Privacy Policy

This Policy applies to the collection and handling of your Personal Information by Flex if you:

• are a visitor and/or user of our Site;
• are one of our business customers or suppliers (or one of their respective representatives);
• apply for a job with us;
• attend any of our events such as webinars and trade events; and/or
• subscribe to any of our marketing materials.

Since our direct customers are businesses (travel agencies or travel product suppliers), this Policy will not apply to you if you are an individual customer of those businesses.  For such individual customers, please read the privacy policy of your provider as their privacy policy and practices may differ from ours.

2.1 Definition. “Personal Information” means factual or subjective information about an identifiable individual. Examples of Personal Information include your name, personal e-mail addresses, phone number and age.

2.2 Personal Information.

1. General. You are not required to provide any Personal Information to simply browse the Flex Website, however, we may collect your Personal Information: (i) when entered by you into forms or data fields on a Site; (ii) when provided by you in person, by phone or email; and (iii) in certain cases, through other sources. The type of information we collect will depend upon the circumstances and may not even be considered Personal Information depending on where you live.
2. Personal Information: Though most of the information you provide to us will be considered business information, there may be some Personal Information that may be collected, including the following:
• Customer or Supplier Information: if you are a potential or current business customer or supplier. We may collect Personal Information such as your name, personal phone number, email address or username.
• Traveller Information: If a travel agency or travel product supplier provides us with Personal Information of its customers, such information would consist of the primary passenger name and the booking number and would be governed by the agency’s or supplier’s privacy policy (as the case may be). From our perspective, such information would be collected and used solely for the purpose of processing payments related to the booking on behalf of the applicable travel agency.
• Applicant Information: if you apply for a job with us or make your profile available through employment agencies or sites. In addition to general Personal Information such as name and contact information, you may be asked to provide your c.v. and references.
• Relationship Information: that helps us do business with you (including with your personnel), such as the types of products and services that may interest you, contact and product preferences, languages, creditworthiness and marketing preferences.
• Transactional information: about how you interact with us, including inquiries, banking information, account information, report delivery details, financial data and correspondence history.
• Security and Compliance Information: that helps us to secure our interests, including for fraud prevention and internal verification.
• Voluntary Information: that you provide to us through emails, responses to surveys, online forms or similar vehicles.
• Third Party Sourced Information: such as from public databases and other third parties. For example, to confirm your job experience and/or conduct a background check if you apply for a position with us or to verify your professional credentials.
1. Sensitive Personal Information. Generally, Flex does not collect or process sensitive Personal Information (such as financial information, health and medical conditions, race/ethnic origins), unless you choose to provide it or when required by applicable laws, e.g. credit card information where payment is required.
2. Third Party Personal Information. If you submit any Personal Information relating to other people to us, you represent that you have the authority to do so and to permit us to use the Personal Information in accordance with this Policy.

2.3 Non-Personal Information.

When you visit our Site, we automatically track and collect certain non-personal information, including : (i) IP address, (ii) domain server, (iii) type of computer, (iv) type of web browser; and (v) number of views (collectively “Non-Personal Information“). For further details on what Non-Personal Information is collected or generated, the purposes for the collection and how to disable the cookie function, please consult the section on Non-Personal Information.

3.1 Data Protection Officer. Flex has established the office of the Data Protection Officer to oversee the implementation of our Policy and address complaints about the handling of your Personal Information.

3.2 Employees. The Data Protection Officer has developed and conducted training programs to foster employees’ awareness and understanding of our privacy practices. Safeguards are in place so that the Personal Information is not accessed or disclosed more widely than is necessary to achieve the purpose(s) for which it was gathered. The categories of employees who would have access to your Personal Information would depend upon the purpose for providing the information. For example, if you apply for a position with us, your information would be shared with human resources but not with marketing.

3.3 Third Parties. We may share your Personal Information with third parties, who are bound by law and by contract to protect your Personal Information and are only authorized to use your Personal Information in accordance with our instructions.

4.1 Consent. The type of consent we obtain will depend on the circumstances and on the applicable laws where you live. In some cases, an implied consent may be sufficient. In others, the law may require us to obtain your express consent. Express consent includes a verbal consent, a signature, or an online checkmark.

