Flair Closes Call Center Because it's "Too Busy"

[notwhoyouthinkIam]

https://onemileatatime.com/news/flair-a ... one-lines/

[boeingboy]

Sure doesn't speak well to their organization skills......

[SMD]

Those are your conclusions? Higher than anticipated call volume that requires the system to be upgraded to handle triple the demand is hardly the beginning of the end.

A company that acknowledges a problem then takes steps to fix it is an admirable trait.

Westjet suspended its flights for 2 weeks in 96 over a maintenance scheduling disagreement with TC. I don’t remember anyone calling it the end. I do remember TC coming out on the wrong side of it to no one’s surprise.

I don’t think I know who you are but I do know you are a little delicate for aviation.

[GRK2]

Sure doesn't speak well to their organization skills......

Honestly, it beats the hell out of AC and their complete meltdown when they changed res systems not long ago. They shut it all down and didn't tell ANYONE! They just let the public wait it out. Then they laid most of those employees off. Flair is tripling their res staff and you guys are calling it all over. I agree it's a different method and seems non standard but it's certainly an honest one. Organization skills? Tell me how you might have handled this. Instead of stringing the paying public along and then covering up what is an extraordinary occurrence, Flair stood up and made a plan to take the pain and be honest. Seems right to me.

[flying4dollars]

How is this action the beginning of the end? I was on hold with Westjet recently for 2+ hours over an inquiry about a cancelled flight and I was given wrong info and had to call again with 1 hour 40 min hold time to get the right answer. You understand many airlines in the world ran thin on staff and are now facing re-hiring and training due to the spike in travel demand right? It's been hard to predict the demand would be what it is in Canada given the lack of clarity over federal and provincial covid rules. In the US, airlines are cancelling flights due to staffing shortages. Shutting phone lines down for a weekend, while not ideal, seems pretty fair considering they are tripling their call center size. You think you'd be able to hire and train someone in 1 day for this? LOL such dramatic thread titles lately. It's actually amusing. Get a grip

[Dias]

If you were only on hold with Westjet for 2 hours you got really lucky. There were reports of >12 hours on hold and being bullied by staff to accept flight credit instead of cash refunds. They also threatened to have someone charged with criminal harassment if they called in again.

[boeingboy]

To be fair - I never said this was the end.

However - these guys went on and on about their shiny new planes. "Look at our shiny new planes!" The glare off the paint must have been so bright that they seem to have forgotten a few things. They were on the ball enough to hire some crews to fly them - but they forgot about the customer service center?

These guys were not a muti-billion dollar company before the pandemic.....they were for all intents and purposes, barely operating - so re-hiring and travel spikes should not have been an issue. Neither can you use the excuse about government restrictions.....they don't seem bothered by them in the least. For months they have been hyping up this massive expansion and I'm sure they were working on it for months before they announced it. Seems to me that's more then enough time for the customer service department to hire some people.

One other thing disturbs me. They got their first new plane (#4) barely a month ago - how many customer "inquiries" can they have? Maybe too many people can't use their poor (supposedly) website? or maybe they all want refunds for all those (supposedly) cancelled flights? Possibly they are just calling to congratulate them? Hmmm.....

[rudder]

What impact on Flair staffing will be the departure of all the SWG pilots?

[vrefplus5]

Well admittedly, some will (and rumoured to already have) most definitely, but surely not all I wouldn’t think.

[YC87DRVR]

Sure doesn't speak well to their organization skills......

Honestly, it beats the hell out of AC and their complete meltdown when they changed res systems not long ago. They shut it all down and didn't tell ANYONE! They just let the public wait it out. Then they laid most of those employees off. Flair is tripling their res staff and you guys are calling it all over. I agree it's a different method and seems non standard but it's certainly an honest one. Organization skills? Tell me how you might have handled this. Instead of stringing the paying public along and then covering up what is an extraordinary occurrence, Flair stood up and made a plan to take the pain and be honest. Seems right to me.

It’s one thing to shut down a system to give rest to staff or upgrade the system. But when a system is failing so poorly the only solution is to shut it down does not speak well.
What’s going to happen Monday, they’re going to be even further behind the 8 ball and still as productive as they were before the shut down.
The logical thing would be to increase staff, run call centres 24/7, do anything possible to alleviate the call volume.
Really the only thing that can possibly reduce there call volume by doing this is that people say f*ck it and fly with someone else. Not great for business for an “expanding” airline.

[DHC-1 Jockey]

What impact on Flair staffing will be the departure of all the SWG pilots?

Quite a few SWG pilots have declined being recalled for training (as is their right per the CBA) since they would then just be laid off again immediately after their PPC.

I think a lot of SWG pilots at Flair (and elsewhere) would just keep passing on their recall to SWG until either they are either:
A) Back flying the line again full-time;
B) Have some relative seniority again or
C) Are recalled for Captain training (Captains currently recalled as F/O's are only paid F/O rate).

[boeingboy]

Now this would be refreshingly honest....

Dear Canadians,
We at Flair want to thank you for helping to make our company grow. We are striving to give you the best customer service possible and our call center staff are working extra hard to achieve this. Our call center is staffed by 2 highly experienced team members and is located in the basement suite of one of our majority shareholders...Mr. Jim Scott. Unfortunately - due to a pending legal matter - Mr. Scott has evicted our team from his basement. As a result - we currently have no phones. While we move into a new basement office and set up new phones - we will be tripling the size of our call team in order to keep up with all complaints. We are working hard to clear this backlog and making sure your trip was the best experience it could be for $49 in all of Canada.
Thank you for you patience and we look forward to you trying to fly Flair in the near future.

