Sunwing has apologized after video surfaced of a representative telling a Toronto man with a five-month-old baby stranded in Mexico to stop questioning the airline’s decisions or he could have people stay there “forever.” “.
The behavior, which was witnessed by several passengers and captured on cellphone video, was “inappropriate,” a spokesman said, and did not represent the company’s values as it fought to bring hundreds of passengers stranded back to Canada during a wave of cancellations
“The comments of the representative of the destination in the video were inappropriate. An internal review was conducted and the representative was removed from his duties and will face disciplinary action. We sincerely apologize to our customers for his experience and would like to measure that the representative’s comments are not aligned with our company values,” said a statement provided to CTV News.
To onlooking passengers, the comment was insulting after days of travel chaos. Some passengers reported waiting for hours in hotel lobbies and being notified of Sunwing flights not materializing, resulting in missing the opportunity to be home with their families for the holidays.
On top of that, a baggage carousel malfunction saw thousands of bags go missing at Toronto Pearson International Airport amid a national storm that sent airlines reeling on the busiest days of the year.
Sunwing was hit particularly hard after canceled flights stranded people in Mexico and Cuba, with some sleeping on airport floors while awaiting rescue. One image shows a family sleeping on a blanket on a concrete sidewalk outside the Cancun airport. The airline announced Thursday that it was forced to cancel more flights from Saskatchewan effective immediately.
In several videos taken on Christmas Eve at the Cancun airport, passenger Ritesh Bhatia’s son, Rumi, cries in his arms as he talks to an airline representative. Bhatia had said it wasn’t fair that he and his family were so low on the list to return to Toronto because they had arrived at the airport so early.
That’s when the representative told him to back off, saying, “I’ll make sure people stay here forever.”
Other videos show passengers chanting “take us home” as armed security guards appear. Passengers said they were not sure when the flights would arrive due to unreliable communication from Sunwing.
Passengers are entitled to compensation for significant delays and, after trying to negotiate directly with the airlines, can file a complaint with the Canadian Transportation Agency.
But figures provided to CTV News show the agency’s backlog of complaints is rising to more than 31,000 cases, producing wait times in the 18-month range.
That’s a consequence of surges in complaints about travel delays during COVID and repeated shocks to the system like last week, said John Lawford, consumer advocate.
He said the current regulations are a major improvement over previous regimes, but could be improved by simplifying an appeals process offered to airlines.
“It is quite a chaotic situation. And sadly, every time it looks like passenger protection regulations are going to take a breather and work on the backlog, a new problem arises,” she said.
The agency said it is working on the delay and reviewing its operations. “We anticipate that this ongoing review will continue to provide opportunities for process efficiencies and automation,” a statement said.
In Cuba, passenger Ryan Desjardins found his flight canceled on December 23 and while he waited in the lobby of his resort, the other passengers were so agitated they wrote “SOS” notes.
He said that while trying to catch a flight home, an agent told him there was a computer glitch so bad that Sunwing actually forgot they were in Cuba. When she checked her phone, it seemed that she was right.
“On Christmas day, we checked the Sunwing app and our flight is gone. No more updates,” he said, worried that he wouldn’t be able to spend time with his relatives.
“Many of us had a lot of Christmas plans. How can you make it up to us? How can you invent Christmas? he said.
Desjardins bought another ticket home, but didn’t need to use it as a Sunwing flight materialized on Boxing Day. But that was just in time for his luggage to go missing at Pearson’s Terminal 3 due to a malfunction in the baggage system.
“It was a gong show with the luggage,” he recalled.
By Thursday, Air Canada and Sunwing had set up depots for people to come pick up their luggage. Some, like Omar Abdullah, were able to get their bag quickly and easily.
“I am quite happy, I have some things for the family here, so I have a lot of gifts to give,” he said.
But others were not so lucky. Taylor Foord left empty-handed.
“Day five,” he said. “I had my whole life in that bag.”