A 67-year-old man was left behind in Cancun Airport by Flair Airlines this month after he failed to pay the check-in fee because he didn’t have a credit card and the airline wouldn’t accept debit.
Colombe Nadeau-O’Shea and her husband, Zoltan Lorantffy, went to Cancun for their wedding recently and were thrilled that Nadeau-O’Shea’s father, Colm Anthony O’Shea, could join them. He’s dealing with several physical and mental health issues, and this was his first trip outside the country in 27 years.
“It was truly a blessing he made it happen,” Nadeau-O’Shea said. “He had a phenomenal time.”
From left: Colm Anthony O’Shea, Colombe Nadeau-O’Shea, and Zoltan Lorantffy at Nadeau-O’Shea and Lorantffy’s wedding in Mexico. (Submitted)
But things took a turn for the worse when O’Shea tried to get back home. He was busy saying goodbye to everyone at the resort, and didn’t complete Flair’s mobile check-in, figuring he’d have time at the airport.
He didn’t see a physical Flair kiosk before security, and couldn’t connect to the airport’s Wifi to check in online. Cancun Airport is notorious for its poor connectivity.
He decided to go through security and check with the gate agent.
When he got to the front of the line at the gate, the Flair representative told him that since he hadn’t checked in online, he’d need to pay a $29 baggage fee — even though his daughter had pre-paid for his luggage both ways.
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Eventually, O’Shea relented and agreed to pay the $29. But the gate agent said Flair only accepted payment by credit card. O’Shea only had debit.
“My father explained to him over and over again that he wasn’t able to check in, but the guy didn’t care at all and said he needed to pay the fee or he wouldn’t get on the flight,” Nadeau-O’Shea said.
O’Shea tried calling Flair to see if they’d accept debit over the phone, but he had no success. He also asked the gate agent if he could temporarily override the fee so a family member could pay it once he’d landed, but that was also a non-starter.
“He was not able to execute the payment, and he asked the young kid at the counter, ‘So you’re going to make me miss my flight because I can’t pay this?’ and the kid said, ‘Yep, that’s it’.”
The flight left without him, and he was stranded in the airport overnight.
By morning, his daughter knew what was going on and booked him a new ticket with Flair that evening. That was because a new agent at Cancun Airport told O’Shea that if they booked a new ticket, they wouldn’t be charged.
O’Shea was a priority passenger for the second flight. He was escorted through security, and the airport check-in fee was waived.
“They were able to waive all of the other fees they said they couldn’t waive the day before,” Nadeau-O’Shea said.
O’Shea landed at Toronto Pearson International Airport safely but went 42 hours without sleep or a proper meal. He’s still recovering and had to start radiation treatment for his cancer only a few days later.
“Every time I talk about it or think about it, I start shaking,” Nadeau-O’Shea said. “He was treated like literal garbage.”
When Nadeau-O’Shea tried to get a refund from Flair for the second ticket, the airline declined. Now, the family is speaking out.
“It’s just unconscionable behaviour by an airline that’s supposed to do far more to service their customers,” Lorantffy, her husband, said. “It’s negligence.”
Air passenger rights advocate Gábor Lukács called Flair’s handling of the situation “unjustifiable.”
The customer was clearly willing to pay, and all Flair needed to do was accept the payment.
He suggested passengers faced with similar situations consider a chargeback on their credit card for certain fees and encouraged travellers to record conversations with airline representatives in the future.
Flair doesn’t accept debit but refunds passenger after Daily Hive’s query
Ross Howey Photo/Shutterstock
Flair’s director of communications, Kim Bowie, confirmed that Flair does not accept payment via debit cards, a restriction stated in the airline’s tariff.
After Daily Hive contacted the airline with questions about what happened, Flair said it would make a one-time exception and refund the family the price of the second flight out of Cancun.
“We can’t (nor can any airline that we are aware of) be held responsible for bad Wifi that prevented the passenger from checking in online ahead of time,” Bowie said.
She added Flair has no record of an agent promising that a second flight home would be free of charge.
But for anyone else having trouble with online check-in, Bowie said the fee is mandatory, and customers can risk missing their flight and losing the cost of their ticket.
“No ticket is made refundable for being unable to check in online.”
As for Nadeau-O’Shea, she and many of her wedding guests are turning away from Flair as their airline of choice. She’s still grateful her father made it to the ceremony but is frustrated that his departure soured what should have been a happy memory.
“I was just devastated I was not able to be there to stand up for him,” she said. “He’s a brilliant man, he’s a capable person. But he can’t be the only one without a credit card.”