[rooster]

To be fair - I never said this was the end.

However - these guys went on and on about their shiny new planes. "Look at our shiny new planes!" The glare off the paint must have been so bright that they seem to have forgotten a few things. They were on the ball enough to hire some crews to fly them - but they forgot about the customer service center?

These guys were not a muti-billion dollar company before the pandemic.....they were for all intents and purposes, barely operating - so re-hiring and travel spikes should not have been an issue. Neither can you use the excuse about government restrictions.....they don't seem bothered by them in the least. For months they have been hyping up this massive expansion and I'm sure they were working on it for months before they announced it. Seems to me that's more then enough time for the customer service department to hire some people.

One other thing disturbs me. They got their first new plane (#4) barely a month ago - how many customer "inquiries" can they have? Maybe too many people can't use their poor (supposedly) website? or maybe they all want refunds for all those (supposedly) cancelled flights? Possibly they are just calling to congratulate them? Hmmm.....

Brooooo who hurt you lol? All you do is criticise anything you're not part of. Flair has more than tripled in size in a short amount of time. I think it's called growing pains. I was optimistic travel demand in Canada would increase this summer, but I was cautious about that because of talk of this Delta variant and whether restrictions would ease or not. I doubt airline execs knew much more than the rest of us as we are all passengers in this ridiculous pandemic. Could they have tripled their call centre sooner? Yeah maybe. But that's hindsight seeing 20/20. Personally I think it would be shitty service if they chose not to tripe their CC and rather let people wait on hold for as long as it look. Seems to me whatever flaws are happening are being rectified. That's a sign of growth.

Ya'll really critical of Flair. Makes me wonder if it's driven by envy? Haters gonna hate.

[Old fella]

Looking at FlightRadar24(member) they (Flair) have 8 of their aircraft in the air as I type. Good to see such activity, it means folks are travelling. That’s what y’all want isn’t it.

[flying4dollars]

Looking at FlightRadar24(member) they (Flair) have 8 of their aircraft in the air as I type. Good to see such activity, it means folks are travelling. That’s what y’all want isn’t it.

Appears 'they', want to see Flair fail. Nobody likes the new kid. Until the new kid does something cool and becomes popular

[Old fella]

Looking at FlightRadar24(member) they (Flair) have 8 of their aircraft in the air as I type. Good to see such activity, it means folks are travelling. That’s what y’all want isn’t it.

Appears 'they', want to see Flair fail. Nobody likes the new kid. Until the new kid does something cool and becomes popular

Well they(Flair) have been around a few years and survived,currently expanding with ‘37MAX so must be doing something right in seeing opportunities. I wish them every success and nothing but the very best going forward. Hiccups and growing pains are par for the course , happens to them all.

[fish4life]

Looking at FlightRadar24(member) they (Flair) have 8 of their aircraft in the air as I type. Good to see such activity, it means folks are travelling. That’s what y’all want isn’t it.

Appears 'they', want to see Flair fail. Nobody likes the new kid. Until the new kid does something cool and becomes popular

Well they(Flair) have been around a few years and survived,currently expanding with ‘37MAX so must be doing something right in seeing opportunities. I wish them every success and nothing but the very best going forward. Hiccups and growing pains are par for the course , happens to them all.

The Flair that has been around for years is the one suing the new flair though

[acpaleaks]

Appears 'they', want to see Flair fail. Nobody likes the new kid. Until the new kid does something cool and becomes popular

Well they(Flair) have been around a few years and survived,currently expanding with ‘37MAX so must be doing something right in seeing opportunities. I wish them every success and nothing but the very best going forward. Hiccups and growing pains are par for the course , happens to them all.

The Flair that has been around for years is the one suing the new flair though

No the majority shareholder who was bypassed in risky decision making is suing. The is no old and new a Flair in the eyes of the law.

[boeingboy]

While Flair has been around since 2005 - they have had multiple owners and multiple operating forms. They have not been a sched airline for all that time.

[boeingboy]

Brooooo who hurt you lol? All you do is criticise anything you're not part of. Flair has more than tripled in size in a short amount of time. I think it's called growing pains. I was optimistic travel demand in Canada would increase this summer, but I was cautious about that because of talk of this Delta variant and whether restrictions would ease or not. I doubt airline execs knew much more than the rest of us as we are all passengers in this ridiculous pandemic. Could they have tripled their call centre sooner? Yeah maybe. But that's hindsight seeing 20/20. Personally I think it would be shitty service if they chose not to tripe their CC and rather let people wait on hold for as long as it look. Seems to me whatever flaws are happening are being rectified. That's a sign of growth.

Ya'll really critical of Flair. Makes me wonder if it's driven by envy? Haters gonna hate.

I could criticize my own company lots...we all could, but at the end of the day - they do alright for themselves.

You need to take a look at reality. I'd love Flair to succeed, but this is not by far my first Rodeo....have you even gotten on the pony yet? History is full of the same story. The new guy gets stars in his eyes and has every excuse why the last 10 guys didn't make it - but they all have the same formula. ULCC's will not work.... and rapid expansion from nothing to everything is a doomed strategy. I hate seeing guys get jobs only to be out of jobs 2 years later, it just floods the industry with out of work people and just makes it that much harder on everyone. We need companies that will be in it for the long haul.....and that takes lots of time and patience. In a 20 year span wouldn't you rather have 6 or 7 good stable companies - rather than 20 that come and go overnight?

Envy? HAHAHA - not in the slightest. I'm more than happy where I am thanks.