Sunwing stranded couple for 5 days after vacation, charged them $50 flight change fee to fly home

Several Sunwing passengers accidental the hose needs to beryllium held accountable aft many formation cancellations and delays past month, including cases where it abruptly cancelled vacations with nary rebooking offers or delayed return flights for days.

"This wasn't conscionable a substance of inconvenience, it was a traumatic event," said Hans Roach. Sunwing stranded the Waterloo, Ont., metropolis councillor, and his wife, Tanya McConnell, successful Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, for 5 days aft cancelling their Feb. 17 formation home. 

Sunwing, which offers flights and abrogation packages, cancelled dozens of flights successful February, amid wintertime storms and the Delta level crash that caused slowdowns astatine Toronto's Pearson airport.

According to Canada's aerial rider regulations, erstwhile airlines cancel flights, they indispensable connection to rebook passengers escaped of complaint connected the adjacent disposable flight. For situations extracurricular the airlines' power (like atrocious weather), large carriers (like Sunwing) indispensable transport passengers wrong 48 hours of their archetypal departure time, oregon other publication them connected different carrier. 

Six groups of Sunwing passengers who experienced cancelled flights past period told CBC News that Sunwing didn't travel those rules. In Roach and McConnell's case, the hose flew the mates location 5 days aft their scheduled departure day — not wrong the mandated 48 hours.

"It's precise disheartening to deliberation that a ample hose similar this would interruption that rule," said Roach. "There was a existent deficiency of connection from Sunwing."

He says the airline paid for the couple's prolonged edifice stay, but didn't screen taxi fares erstwhile moving them doubly to antithetic resorts. Rather than enjoying an extended vacation, Roach says the mates spent overmuch of their added clip successful the edifice lobby waiting for news.

"It was a precise anxious 5 days," helium said. "Every day, we would battalion up each our luggage, get down to the lobby astatine noon, and anticipation and commune that we had a flight."

He says friends they travelled with paid out-of-pocket for flights location earlier connected different airlines. But Roach says helium and McConnell stuck it out, owed to stubbornness and fearfulness Sunwing wouldn't reimburse them if they bought seats connected different carrier. 

Before yet boarding their instrumentality formation connected Feb. 22, Roach says they faced a "final indignity" erstwhile Sunwing charged them each a $50 alteration fee, due to the fact that they weren't flying location connected their primitively booked flight.

"They could not springiness america a boarding walk unless we paid," helium said. "I argued for a small bit, but it was astatine 2:30 successful the morning. I was conscionable excessively tired."

Cancelled vacations

Five different passengers interviewed told CBC News Sunwing cancelled their outgoing formation with nary rebooking connection — despite regulations requiring the hose to bash so. 

Chrissy Downs of Moncton, N.B., made the 260-kilometre trek to the airdrome successful Halifax, lone to find retired her Feb. 20 formation to Santa Clara, Cuba, had been delayed, and past cancelled, on with her full abrogation package. 

"There was nothing, nary explanation, no, 'I'm sorry,' no, 'We'll effort to enactment thing retired for you,'" said Downs, adding that she would person embraced a rebooked flight. 

"Sunwing is decidedly successful the wrong. They request to marque this right."

The hose is owned by WestJet, which is acceptable to fold Sunwing into its ain fleet astatine the extremity of May. 

Sunwing told CBC News it couldn't remark connected idiosyncratic cases. But the hose did connection a broad apology for formation disruptions past month, and said passengers who mislaid their abrogation packages would person afloat refunds.

The hose said operations successful February were hampered not lone by atrocious upwind and slow-downs astatine Pearson airport, but besides by unit constraints and constricted edifice capacity.

"Our teams worked tirelessly to reconstruct regular operations," said spokesperson, Melanie Anne Filipp successful an email. 

'Airline can't conscionable marque up its ain rules'

Air rider rights adept Ian Jack says, careless of the circumstances, Sunwing inactive had to play by the rules, adjacent if it meant rebooking passengers connected different airlines. 

"The instrumentality intelligibly states that it's the airline's work to connection you a mode to get to your last destination," said Jack, vice-president of nationalist affairs with the non-profit Canadian Automobile Association, which runs a question agency.

"The hose can't conscionable marque up its ain rules and determine what it's going to bash and springiness you nary options."

Canada's national regulator, the Canadian Transportation Agency, said it's looking into the Sunwing matter. 

WATCH | Passengers aggravated aft Sunwing cancels flights soon earlier takeoff: 

Sunwing's Filipp told CBC News the upwind past period "limited the quality to [rebook] passengers connected alternate carriers fixed wide cancellations."

However, 3 Sunwing passengers determined to salvage their cancelled vacations told CBC News they were capable to bargain seats connected different airlines and rebook edifice stays — for an added cost. 

"There was opportunities for each of america to get different flights, but the prices were climbing truly quickly," said Kristi Rajala, who was acceptable to conscionable up with 50 friends and family for a get-together astatine a edifice successful Jamaica.

Rajala said she was devastated erstwhile she learned the nighttime earlier that Sunwing had cancelled her Feb. 20 formation from Toronto to Montego Bay.

"I'm not idiosyncratic who cries, and I was afloat of tears, arsenic were galore others," she said. "It was axenic chaos, disbelief, scrambling, trying to find a mode to marque it there."

Rajala paid $2,017 extra, connected apical of the outgo of her family's Sunwing abrogation package, for 4 American Airlines tickets to Montego Bay connected Feb. 22 and 2 rebooked edifice rooms.

Collecting compensation

Passengers are present submitting claims to Sunwing for things similar refunds, out-of-pocket expenses and formation disruption compensation.

Under national regulations, passengers tin assertion up to $1,000 compensation for formation cancellations wrong the airline's control. 

Rajala says she's inactive waiting for quality from Sunwing astir her refund and compensation claim. 

Downs has already received a refund, but is having occupation submitting a compensation assertion for her formation disruption. She says she made respective attempts, but each time, an automated effect told her, incorrectly, that due to the fact that she cancelled the flight, she didn't qualify.

"I'm insulted," said Downs. "I hadn't cancelled my trip."

She says she's disquieted that if she ends up successful a prolonged conflict with Sunwing for compensation, the hose mightiness vanish earlier there's a resolution.

Neither Sunwing nor WestJet responded to a question astir whether WestJet would honour outstanding Sunwing compensation claims erstwhile it takes over. 

Sunwing has already informed Roach by email that his case doesn't suffice for formation disruption compensation because his five-day formation hold from Punta Cana was caused by atrocious upwind and extracurricular the airline's control. Instead, Sunwing offered him an apology and a $250 question voucher.

"I'm precise upset," said Roach. "It's conscionable a further slap successful the face,"

He has yet to file a assertion for added expenses specified arsenic transportation, the 4 other days his woman missed work and the $50 formation alteration interest they were each charged.