4.2 No Consent. Sometimes it may not be possible or may be inappropriate to obtain your consent. In those cases, we may collect, use or disclose your Personal Information without your consent. For example: (a) if it is clearly in your interests (such as a medical emergency or a threat to your safety); (b) to comply with applicable laws or regulations (e.g. a warrant or other court order) or with a request by a governmental authority; (c) to collect a debt; (d) to investigate fraud or breach of an agreement or applicable law; (e) to protect the safety of our personnel and third parties on our premises; (f) in the event of a reorganization, restructuring or similar corporate change; or (g) as otherwise legally required or permitted.

5.1 Personal Information. Flex identifies the purposes for which Personal Information is collected at or before the time of collection. The general purposes for collecting your Personal Information will depend upon the circumstances, but can be any or all of the following:

• • to perform our contract with you and to provide you with the information, products and services that you request from us;
  • for our legitimate interests, which are our usual business activities;
  • to notify you about changes to our Services;
  • as required or permitted by applicable laws and regulations (e.g. anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws);
  • to protect your or someone’s vital interests, where required, and to the extent of applicable law; and
  • for any additional purposes to which you’ve consented.

5.2 Examples. Below are some examples of how we use your Personal Information:

1. To provide you with our products and services: such as agency management, payment processing, revenue management and consulting services to travel agencies and travel product suppliers. We also use your Personal Information to provide related services such as to establish and maintain business relationships with you, our business partners and suppliers; provide customer service; assist in troubleshooting; and manage our account and billing;
2. To manage our contractual obligations and your ongoing relationship with us: including to communicate with you, provide access and services through our Portal, analyze and improve the products and services we offer and inform you about them;
3. To develop or enhance marketing activities: including to plan and host events and subject to your consent (where required by applicable laws), identify and offer additional services, products, promotions and other communications in which you may be interested (e.g., company newsletters, surveys or emails);
4. To consider you for employment: if you apply for a position with us, to determine your eligibility, including to confirm your references, qualifications and employment history;
5. To manage our everyday business needs: such as for our internal account management, client reporting, contract management, website administration, compliance governance (e.g. tracking of consents to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use), business continuity and disaster recovery, security and fraud prevention, corporate governance, reporting and legal compliance; and
6. As otherwise authorized by you.

5.3 Non-Personal Information. Below is a description of the types of non-personal information collected or generated by us and our service providers and the purposes for such collection or generation.

1. General Purposes: As you use the Services, certain non-personally identifiable information may be collected or generated by us as well as by our third party service providers (through cookies and other third party tracking services) to analyze, improve, support and operate the Services. In general, we may use Non-Personal Information:
   
   1. To improve your experience on our Site;
   2. To monitor interest in our products and services and to assist us in customizing certain features of the Site, for instance, to deliver content in the most effective manner; and
   3. To show you the content that might be of interest to you and to in accordance with your preferences.
2. Aggregated Data/De-Identified Data: Aggregated data will not contain any information that could be used to identify you. We may analyze and/or combine all information we receive, including the Personal Information and information regarding your use of the Services, with information from other users to create aggregated data that may be disclosed to and utilized by us and by third parties without restriction on terms that we can determine in our sole discretion, for purposes such as research and marketing strategies.
3. Cookies:
   
   1. Cookies Used: We use cookies to learn how you interact with our content and to improve your experience when visiting our Site. A cookie is a small piece of data that a website asks your browser to store on your computer or mobile device. Flex uses session and persistent cookies on the Site.
      
