More Flair passengers come forward on how ID misinformation from airline left them stranded

More Flair passengers are sharing their frustrations with the airline after the identical ID they used to board their outbound flights had been denied when returning residence.

CityNews reported the story of an Ontario man and his household that had been basically stranded in Halifax for days resulting from alleged misinformation that was offered to him about his ID by Flair airline. Since then different CityNews readers have come ahead with equivalent tales, wanting to share their disheartening experiences.

“I want to share my story in hopes that other people will share theirs and put a stop to these horrible situations with Flair”, Lisa Oppers tells CityNews.

The Ontario resident who hadn’t travelled in over seven years was trying ahead to her upcoming flight to Vancouver to go to household. Not proudly owning a driver’s license or passport, she knew her well being card could be a legitimate piece of ID to journey throughout Canada, however seen it was set to run out in the midst of her seven day journey.

Like Conway, Oppers visited a Service Ontario to resume her OHIP card and was supplied with a “transaction record” doc displaying the knowledge of her new well being card that she was to obtain within the mail. A kind she was advised to make use of in lieu of her set to run out well being card till her renewed card was to reach.

For reassurance she known as Flair’s customer support division.

“I explained the form. They said no problem. You’ll have no issues as long as you have that piece of paper from Service Ontario, no problem at all”, says Oppers.

When she arrived at Toronto Pearson Airport on January nineteenth to board her flight, the entrance desk brokers initially questioned the doc however deemed it acceptable. It wasn’t till Oppers was checking in for her return flight every week later in Vancouver that she realized returning residence wouldn’t go as easily.

“Got to the check in counter, handed my health card and the piece of paper that it was still valid until like, I think February 18”, says Oppers, explaining that with one look the agent mentioned it was expired, couldn’t settle for it and there was nothing they might do to assist her.

“And I said but it got me here. Like, it got me here to Vancouver and I need to get home”.

She was advised to contact customer support. The identical division that allegedly confirmed to her that the doc could be legitimate, was now telling her that it’s not a suitable piece of ID for nationwide air journey.

“So then I went to WestJet and I just said I’m stranded and I can’t get home. This is what I have for my ID. So he brought me around the desk”, provides Oppers, who was grateful to the workers on the WestJet counter for helping her in buying a brand new ticket and welcoming the one ID she needed to fly residence that very same day.

The identical airline assisted Melissa Sacrey in getting residence, with the identical ID she used to board her Flair flight out of Edmonton was denied at Toronto Pearson Airport.

In early October the Alberta resident and her husband had deliberate a weekend journey to Toronto to look at a Blue Jays sport.

“So when I got to the airport, we checked in here in Alberta. Everything was fine. When I got to the gate to board the plane to come to Ontario the lady at the ticket – you know where they check your ID – she said to me ‘your driver license is expired’. And I was like ‘really?’”

Requesting one other type of ID, Sacrey solely had her provincial well being card which she offered along with her vaccine passport.

“And she mentioned no you’ll be able to journey with this it’s advantageous, simply get your driver’s license renewed whenever you get again. I mentioned ‘are you sure it will be fine flying to and from?’ and she or he mentioned yeah, it’s Canadian legal guidelines, you’ll be able to journey together with your vaccine passport and Alberta well being care card’’, says Sacrey.

But when she arrived at Pearson, she was requested to step out of the road on the checkin counter.

“I said no, listen, I don’t live here. I’m not from here. And she said ‘Well it looks like to me you’re going to have to drive home’. I had to work the next day. I was just devastated”.

While an Ontario well being card is legitimate as a single piece of photograph ID for nationwide journey, Sacrey’s Alberta well being card doesn’t comprise a photograph, requiring her to supply a second piece of ID that’s listed below Public Safety Canada rules. And whereas she offered her provincially issued vaccine passport that displayed her private info, the doc will not be listed below Public Safety Canada rules as acceptable paperwork.

“They said no, it’s your mistake. You did this. You’re just going to have to stay there and wait until someone mails you your passport”, describes the Fort McMurray resident, who put her religion within the info the Flair agent in Alberta had advised her.

“There was no common decency. It’s fine that it was my mistake but the way they handled the situation we will never fly Flair again”.

Sacrey’s husband approached a WestJet agent explaining the state of affairs. After reviewing her items of ID, they knowledgeable the pair that she may board a flight residence with their airline. And like Conway and Oppers, she too was denied reimbursement after contacting Flair about what their experiences.

“These conditions are unlucky. We remorse that the passengers could have obtained conflicting info, and we are going to evaluation the precise circumstances”, writes a Flair spokesperson in a press release to CityNews.

“Where Flair has erred, it is going to attempt to make it proper. The onus of offering legitimate journey identification is on the passenger, pursuant to the publicly obtainable info on the airline web site and by Transport Canada. There are a a number of legitimate sorts of identification for journey.”

CityNews despatched a replica of the Service Ontario kind to Transport Canada inquiring whether or not or not it was legitimate to board home flights, a spokesperson from the company didn’t tackle the shape however solely reiterated the knowledge posted on the Public Safety Canada web page.

According to the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery the transaction file offered on the finish of the method can be utilized to entry Ontario well being providers.

“Transaction records are familiar to health care providers and show the card number and current version code. These can be used in lieu of the original health card to access insured health services, while waiting for the health card to arrive”, writes Issues Management and Media Relations Manager, Matteo Guinci in an electronic mail to CityNews.

While it’s confirmed that these transaction paperwork can be utilized in lieu of the unique well being card for admittance of well being providers in Ontario, it’s nonetheless unclear in the event that they’re accepted in lieu of the unique well being card for different providers like home journey, because it continues to be accepted by some airline workers and never others.

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