As hundreds of Canadians scramble to get home after their Sunwing flights from Mexico were canceled last week, a passengers’ rights advocate says stranded travelers should consider legal action if they are not compensated by the airline. Are being given.
As of Sunday, hundreds of Canadian travelers were stuck in Cancun, Mexico, after Sunwing canceled its flights. Some described being shuffled from hotel to hotel, sometimes only to find that no rooms had been booked for them, while Sunwing executives gave incorrect and incomplete information about when they might get home.
Sheldon de Souza said in an interview on Monday that a similar situation is playing out in Puerto Vallarta on Mexico’s west coast. He said he flew out there on December 14 with his wife, three children and three family friends, and a flight home with Sunwing was scheduled for December 21.
That flight was cancelled, although only some passengers were told, he said. He said there was incomplete information and confusion from Sunwing for several days.
He and a group of fellow travelers were taken to different hotels and told to check out every day and report to the lobby every hour if there was any flight news.
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De Souza said Sunwing executives at the hotel would say a flight was arriving, only to say hours later that it had been cancelled. He added that in the meantime, flights would not appear in the airport’s daily schedule, leading de Souza to believe he was being misled.
He said he booked himself a spot on an Air Canada flight back to Calgary on December 23, which cost him about $1,000. He said his wife, their children and their friends managed to get a Sunwing flight home on Boxing Day, but only because they started pushing for a spot at the airport.
He said he snagged seats on a Sunwing flight to Edmonton late on Christmas Day, even walking up to the gate with a boarding pass. But then officials said the crew were beyond their maximum working hours and the plane was cancelled.
“It felt like Sunwing let us down, they didn’t care,” De Souza said. “It’s not even that they tried, they forgot us.”
He said “several hundred” Canadians were stranded in Puerto Vallarta at the time of his departure, and some were likely still there.
Sonal D’Souza, her son, Sarah Pereyre and her baby finally made it home to Calgary on Monday after five days of delay and three resorts. But the extended stay was not like a vacation, Sonal said.
“You’re walking around with all your important documents. You’re not really enjoying it because you’re keeping an eye on your phone to make sure you’re not missing any communication.” Can get out
“And the communication from Nexus, which has the representative in Puerta Vallarta, was terrible. He said a flight is coming for you. Make sure you are in the lobby by 8:30. Pickup is at 9. We waited till 11:30. No one came to pick us up.
In the wake of “no communication at all from Nexus or Sunwing”, the group went to the airport themselves, “demanding to board a flight.”
And, the flight home was “half empty,” Perere said.
Both women say they will seek compensation from Sunwing.
“I do not discount that the flight was delayed due to the weather, but five days?” Sonal said.
“We know because we’re all in a group chat, there are people stranded who have been kicked out of hotels, have no place to go and Sunwing is not responding,” she said.
Other stranded travelers reported half-empty return flights from Mexico.
Smartlinks chartered flight from Cancun to Regina on Dec 26, 2022 at 5:25 pm
supplied to Global News
Gábor Lukács, president and founder of the air passenger rights group, says travelers grappling with canceled flights and insufficient information about when they can be booked should buy their ticket home with a different carrier. and keep careful records and receipts for your expenses.
If Sunwing refuses to compensate them under federal air passenger safety regulationsThey should take the matter to small claims court, Lucas said in an interview.
“We’re at a point in Canada where suing an airline isn’t just about your own money, it’s about changing how they operate. It’s about behavior modification,” he said. “And this is where the government shies away from its duties to the public.”
He said travelers should also call their local MP and ask for better enforcement of traveler rights in Canada.
Federal Air Passenger Safety Regulations oblige airlines to pay up to $1,000 in compensation for cancellations or significant delays that result from causes within the carrier’s control if notification is received 14 days or less before departure.
Lucas said it is unlikely that Sunwing will pay voluntarily. The Canadian Transport Agency, which serves as the federal airline regulator, doesn’t do enough to hold airlines accountable, he said, so they don’t feel as much pressure to follow the rules.
Federal law gives the agency’s enforcement officers the power to investigate companies and individuals they believe have broken the rules and issue fines of up to $25,000.
The regulator’s website shows that over the past five years, just one carrier – WestJet, for 55 instances at the end of January – has been fined for not providing adequate compensation to passengers. The total fine was $11,000.
Lucas said the agency is not issuing enough fines. “The government is turning a blind eye to the malpractices of the airlines,” he said.
The Canadian Transport Agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In an email to Global News Tuesday, Sunwing said, “Many return flights are being affected by delays due to displaced crew and aircraft as a result of severe weather disturbances across Canada.
“Our teams are working hard to get customers back on destination by sub-servicing aircraft and arranging alternative hotels and transfers for those with overnight delays,” said a Sunwing spokesperson.
“Our teams continue to actively work round the clock with multiple airline partners to get aircraft subservient and customers back home.
“We have completed two recovery flights so far this week, we have eight more recovery flights scheduled to depart between today and December 30, 2022, and are currently reviewing recovery plans for our remaining passengers in destination Giving final touches. Additional information will be provided to customers through flight alert notifications and their destination representatives, once the rescheduled return flight is confirmed. In the meantime, Customers can sign up for flight alerts on Sunwing.ca,
Sunwing also said that passengers who are at their destination but wish to book an earlier flight home on another carrier may do so at their own cost and then submit a refund request for their unused Sunwing flight.
Customers currently in destination who would prefer to book an earlier return flight on another carrier may do so at their own cost, should they so choose, and may Submit a refund request for their unused Sunwing return flight.”
Edmontonian Matthew Hudson is stuck in Cancun with his family of five because Sunwing canceled their return flight.
“It’s been at least 24 hours now,” he told Global News Tuesday afternoon. “I expect it to be long.
“It actually started before we left. We were also delayed by more than 24 hours, which in retrospect should have been a red flag.
Hudson said there were several other passengers on the same boat at his resort. It has been delayed for a few days, he said.
“It definitely adds to the tension. We don’t believe anything Sunwing tells us,” he said. “Our only option is to look to the app and Asha. We have received essentially no communication from them – no updates, no updates to our travel arrangements, no mention of a hotel, or benefits of any kind, food , nothing. It’s been zero communication.
This means unexpected out-of-pocket expenses for Hudson and his family.
“Our room we’re staying in tonight — which was the only room available — was $1,400 USD, so it’s out of pocket. We have booked alternate flights home with WestJet, which depart the day after tomorrow, and are going to cost us around $5,000.
“We have nowhere to stay tomorrow, right now.”
Hudson said, after this experience, he would never again travel with a small, vacation-based airline.
“Definitely never.
“This should be a wake-up call for the Canadian airline industry and a wake-up call for the government in terms of the rules and regulations surrounding air travel.”
– Emily Mertz, with files from Global News