      1. Session Cookies: Session cookies are used to ensure that you are recognised when you move from page to page within one site and that any information you have entered is remembered. Session cookies are temporary data files which are erased when you close your browser at the end of your surfing session. The next time you visit the Site it will not recognise you and will treat you as a completely new visitor as there is nothing in your browser to let the Site know that you have visited before.
      2. Persistent Cookies: Persistent cookies help our Site remember your information and settings when you visit them in the future (e.g. your language preference). These cookies remain on your hard drive until you erase them or they expire.
   2. How to Block/Reject Cookies: Cookies are limited in what they can do and don’t usually pose a risk to your privacy. You can delete cookies at any time. Most Web browsers automatically accept cookies however you can configure your web browser to remove/adjust cookies by following the directions provided in your Internet browser’s “help” section. If you do, some parts or functions of the Services may not work properly for you. You may also visit www.allaboutcookies.org for details on how to delete or reject cookies and for further information on cookies generally. By using our Site without deleting or rejecting some or all cookies, you agree that we can place those cookies that you have not deleted or rejected on your device.
4. Google Analytics and Google Tracking Cookies: We use Google Analytics to analyze visits on the Flex Website and to understand how our media campaigns work and how you interact with the Flex Website in order to improve the user experience. Google Analytics uses cookies to record certain behaviour by visitors, such as the number of visits to the Flex Website, the path taken and the duration of the visit. Google tracking cookies enable us to understand if you complete certain actions on our Flex Website after you have seen or clicked through one of our adverts served via Google. Based on the content you have engaged with on our Site, Google is able to deliver some targeted adverts across other Google partner websites. Google’s ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about your use of the Services is restricted by Google’s Terms of Service located here and Privacy Policy located here. To opt out of Google Analytics and Google Tracking Cookies, please click on here and here.

6.1 Personal Information.

Flex transfers Personal Information only to those third parties who need to have access to it to fulfill the purposes for which the information was collected. Access by such third parties is further restricted by only allowing access to the minimum amount of Personal Information necessary to fulfill the identified purposes. We may share your information:

• With business partners, suppliers and sub-contractors for the performance of any contract we enter into with them or you;
• With service providers who provide certain services on our behalf, such as data hosting and processing, cloud storage, payment processing, analytics, customer service and support services;
• With recruitment and personnel agencies to assist us with recruiting and hiring and related matters;
• With credit reference agencies for the purpose of assessing and maintaining your credit score where this is a condition of us entering into a contract with you;
• With potential buyers in the event of a reorganization, restructuring, or a change of ownership or control, including, a merger or an acquisition of any or all of our business assets;
• When required under applicable law (e.g. in response to a subpoena or an order of a court or government agency);
• To protect our rights, property and safety (including to protect us from fraud and credit risk);
• To support external auditing, compliance and corporate governance functions; and/or
• When permitted or required pursuant to this Policy or with your consent.

Except as stated above, or unless otherwise stated in this Policy or at the time of collection, our policy is that we will not sell, rent, share, or authorize any third party to use your Personal Information without your consent.

6.2 Non-Personal Information.

Non-personal information is provided to our business partners and our suppliers for processing to fulfill the purposes set out above or as otherwise consented by you. We may also share information about our user audience in aggregate or de-identified form with analytics and search engine providers that assist us in the improvement and optimisation of our Site.

Flex is headquartered in Montreal, Quebec but has customers around the world. Please be aware that we maintain and process your Personal Information in Canada. Your data, including Personal Information is hosted and stored in Canada at our offices as well as by our supplier, Amazon Web Services. All of your Personal Information will be afforded a level of protection in accordance with applicable laws and contractual obligations wherever it is processed and no matter whether it is held by us or by Amazon Web Services.

You may restrict the amount and type of Personal Information that Flex receives about you simply by choosing not to provide your Personal Information to us. However, some of our Services can only be provided to you if you provide us with a minimum amount of Personal Information. Other parts of our Services may ask whether you wish to opt into our contact lists for surveys and additional services that may be of interest to you. Depending on your country of residence, you may have the right or choice to:

• Access, rectify, or update your inaccurate or out-of-date Personal Information;
• Withdraw any consent provided. Note that any withdrawal of consent to use your Personal Information will be effective as of the date of withdrawal but will have no retroactive effect. However, in certain circumstances, withdrawing your consent could mean that you may no longer be able to receive certain Services;
• Opt-out or unsubscribe out of some collection or uses of your Personal Information, including the use of cookies and similar technologies, the use of your Personal Information for marketing purposes, and the anonymization of your Personal Information for data analyses;
• Request erasure, restrict processing and/or object to processing of your Personal Information or exercise the right to data portability; and
• Where applicable, lodge a complaint with us. Once Flex receives your complaint, we will initiate an inquiry and respond to it in writing. If you believe that we did not properly respond to your complaint, you may have the right to lodge a complaint with the competent governmental authority if you are a resident in certain jurisdictions (e.g. Canada or the European Union).

