A gloomy day as the AirTrain approaches here in JFK.
Flair depart from JFK's Terminal 1. Their check-in desks are located in Zone B.
Carry-ons and additional bags are monitored very closely. I was told "If it's not tagged, it doesn't fly!".
After sorting my check-in issue out (I could not check-in online or obtain a mobile boarding pass), I headed to security but not before first walking past Alice Aycock's 1998 art installation, the Star Sifter. It's been saved from scrap numerous times, with even the high courts becoming involved! Personally, I don't see the appeal.
Terminal 1 was extremely quiet at this early hour.
Fortunately though, the Air France lounge was open and I could access using Priority Pass.
It's on the smaller side as lounges go, but it's brightly lit, warm and cosy.
Plenty of good spirits on offer too, including this Château Montifaud cognac.
A smaller, stripped back breakfast offering, but good quality nevertheless.
Great cheese too, including my personal favourite - comté!
The flight showed boarding so myself, and many other passengers headed down to Gate 4.
And still, the rain kept on coming down…
Flair Airlines staff were asking random passengers to try their luggage in the sizer. Think Ryanair in terms of a business model!
Then, nearly half an hour after we were due to board, the gate staff updated the screen to show a further 39 minute delay. Why was we not informed earlier? They knew the inbound aircraft was late and just failed to pass the message on. I could have had more comté!
We then boarded. The seats are arranged in a 3-3 configuration and upholstered in a navy blue leather finish. They were very reminiscent to that of the old Thomson Airways short haul seats on their 737's that I used to work on!
The legroom was tight - but what did I expect?
As 'ultra-low-cost' as Flair dub themselves, you can imagine my surprise when every single seat had a PRINTED in-flight magazine. When was the last time you saw one of these?
Here is Flair Airlines' short-haul food and drink offering, complete with prices. A little steep but not as bad as I had expected.
Snapped this during the taxi. Never seen a Cayman Airways aircraft up close and personal before.
We took off late and began climbing away from JFK towards YYZ.
It was very bumpy and very cloudy!
But after a while, we finally got a bit of blue sky!
I was weighing up either 45 minutes of sleep or a can of Coca-Cola Zero and a cheese pizza for $14 (CAD).
The sleep won.
The cabin is quite bright and airy. Nice mood lighting, too!
And just like that, we were in Toronto, which was equally as gloomy…
We arrived on stand a little over 45 minutes late.
For me, it was over to flight connections to catch a transatlantic flight back. I'll let you guess who I'm flying with next! Thanks for reading.
