Passengers frustrated after Sunwing cancels vacations to prioritize getting others back home
Sunwing says all affected passengers will receive refund within 21 days
Thousands of Canadians hoping to escape the relentless snow and cold at home have had their vacation dreams dashed after Sunwing cancelled all southbound flights out of two of the country's busiest airports this week.
In a statement posted to its website Thursday, the airline said it made the "necessary decision" to cancel all southbound flights out of Toronto Pearson International Airport on Wednesday and Thursday, and all southbound flights departing from Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport on Thursday.
This was done in order to prioritize the safe return of customers "currently delayed in destinations due to recent weather disruptions, crew availability constraints and extremely limited hotel capacity," Sunwing said.
"This difficult but essential operational decision allows us to redirect our resources toward bringing delayed customers home as quickly and safely as possible."
The cancellations come after back-to-back winter storms hit eastern Canada, and as Toronto grapples with the aftermath of Delta Air Lines Flight 4819, which crashed and flipped upon landing on Monday. All 76 passengers and four crew members survived when the plane skidded on the tarmac and burst into flames.
The wreckage has been cleared from the runway, but the airport is still operating at reduced capacity and two out of five runways remain closed, an official with Toronto's Pearson airport said Thursday.
Sunwing said all affected passengers will receive a refund within 21 days. According to the Pearson website, 13 Sunwing southbound flights were cancelled on Thursday, and another 13 on Wednesday. Sunwing cancelled 21 flights out of Montreal on Thursday.
"I'm just frustrated," said Iesha Williams, who was supposed to fly from Toronto to Cuba on Wednesday to celebrate her 29th birthday.
"I planned this months in advance, and I don't think it's a good look for them," added Williams.
Please be advised that <a href="https://twitter.com/SunwingVacay?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SunwingVacay</a> has cancelled the remainder of its flights for the day, a total of 13 departures out of Toronto Pearson. Sunwing was unable to reduce its operating rates in advance as requested by the airport, which unfortunately resulted in these delayed…
—@TorontoPearson'Groundhog Day' for stranded passengers
Meanwhile, Hans Roach, a city councillor from Waterloo, Ont., says he's been stuck in Punta Cana an extra four days and counting.
He came on Feb. 10 as part of a group of 37 people celebrating a wedding. He was meant to fly home on Feb. 17, he said, but his original flight was delayed over and over due to the weather back in Ontario. Eventually, most of the group paid out-of-pocket to make their own arrangements to fly back.
Now, out of the original 37, it's just Roach and his wife who are still stuck.
"It feels... like a combination of Groundhog Day and Gilligan's Island," he told CBC via FaceTime.
He says that every day is the same: he wakes up, is told to check out of the hotel, sits in the lobby for ten or 12 hours, maybe heads to the airport, where he says there are no flights, so he comes back to the hotel, where there may or may not be any rooms left. He's moved to three different hotels since the saga started.
Roach said there are other travellers in the same situation as him, and they are becoming very anxious. Some are running out of medications they brought with them, only expecting to be gone for a week, he said.
"They're tired. They're crying. They just want to get back home," Roach said.
"People are very, very scared."
Elie Nafekh, also of Waterloo, was part of the same travel group as Roach. He described a similar experience: little information, shuffling back and forth from the airport and moving hotels. But eventually, Nafekh paid for a new flight — to Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
He hopes to fly the rest of the way home today, he said Friday. And he says he understood there were good reasons for the delays, citing the snow and the Delta flight that flipped at Pearson.
"Our frustration really grew from the lack of communication we were receiving from Sunwing. And up to this point, they don't know we're gone," Nafekh said.
"They haven't communicated with us at all. Nothing. No emails. No text messages. Nothing."
'I just wanted to cry'
In Montreal and Toronto earlier this week, passengers were frustrated about missing out on their own vacations, or having to pay out-of-pocket to salvage one.
"It's my sister's wedding. I'm not making it now," said Blayne Mills, whose flight out of Toronto and accommodations in the Dominican Republic were cancelled on Wednesday.
He said he would have tried to fly via a different airline or airport, but because Sunwing Vacations had cancelled his room at the sold-out resort when they cancelled his flight, he'd be unable to attend the wedding.
In Montreal, Manon Fortin said she was ready to cry when she arrived at the airport on Thursday to find her flight cancelled. She was part of a group of 45 people travelling to the Dominican Republic for her 60th birthday.
"I just wanted to cry and we were just, like, everybody looking at each other like, what are we going to do? Forty-five people here, what are we doing with the kids?"
She told CBC Montreal they were able to rebook with another airline — at a cost of about $45,000 for the group.
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With files from CBC's Nicole Williams, Kwabena Odoro, Meagan Fitzpatrick, and the Canadian Press