To exercise any of your rights above, please contact us. Note that the rights set out above are not absolute and depend upon where you reside. There are instances where applicable law or regulatory requirements allow or require us to refuse your request to exercise a particular right or choice. In the event that we cannot provide you with access to your Personal Information, we will inform you of the reasons why, subject to any legal or regulatory restrictions.

Flex uses technical, physical and administrative controls to protect your Personal Information including the following: your Personal Information is encrypted at rest and in transit; offices are locked when not in use; authorized employees, agents and service providers will have access to your Personal Information only to the extent necessary in connection with their role; and data protection agreements are entered into with each of our customers setting out data sharing restrictions. Unfortunately, no control or procedure can be 100% effective, and so we cannot guarantee that your Personal Information will not be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed by breach of any of our safeguards and we make no representations as to the reasonableness, efficacy, or appropriateness of the control or procedure we use to safeguard such data. Mitigating risks requires your cooperation as well – including submitting only the minimum Personal Information necessary for Flex to fulfill the purpose for its collection and implementing the proper safeguards on your end (e.g. strong passwords, installing anti-virus ware, ignoring phishing attempts, etc.) Where Flex believes that there can be a residual risk of significant harm despite the measures we implement, we will inform you of such risks at the time of collection.

Our Services do not intentionally collect any Personal Information from children. Should a child whom we know to be under the legal age of majority provides his or her Personal Information, we will use that information only to respond directly to that child to inform him or her that we must have parental consent before receiving his or her Personal Information.

Your Personal Information will be retained as long as necessary to achieve the purpose for which it was collected. The retention period may vary based on the amount, nature and sensitivity of your Personal Information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure or applicable legal requirements. Once Personal Information is no longer reasonably necessary or relevant for the identified purposes, or required by law to be retained, your Personal Information will be destroyed, erased or de-identified.

12.1 CASL.
We will obtain your consent prior to sending commercial electronic messages (including emails) (“CEM“) to you, unless applicable laws, such as Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (“CASL“) provides for an exemption. Exemptions include where:

• 1. you are a business and we have a pre-existing business relationship with you;
  2. we are responding to your requests, inquiries or complaints; or
  3. we are complying with our legal obligations (including sending you legally required notices).

12.2 CEM Practices. Below is a description of how Flex generally uses CEMs to communicate with you.

• 1. We reserve the right to send you an e-mail or SMS text messages relating to confirmations, notifications about changes to the Site, and/or to our Policy or Site terms and conditions, and similar transactional communications. You are not able to opt out of receiving these messages.
  2. From time to time we may send you e-mail or SMS text messages about products, services, and opportunities that we think may be interesting to you. If you do not wish to receive these communications, you can use the “unsubscribe” feature in each such email or message.
  3. If you contact us by e-mail, we will use your e-mail address to respond to you. If possible, try to avoid sending us any Personal Information. Please send us only the minimum amount of Personal Information necessary to address your inquiry, as email sent over the internet is not necessarily secure.
  4. Flex does not share, sell, rent, swap or authorize any third party to use your e-mail address for commercial purposes without your permission. If you believe that you have received an e-mail from us in error, please contact us.

12.3 If you do not wish to receive information and promotional material from us you may update your subscription preferences, by contacting [email protected].

Our Site may, from time to time, contain links to and from the websites of our partner networks or advertisers. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies or their Personal Information handling practices. Please check these policies before you submit any Personal Information to these websites. Linked sites are for your convenience only and your use of them is subject to each individual website’s privacy policy and terms of use. The inclusion of a link on our Site does not imply our endorsement of the linked site or service. Some third parties will share the Personal Information under their control with us again, such sharing is governed by such third parties’ privacy policy.

Flex reserves the right to change this Policy at any time. Any such changes will be posted on this page so that you are kept current of our privacy practices and the effective date of the revised Policy will be set out in the revised Policy. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our Policy.

Flex has established the office of the Data Protection Officer to oversee its implementation of the Policy and address any concerns about the handling of your Personal Information. You can contact:

Data Protection Officer

Flex Travel Solutions, Inc.
3 Place Ville Marie, Suite 400,
Montreal (Quebec) H3B 2E3
Email: [email protected]