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Sunwing Airlines network-wide system outage causing flight delays

WATCH: A computer problem stranded hundreds of Sunwing passengers at Toronto Pearson Airport Monday. Frustrated passengers told Global News the glitch had delayed their flights to sunny destinations in Mexico and the Caribbean, with limited communication from the airline. Sean O’Shea has the story – Apr 18, 2022

Sunwing Airlines says it is dealing with a network-wide system outage that has impacted check-in and boarding for its flights.

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The system issue has resulted in several delays for a number of Sunwing flights, the airline said in a statement Monday on Twitter.

Sunwing issued a statement for all passengers travelling with them over the next 12 to 24 hours to check their flight status before heading to the airport.

“We regret any inconvenience to customers’ travel plans and are working to have the issue resolved as soon as possible,” the airline said.

“We are committed to providing further updates on the situation as needed.”

Sunwing’s website shows virtually all flights scheduled for Monday — more than 40 — have been delayed, some by more than 12 hours.

Meanwhile, Toronto Pearson Airport said it is has been dealing with several frustrated passengers who have flights through Sunwing.

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Some passengers tweeted that they have been “stranded” at the airport in Toronto for more than 20 hours.

The airport tweeted that some passengers got “vouchers for food and accommodation.”

Footage from Global News shows a queue with what appears to be hundreds of passengers waiting to fly or get information from Sunwing at Pearson Airport.

One passenger said she is stuck because of Sunwing’s computer issues and was supposed to get married this week in Costa Rica.

“I’m going to Costa Rica for my wedding that’s already been pushed back once,” Alyssa Deluca told Global News. “It is time-sensitive. We have to be in the country for three full days. We have until midnight for it to be a legal wedding.”

Nathan Hutson, travelling with Deluca, said he was frustrated by a lack of information being given to passengers.

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“I’m mildly frustrated — that would be putting it quite lightly,” he said.

Board showing delays for Sunwing flights at Pearson Airport on Monday. Global News

“The fact that there’s no information being given to anybody at all, not just us but every single other person here, is ridiculous to be quite frank. That they have no information on the ground from somebody further up the food chain.”

Other customers who spoke to Global News also said they were frustrated by a lack of information.

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“That’s been the biggest obstacle really, is no one knows anything and it hasn’t been communicated. Some people have been getting emails and texts, we have not,” said Denise Chaulk, who is supposed to be travelling for the first time since the pandemic began.

“I sort of thought that things might not be as they have been and we were prepared for extra protocols and layers of protection, but we weren’t prepared for this.”

Jim Van Heyst said he also felt bad for the staff at Pearson who were trying to address customer needs.

“There was three people hand writing vouchers for like 400 people and people are getting angry. It was so sad to see that happen to those people,” he said.

Laurie Chiasson said there have been glitches with Sunwing before, but “nothing to this degree.”

“This is just crazy,” she said.

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The system-wide outage remains unresolved.

People are seen waiting at Pearson Airport on Monday. Global News

—  With files from Global News’ Sean O’Shea and The Canadian Press

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