There was frustration among Sunwing Airlines travelers at Trudeau International Airport in Montreal Tuesday morning as, for a second day, hundreds of passengers were left scrambling after their scheduled flights were either cancelled or delayed.
“My flight has been delayed since yesterday, 8 a.m.,” said Ashley Trudeau shaking her head as she stood in line at the check-in counter. “It got delayed seven times yesterday and so far today, three times.”
The company said it’s experiencing “a network wide systems issue,” forcing employees to process flights manually.
Tuesday morning all seven flights scheduled to leave were either delayed or cancelled, as were the nine flights that were scheduled to arrive.
“We waited like eight hours yesterday at the airport,” said Mia Beorgeois who is trying to fly to Cancun, Mexico. “There’s a hotel (close by) so we went there to sleep.”
The problem was the same across the country and abroad. Montrealers trying to return from vacation Tuesday also found themselves stranded.
Lauriane Belisle-Leblond went to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic with her family. While they were scheduled to return Tuesday, she said they have no idea when they’ll get back home.
“It will impact my two older children who will not be able to go back to school tomorrow,” she told Global News from her hotel. “My spouse was supposed to be working tomorrow and won’t be able to go in tomorrow.”
Though some passengers commend Sunwing staff at Trudeau International Airport for doing their best, many say the company could’ve done better.
“I think maybe the lack of communication,” said Jude Tremblay of the problems faced. “I mean you can see a lot of frustrated people.”
“To be honest I would’ve appreciated an email,” said Belisle-Leblond, “because I was the one to find out there was an issue yesterday because of other travelers.”
In a statement, Sunwing says its third-party systems provider, Airline Choice “continues to work with the relevant authorities to find a resolution to the system issue as soon as possible. In the meantime, while we continue to process flights manually, additional flight delays can be expected and customers are advised to sign up for flight alerts on Sunwing.ca.”
Gabor Lukacs, president of the organization Air Passenger Rights believes, however, Sunwing should’ve had better contingencies to prevent this.
“You have to have backup plans,” he stressed. “What if the whole reservation system goes down? Does it mean that you’re going to stop for a week? Certainly not.”
A Sunwing spokesperson said the airline processed 15 flights manually Monday and they hope to process at least that number on Tuesday.
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