Sunwing ‘incredibly sorry’ after holiday travel disruptions leave customers stranded

Sunwing has issued an apology to passengers left stranded after winter storms upended operations however says “most of our customers enjoyed their holidays with minimal disruption.”

In a joint assertion on Thursday, Sunwing Travel Group CEO Stephen Hunter and Sunwing Airlines president Len Corrado mentioned they’re “incredibly sorry for letting our customers down.”

“We regret that we did not meet the level of service our customers expect from Sunwing,” the executives mentioned.

“We had clear failures in execution, particularly in responding to weather-related delays and the aftermath of severe weather disruptions, which limited our ability to reposition aircraft and crew to other airports to help alleviate the backlog in flights.”

Hundreds of passengers had been affected by Sunwing flight disruptions, which started to pile up on Dec. 22 attributable to climate.

Some clients had been stranded for days in tropical locations amid a flurry of cancellations, winter storms and a breakdown with the airline’s digital communication service that left some flights with empty seats.

The firm mentioned it has accomplished all restoration flights associated to vacation disruptions and has a plan to repair technical points with flight alert notifications and communication move to clients.

The airline can also be persevering with to “actively work to reunite customers who travelled during this period with their baggage in a timely fashion.”

Meanwhile, Sunwing recommended the extreme disruption to its flight schedule over the vacations is much like what a number of bigger carriers confronted throughout their first peak journey season for the reason that pandemic final spring and summer season.

“We planned our highest travel schedule since pre-pandemic and invested significantly to mitigate the potential risks that would come with meeting the high demand for travel over our peak winter season,” Hunter and Corrado mentioned within the assertion.

“We built an achievable plan which, due to a confluence of factors, we could no longer deliver.”

The airline introduced on Dec. 29 that it was instantly cancelling its operations via Feb. 3 at Saskatchewan’s two largest airports.

Sunwing mentioned it has “reduced some capacity during the month of January to ensure that we can execute to the highest standards with the least disruption to customers as we move through the winter season.”

The airline added that it is actively accepting eligible claims for compensation and can absolutely adjust to Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations.

This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Jan. 5, 2023.