Luggage bags are amassed in the bag claim area at Toronto Pearson International Airport, as a major winter storm disrupts flights in and out of the airport, in Toronto, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2022. From long hours waiting on hold to sleepless nights on airport floors and desperate scrambles to rebook flights and find missing bags, it was a holiday travel season that no one had on their wish list — but that thousands of people got. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston
OTTAWA – The president of Sunwing Airlines apologized Thursday for failing to meet Canadians’ expectations over the chaotic holiday travel season.
Hundreds of Canadians were stranded in Mexico when Sunwing cancelled their flights home due to winter storms that hit much of Canada in the days before Christmas.
“Let me begin by apologizing that we failed to deliver to the level that we had expected, and that Canadians had expected from us over this holiday season,” president Len Corrado said.
Corrado was appearing virtually before the House of Commons transportation committee, which is probing what caused the widespread disruptions in plane and rail travel in the days before and after Christmas.
A separate Sunwing official told MPs the company has received 7,000 complaints, although it isn’t clear over what period of time.
The complaints ranged from cancelled flights to passengers trying to recoup costs they incurred out of pocket, MPs heard. Stranded passengers told the media they were shuffled between hotels and struggled to get answers from the airline about when they might be able to get home.
Corrado says the airline understands its obligations under the existing air passenger protection regulations and intends to compensate those whose flights were cancelled or delayed, as required.
Sunwing drew further ire for announcing it was cancelling all flights out of Saskatchewan until early February which Corrado said Thursday was because its application to bring 63 foreign temporary pilots on board for the winter was denied.
He says they first learned their application had failed around Dec. 9 and tried to find contingencies before announcing the cancellations on Dec. 29.
Liberal MP Pam Damoff said Sunwing should not have booked passengers on flights without confirmed plans to have them properly staffed.
MPs at the committee are zeroing in on the strength of Canada’s existing air passenger protection regulations, which Transport Minister Omar Alghabra has said he intends to beef up with new legislation.
Federal Conservatives and New Democrats agree the rules must change, including to force airlines to compensate passengers automatically, rather than travellers having to file a complaint when their flight is delayed or cancelled.
Andrew Gibbons, a vice-president at WestJet, told Thursday’s committee airlines are the only group facing penalties when disruptions happen, even though they could be caused by factors out of their control, such as delays at customs.
“We do not believe the priority right now should be additional penalties on the only group that has any accountability and regulations that govern it,” he said. “It should be to apply it equally to everyone as the top priority.”
Representatives from Air Canada and WestJet told MPs that they did their best to brace for a busy holiday season, but had to grapple with the arrival of a winter storm that hammered airports.
Gibbons, however, acknowledged WestJet was “lacking” in its communications with passenger, and was working to fix the issue, same with its handling of baggage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 12, 2023.
