Thousands of Canadians hopefully escape from the relentless snow and the cold at home their vacation dreams have vanished after Sunwing canceled all flights to the south of two of the most busy airports in the country this week.
In a statement published on its website on Thursday, the airline said that it made the “necessary decision” to cancel all the southern flights from the Toronto Pearson International Airport on Wednesday and Thursday, and all the southern flights that leave of the Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport on Thursday. .
This was done to prioritize the safe return of the customers “currently delayed in destinations due to the recent climatic interruptions, the availability limitations of the crew and the extremely limited hotel capacity,” said Sunwing.
“This difficult but essential operational decision allows us to redirect our resources to take delayed customers home in the fastest and safest possible way.”
The cancellations occur after the consecutive winter storms came to the east of Canada, and when Toronto dealt with the sequelae of Flight 4819 of Delta Air Lines, which crashed and turned to land on Monday. The 76 passengers and four crew members survived when the plane slipped on the asphalt and exploded in flames.
The remains have been eliminated from the track, but the airport is still operating at a reduced capacity and two of the five tracks remain closed, said a Pearson de Toronto airport official on Thursday.
Sunwing said that all affected passengers will receive a refund within 21 days. According to Pearson’s website, 13 flights southern Sunwing were canceled on Thursday and another 13 on Wednesday. Sunwing canceled 21 Montreal flights on Thursday.
“I’m frustrated,” said Iesha Williams, who was supposed to fly from Toronto to Cuba on Wednesday to celebrate her 29th birthday.
“I planned this month in advance, and I don’t think it’s a good look for them,” Williams added.
‘I just wanted to cry’
“It’s my sister’s wedding. I’m not getting it now,” said Blayne Mills, whose Toronto and Accommodation flight in the Dominican Republic were canceled on Wednesday.
He said he would have tried to fly through a different airline or airport, but because Sunwing Vacations had canceled his room in the complex exhausted when they canceled his flight, he could not attend the wedding.
The airline says that it canceled the flights of Montreal and Toronto to prioritize the safe return of passengers currently stranded in destinations due to the recent important snowstorms.
In Montreal, Manon Fortin said he was ready to cry when he arrived at the airport on Thursday to find his canceled flight. She was part of a group of 45 people traveling to the Dominican Republic for her 60th birthday.
“I just wanted to cry and we were, like, all who looked like, what are we going to do? Forty -five people here, what are we doing with the children?”
Please keep in mind that @Sunwingvacay He has canceled the rest of his flights for the day, a total of 13 outings outside Toronto Pearson. Sunwing could not reduce its operational rates in advance as requested by the airport, which unfortunately resulted in these delayed …
She told CBC Montreal that they could reserve with another airline, at a cost of approximately $ 45,000 for the group.
Meanwhile, Canadians still stranded in their sunny destinations describe a frustrating experience and a lack of information.
“It is also like a traumatic experience to not know when you are flying back home,” said John Tiu from Halifax to Global News on Thursday from Punta Cana airport, where he and his wife had been stranded for two days.
And Toronto resident, Jacqueline Cook, told CTV News that he is one of the 30 people on his flight also stranded in Punta Cana after a wedding. She says there has been little or no airline communication.
“I know that this is a difficult situation. I know that Toronto was hit hard in several ways. But Sunwing is not very communicative or confusing when they say something.”
