Flair Airlines is facing service issues on its website affecting customers’ ability to book a flight with the low-cost carrier.
Multiple customers reached out to Global News over the weekend stating they were unable to book a flight on the Edmonton-based airline. Others on social media echoed the concerns on Monday.
As of Monday afternoon, users who tried to book a flight were met with a web page apologizing for the inconvenience.
“We are currently experiencing a service interruption. Please check back soon,” the message read.
A spokesperson for Flair told Global News in an emailed statement Monday afternoon that the airline’s teams “have been working overnight to address the interruption.”
“While we regret any inconvenience it may have caused, we anticipate booking services being restored within the next few hours,” the statement said.
The spokesperson did not address Global News’ question about a cause for the outage.
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Flair reportedly also told the Globe and Mail in an email Sunday that its crews were working overnight and that a resolution was expected within hours.
The latest hiccups come as Flair faces financial hurdles. The company owes $67.2 million to the federal government in unpaid taxes, but says it has a deal to pay the amount back to the Canada Revenue Agency.
The airline is also caught up in a legal back-and-forth with the lessors of part of its fleet, which seized a number of jets from the airline last spring amid claims of missed payments – a claim that Flair rejects.
Flair also pared down its spring travel schedule in 2024, flying 600 fewer flights than in March, April and May last year. In a statement to Global News on Friday, Flair pushed back on assertions that the reduced schedule had anything to do with financial challenges.
Instead, CEO Stephen Jones said in a statement that the company is focusing on longer flights to sun destinations and fewer domestic trips.
Flair is left as Canada’s sole low-cost carrier after the collapse of Lynx Air last month.
Karl Moore, associate professor at McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management, tells Global News that Flair’s financial difficulties and snafus affecting its booking system make him “nervous” about the company’s future.
“If you don’t invest in IT adequately, you can have problems like this, which is going to impact your ability to serve your clients and in fact make money over time,” he says.
– with files from Global News’ Anne Gaviola
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