This page is being posted on Christmas day and we are happy to take a brief moment to wish all of you a truly happy best of the season. May you have a day filled with joy, and love, family around you (or at least in your hearts), and above all else a feeling of peace.

Flair airline is what they call a ULCC - an ultra low cost carrier. It's like Spirit or Frontier in the States or Ryanair and Easyjet in Europe. The idea of these airlines is that they have a low base price, and then they try to nickel and dime you to death. But something in their operating model also has them with more direct flights, though there are fewer weekly flights than with a real airline. 

We are not the right kind of customer to benefit from something like Flair. We come dragging bikes, and with panniers full of gear. We need to bring a dozen batteries on board, and store them in the overhead racks. Flair's charging algorithm is beside itself with joy when it sees us coming. All in, flying to Cancun cost us $420 each this time. That is roughly equivalent to what it would have cost with one of our two major carriers - Westjet and Air Canada. But Flair had that other big edge - their flight is direct, and the departure/arrival times work out, given that we have to get to Vancouver before we can even fly, and neither are we keen on landing in Cancun in the dark.

Flair also made it easy to build up the charges after starting with the base fare. The other airlines set out to sell one of a set of fares - like maybe "Super Budget", Economy", Economy Plus", "Economy Flex", or whatever. You need to scrutinize the list of features for each to figure out what you get and not with each one. It's work. But with Flair, you start with the base fare and then choose as many of the goodies as you like - like carry on, or having a bike, free cancellation or change, choosing a seat, etc. The other airlines have this a little bit, like with the seats, but Flair is a purer case.  It was so easy that we scarcely realized that in the end we were paying the same as with the other airlines. And the others will even give you free pretzels and an entertainment screen. Flair still won out, however, for its short flight length and for leaving and arriving at the right time.

We could possibly regret Flair if they fail to live up to their scheduled times. But it seems their record is actually better than with the big boys. See you in Cancun (probably!).