Sunwing customers grounded in Calgary say airline took 'zero accountability' over nationwide flight delays

Ice storms in Ontario put a temporary freeze on Sunwing beach vacations taking off from Calgary this week, leaving some customers furious over a ripple effect of circumstances and what they call a lack of action from the airline that left their flight to Mexico grounded.

James McLaren spoke with CBC on Tuesday from Calgary — ​a far cry from the sandy Cancun beach vacation he'd planned — and prepaid for — through Sunwing nearly a year prior.

• Ice storm over Ontario cancelling, delaying some Halifax flight

Ontario weather caused 'domino effect'

McLaren said his group of 21 — one of three apparent wedding parties on the flight — were first notified of the delay hours before the scheduled takeoff.

"That changed a bunch of times, and then there was a bunch of frantic calls about getting to the airport for 3:30 [Tuesday] morning because apparently there was supposed to be a flight by 5:30 [a.m.]," he said. "At any rate, by the time we got to the airport, there was like 61 people at the Sunwing ticket centre freaking out because there was no plane."

In a statement, Sunwing said extreme weather conditions in Ontario over the weekend, coupled with staffing issues, caused a "domino effect" of delays nationwide.

"Subsequent rolling delays resulted in other operational  issues, including  exceeding crew duty times and destination airport curfews necessitating several adjustments to our flight schedule, which have unfortunately affected some services operating from Calgary," said the statement.

'I'm not a rich guy'

The two brides in his group paid to take off with a competing airline, but McLaren said that wasn't an option for him and his girlfriend. 

"I'm not a rich guy who can afford to up and take off whenever or spend an extra $500 on another plane ticket to get the promised vacation that you guys sold me a year ago," he said.

Instead, McLaren and his girlfriend had to wait 24 hours until Sunwing could get them on a flight early Wednesday morning. So they missed a day of their paid vacation package on top of the stress of the flight delays.

McLaren says the airline offered him $150 for a future flight. But he considers it a drop in the bucket considering that the full flight and vacation package cost them $4,000; the partial refund wouldn't even cover the cost of the day they missed in Mexico.

"It's my girlfriend's and my first vacation since our baby was born, you know, it's the first one we've had together in a very long time, so we're like, let's high-dollar this, pay for the upgrades, get first class, ya know?" he said.

Sunwing said once a flight delay exceeds 12 hours, they will provide their customers options, including the right to cancel with a full refund.

However, Sunwing reached out to CBC Calgary later Wednesday, and said that, although they'd initially offered McLaren a $150 voucher, they later re-evaluated the situation and determined all passengers on the flight were entitled to a partial cash refund exceeding $150. 

Sunwing would not say how much customers were refunded, but said if they didn't receive compensation prior to taking off, they will be given the partial refund upon their return.

CBC was unable to immediately reach McLaren to comment on this change.

'Zero backup plan, zero accountability'

McLaren said what frustrated him and fellow Sunwing passengers the most was the airline's lack of a plan.

"There was zero contingency plan, zero backup plan, zero accountability, and then you can't get hold of anyone who makes decisions," he said.

"So all you're left with is the poor counter staff just getting, at every airport Sunwing has a plane flying out of, I guarantee you, their counter staff was just getting massacred today because there's zero accountability."

Sunwing said they regret the delayed departures for their customer's vacations and said operations will return to normal shortly.