Some Saskatoon residents hoping for a balmy holiday were grounded when Sunwing left them in the cold.
Lidia Matei and her family bought tickets for a flight to Punta Cana on December 21.
Matei said they were at the airport and her daughter had gone through security when they were told the flight was delayed until Dec. 22, adding that there wasn’t a Sunwing representative to be found.
“We went back on Dec. 22, early morning of course, just for them to tell us that they didn’t have any crew, that they didn’t have any aircraft,” Matei said.
She said it got pushed back again to Dec. 23, and was notified that they need to monitor the Sunwing app for updates.
Matei said their plans changed and decided to stay home, noting that the whole process gave her family a lot of stress.
“In Punta Cana, we were supposed to meet my mother who has stage four cancer.”
“Cancelling a flight is not just an easy thing, and has much more impact on people than just a refund.”
Another resident, J. Johnson, said he went through a similar issue, noting he had tickets for a Sunwing flight at 8:45 a.m. on December 20 to go to Varadero, but that flight also got delayed.
Johnson said they received notification to come back the next day for a 6 a.m. flight.
“We arrived at the airport at around 5 o’clock, we waited there for four hours. There wasn’t a single Sunwing representative to be found in the entire airport. We asked security, we asked the information desk,” Johnson said.
Johnson said people who were sub-contracted by Sunwing came along and offered a food or hotel voucher.
“The third day, the flight was delayed three times.”
He said the flight was finally cancelled on the 23rd
Global News reached out to Sunwing and received a statement.
“As a result of severe winter weather in Vancouver this week which has stranded several planes and crew, we unfortunately had to cancel some southbound flights from other Western Canada airports, including Saskatoon. Customers with direct bookings would have been notified directly while travel agents were notified for those customers who booked through a travel agency,” the statement read.
“Please note that customers with cancelled flights will receive a full refund to their original form of payment. No action is required from customers. Please be advised that refunds will be processed within 30 days. For those customers who would prefer to change their travel to a different date, they can do so before December 27, 2022 by contacting their travel agent or the Sunwing Sales Centre at 1-877-786-9464.”
“We sincerely apologize for cancellations during the busy holiday period, and thank our affected customers across Western Canada as we work to overcome challenges brought on by severe winter weather.”