‘Why did you even let us rebook?’: Regina couple’s destination wedding disrupted twice by repeated Sunwing cancellations
For a Regina couple, saying sure was straightforward – however truly getting married is proving tougher resulting from repeated points with Sunwing.
Their dream vacation spot wedding ceremony in Mexico was cancelled in early January when Sunwing halted their flights and rescheduled, solely to cancel the brand new flights once more this week.
For a bride-to-be who says she paid about $16,000 for a vacation spot wedding ceremony that couldn’t be refunded, it was yet one more spherical of sky-high stress and anxiousness. Lindsay May, who had rescheduled the whole wedding ceremony for March after the primary spherical of cancellations, instructed CTV News that she and her companion came upon by means of social media concerning the new spherical of cancellations.
“At this point, I was just stunned, because why did you even let us rebook?” May mentioned. “Why would you even offer this service?”
This couple is just one instance of the purchasers left jilted by the airline firm, which has now cancelled nearly all of its winter flights from Regina, and half from Saskatoon.
“I can’t fathom anyone in Saskatchewan trusting Sunwing at this point,” May mentioned. “After all, they’ve done it to Regina, and Saskatoon, and now I’m hearing in Winnipeg this is happening.”
She’s proper. Sunwing cancelled weekly flights from Winnipeg to Los Cabos and Mazatlan beginning Feb. 2.
It’s a continuation of chaos that has surrounded the airline this winter. With complaints piling up, there’s query about whether or not this firm, shedding buyer confidence, can keep within the air.
In an announcement, the corporate mentioned, “the decision to reduce winter flight operations in Winnipeg from February onwards was deemed necessary due to operational and business constraints that would prevent us from delivering the standards of service our customers both expect and deserve when travelling with Sunwing.”
The firm added that impacted prospects can change their trip vacation spot at “current system rates” and are being supplied a “$100 CAD future travel credit as a goodwill gesture.”
Sunwing flights from New Brunswick and Northern Ontario are additionally being scaled again and there could also be extra cuts to come back, says one skilled.
“I don’t think Sunwing’s done,” John Gradek, co-ordinator of the Aviation Management Program at McGill University, instructed CTV National News. “They’re trying to figure out how many airplanes can they in fact run and what kind of schedule they can in fact operate.”
Last week, Sunwing executives revealed the corporate had acquired 7,000 complaints stemming from the journey chaos in December. Weather delays had been cited as the largest downside.
But Sunwing additionally has a staffing difficulty. The firm deliberate to usher in greater than 60,000 non permanent international pilots at a better wage this winter to assist take care of their staffing shortages, however backed away from the plan in early December after criticism from Unifor, the union which represents 16,000 members throughout Canada`s aviation sector.
“The brand has been hurt,” Gradek mentioned. “Will this be the end of Sunwing? Probably not, because Canadians typically have a short memory. They like [good] prices, and Sunwing was the price leader.”
Some Canadians, resembling May, aren’t going to overlook that shortly
“I know myself and our guests will never book with them again,” she instructed CTV News.
May and her wedding ceremony social gathering are lastly set to depart for festivities in Cancun in March, however they’ll be travelling on a WestJet flight.
