Flair customers say they're owed more after plane seizures, flight cancellations

Flair Airlines said this week that it has reimbursed almost all 1,900 passengers whose flights were cancelled after the seizure of four of the carrier's planes earlier this month, but some customers say they are owed more money -- while others say no refunds have come through at all. Bailiffs repossessed Boeing 737 jets on which the discount carrier had overdue payments at airports in Toronto, Edmonton and Waterloo, Ont., in the early morning hours of March 11. The seizures meant multiple flights that day had to be cancelled, sending customers scrambling to rebook on other airlines, or to give up entirely. Carrie Kennedy was at the gate with two friends for a Toronto-Halifax flight -- all three had booked time off work for a March break getaway -- when the cancellation was announced. "It was supposed to be her first plane ride," the Barrie, Ont., resident said of her friend's six-year-old daughter. "She was bawling her eyes out. 'Why can't I go see grandma? I want to see grandma.' "She was heartbroken," Kennedy added. The group has tried and failed to receive any refunds for the cancelled trip, she said. The airline had rebooked them on a flight five days later than scheduled, with a return flight one day after that, which they declined. After The Canadian Press asked Flair about reimbursements Monday morning, the airline replied that evening that hundreds more refunds had been paid that day, with only eight remaining. "We do not want any customer to feel frustrated and so our teams have been working hard to get the reimbursements paid," the airline said. "In most cases, it required manual tabulation by our customer service team. Any remaining amounts outstanding to customers should be paid out within the next 48 hours."<br/>