Hundreds of Canadians stranded for days in Mexico after Sunwing cancellations | 24CA News

Hundreds of Canadians are stranded in Cancun, Mexico, and do not understand how they’re going to get dwelling after their Sunwing flights have been cancelled final week.

Passengers stated they have been shuffled from lodge to lodge after sleeping on flooring on the airport and in lobbies, saying there isn’t any finish in sight to their ordeal.

“We just want to go home,” stated Tess Friedenberger, who was scheduled to fly dwelling to Calgary on Dec. 22 aboard a Sunwing flight from Mexico.

“I never expected us to be in a situation like this. I never thought that it would even be possible. We’re writing to the consulate, we’re writing to hire lawyers, we’re ready to do whatever it takes.”

Friedenberger stated in an interview the data from Sunwing has been insufficient and inaccurate, noting a lot of her fellow travellers are offended and starting to really feel determined. Video shot by a stranded Sunwing passenger and considered by The Canadian Press exhibits dozens of individuals within the Cancun Airport chanting “Liars!” and “Get us home!”

“There is no help and there’s no one who we can really trust at this point,” she stated. “We’re pretty much fending for ourselves.”

Friedenberger left Calgary on Dec. 15 for a Sunwing trip in Cancun. She was imagined to return dwelling every week later, however she received a notification saying the flight was delayed. Over the subsequent few days, the notifications stored coming, pushing the flight later into the week.

Finally, she and her companion have been informed their flight would depart on Christmas Eve, she stated. But when the time got here, she stated a Sunwing consultant stated the flight did not exist.

They have not heard something since about once they may get dwelling, she stated.

People sleeping in lodge foyer

In the meantime, she and her fellow passengers have been shuffled by Sunwing between lodges in Cancun, paying for cabs themselves to get there, she stated. The second lodge they arrived at did not know they have been coming and had no rooms booked for them, she stated. People slept within the lodge foyer till lastly they got a mattress.

“There were elderly people who needed medication,” she stated. “There were children all over the lobby, screaming, crying and trying to sleep.”

When Sunwing directed them to a different location on Christmas Eve, some have been so distrustful they stayed behind to sleep within the foyer once more till they’d proof a room was ready for them, she added.

Sunwing stated in tweets on Dec. 22, 23 and 24 that it had cancelled flights due to the extreme wintry climate situations in numerous elements of the nation. Friedenberger stated she understands that unhealthy climate can wreak havoc, noting: “We’re Canadians.”

“It’s the lack of communication and the not knowing what’s going to happen and the bouncing around,” she defined. “If you know we’re not going to get home until Dec. 28, that’s fine. Tell us that, and put us up in a room at one hotel.”

Friedenberger stated she’s encountered different Canadians stranded in Cancun by different Sunwing flights, and he or she stated they’re dealing with the identical unknowns.

“There’s plenty more than just us,” she stated. “I would say hundreds at this point.”

Cristina Oppedisano stated her Sunwing flight dwelling from Cancun to Toronto on Dec. 21 was additionally cancelled. Like Friedenberger, Oppedisano stated in an interview that she and her household do not know once they’ll get dwelling.

‘We’re trapped right here’

She stated she and her group of 10 relations, which incorporates 4 kids, have additionally been despatched from one unprepared lodge to a different, sleeping on airport and foyer flooring all of the whereas. She and her household are a part of a bunch of about 100 passengers who have been scheduled to be on the cancelled Sunwing flight, she stated.

“We’re trapped here,” she stated, including that she, too, has not acquired any phrase from Sunwing on once they may get dwelling.

In a press release emailed Sunday afternoon, Sunwing stated “a number of northbound flights” proceed to face delays as extreme climate hampers its means to maneuver planes and crews to different airports.

The firm didn’t say what number of flights have been affected.

“Our teams are working hard to re-accommodate customers by subservicing aircraft where possible, in addition to arranging alternate hotels and transfers for those with overnight delays,” the assertion stated, including that clients ought to maintain checking their flight standing on-line.

“Our teams locally and in destination continue to proactively manage the situation, and are doing everything possible to return customers home in the coming days,” the corporate stated.

Sunwing didn’t instantly reply to a followup electronic mail asking when these stranded in Cancun may get dwelling.