this by
a single day.
Regardless, it’s still pretty cool to see right before I board the 737-200’s
not-so-distant cousin.
Let’s see what Flair’s 737-400 is like on this 5 hour and 40 minute trip to Calgary.
My seat for the next few hours is 13A, an exit row seat with plenty of legroom.
Each seat had an average-sized seatback pocket, and I’ll go over the contents in more detail
later on.
Because it is an exit row, the armrests are fixed, so the seats are slightly narrower.
On the plus side, they all had adjustable headrests as well.
This aircraft also had the typical 737 Classic look, and these seats also had some buttons
on the armrest for what previously was an IFE system.
In the meantime though, here’s our first takeoff of this unnecessarily long trip, from
Toronto-Pearson’s runway 23.
I haven’t flown a 737 Classic at night time before,
and I was kinda surprised at how well lit up the wing was!
In the seatback pocket, you’ll find a 737-400 safety card with Flair’s new logo,
… An air sickness bag,
… And their buy-on-board menu, which was printed in English and French.
Flair’s Boeing 737s all have a fairly standard tray table that slides out for easier access.
The exit row seats are a bit narrower thanks to the fixed armrests,
which have a second tray table.
Or... so I thought.
Given the no-frills nature of these flights, in-flight entertainment on Flair is strictly
up to you.
For myself, I downloaded a couple of TV shows before I left for plenty of entertainment.
One very important detail is that Flair doesn’t have any on-board power,
so I highly recommend bringing a power bank.
The crew later came around with a buy-on-board snack and drink service, and I opted for my
usual can of Pringles and some Pepsi.
Thanks to it being...
Well, January, it was super dark outside and there’s not a whole lot to see anyway.
But, after 2 hours in the air, we started our descent into Winnipeg,
landing on runway 31.
With a full flight leaving Toronto, about 90% of passengers deplaned here, and the rest
of us spent roughly an hour here on the ground.
Continuing passengers were allowed to deplane as long as they brought their boarding pass
and ID with them, but they only really had 10 or 15 minutes in the terminal.
I decided to stay on board, so I could take a look around with the cabin lights on.
There are three lavatories on board - one at the front and 2 at the rear.
I personally prefer the rear ones on the 737 since there’s way more headroom.
This one was also pretty clean.
Flair’s Boeing 737-400s had 156 seats in a standard 3-3 configuration.
Seeing as it’s an all-economy layout, the standard legroom wasn’t amazing by any stretch,
so I’m glad I had the exit row!
As we waited, the cabin crew did check our boarding passes again to make sure we were
supposed to be on board.
It wasn’t long until new passengers started boarding and I had to rush back to my seat.
The aircraft filled up again, and we eventually pushed back for the next leg to Calgary.
"...And for those of you travelling with small children..."
"...Why?"
After that light-hearted safety briefing, and after spotting yet another 737-200, here’s
our second and final takeoff for this flight, off of runway 31.
Once again, not a whole lot to see outside, but at this point, it’s worth mentioning
why these aircraft were still flying around in the old livery.
Having launched scheduled passenger flights in 2017, Flair introduced this new branding
on two of their 737-400s, and used the same typeface on one leased aircraft.
Flair later rebranded in February of 2019 with the delivery of their first 737-800,
as a way of streamlining their look.
With that, they intended to move to a 737-800 only fleet, and retiring the last 737-400s
by the end of 2020.
Obviously, stuff happened, and that date was moved up by a couple months.
Two of these 737-400s were all that remained of the 2017 brand, and sadly, they were quietly
retired in August, after having been stored in Edmonton since March.
All of the other remaining aircraft have also been sold, but one was apparently sold to
Nolinor Aviation for their upcoming OWG leisure airline, which I’ve definitely got my eye on.
Much like other aircraft retirements in Canada this year, this one wasn’t unexpected, but
it’s still a bit sad to see it happen earlier than we thought.
Another snack and drink service was offered on this flight, and I just went with the free
cup of water this time.
Once again, another few episodes of a definitely not copyrighted TV show later, it was time
to start our descent into Calgary, landing on runway 17L.
Overall, I had a pretty good time with Flair Airlines!
Although travelling with Flair is fairly minimalist as you’d expect, I will say that the crew
on this trip were extremely friendly, and that made a huge difference!
These types of flights are pretty tiring though, and it is understandable that only a few passengers
would choose the 1-stop option, especially since the nonstop flight is 2 hours shorter, and...
Well, nonstop.
Back in January at least, Flair did offer direct flights from Toronto to Vancouver as
well, although I am curious if anyone has actually done the full 8 hour trip between
Toronto and Abbotsford!
Either way, it was nice to fly on another 737 Classic and with Flair Airlines again.
The 737-400s have certainly seen better days, but they did serve their purpose, and I’m
very glad I had the chance to fly it one last time.
*ding*
Thank you very much for watching this trip report with Flair Airlines!
As always, please leave a like if you enjoyed the video, subscribe if you’re new, and
I’ll see you next time.