Sunwing apologizes after rep tells Ontario family he could make them stay in Mexico 'forever'

Sunwing has apologized after a video emerged of a representative telling a Toronto man with a five-month-old baby stranded in Mexico to stop challenging the airline’s decisions or he could make people stay there “forever.”

The behaviour, which was witnessed by several passengers and captured on cell phone video, was “inappropriate”, a spokesperson said, and wasn’t representative of the company’s values as it struggled to bring hundreds of stranded passengers back to Canada during a wave of cancellations.

“The destination representative’s comments in the video were inappropriate. An internal review has been conducted, and the representative has been removed from duties and will face disciplinary actions. We sincerely apologize to our customers for their experience and would like to measure them that the representative’s comments are not aligned with our company’s values,” a statement provided to CTV News said.

For passengers watching, the comment was insulting after days of travel chaos. Some passengers reported waiting for hours in hotel lobbies and being notified of Sunwing flights that didn’t materialize--resulting in a lost chance to be home with families for the holidays.

On top of that, a baggage belt malfunction lost thousands of bags at Toronto's Pearson International Airport in the midst of a nationwide storm that sent airlines reeling in the busiest travel days of the year.

Sunwing was particularly hard hit after cancelled flights stranded people in Mexico and Cuba, with some sleeping on airport floors as they waited for a rescue. One picture shows a family sleeping on a blanket on a concrete sidewalk outside the Cancun airport. The airline announced Thursday it has been forced to cancel more flights from Saskatchewan effective immediately.

In several videos taken on Christmas Eve in the Cancun airport, passenger Ritesh Bhatia’s son Rumi is crying in his arms as he speaks to an airline representative. Bhatia had said it wasn’t fair that he and his family should be so low on the list to return to Toronto because they had arrived at the airport so early.

That’s when the representative told him to back up, saying, “I will make sure people stay here forever.”

• MORE: Ontario family stuck in Cancun

Other videos show passengers chanting “take us home” as gun-toting security guards show up. Passengers said they had been unsure when any flights would arrive due to unreliable communication from Sunwing.

Passengers are entitled to compensation for major delays, and after they attempt to negotiate directly with the airlines, they can make a complaint to the Canadian Transportation Agency.

But figures provided to CTV News show the agency’s complaint backlog is surging to over 31,000 cases, producing wait times in the 18 month range.

That’s a consequence of complaint surges from travel delays during COVID, and repeated shocks to the system like the past week, said consumer advocate John Lawford.

He said the current regulations are a major improvement over previous regimes, but could be improved by streamlining an appeal process offered to the airlines.

“It’s a pretty chaotic situation. And unfortunately every time the passenger protection regulations seem like they’re going to get a breather and work on the backlog, a new issue comes up,” he said.

The agency said it’s working on the backlog, and reviewing its operations. “We anticipate this ongoing review will continue to yield opportunities for process efficiencies and automation,” a statement said.

In Cuba, passenger Ryan Desjardins found his flight cancelled on Dec. 23 and as he waited in the lobby of his resort, fellow passengers were so agitated they wrote “SOS” notes.

He said as he tried to get a flight back home, one agent told him there was a computer glitch so bad that Sunwing actually forgot they were in Cuba. When he checked his phone, it appeared she was right.

“On Christmas Day, we’re checking the Sunwing app, and our flight is gone. No more updates,” he said, worried that he wouldn’t be able to spend time with relatives.

“Many of us had lots of Christmas plans. How can you make it up to us? How can you make up Christmas?” he said.

Desjardins bought another ticket home, but didn’t need to use it as a Sunwing flight did materialize on Boxing Day. But that was just in time for his luggage to be lost in Pearson’s Terminal 3 thanks to a baggage system malfunction.

“It was a gong show with the luggage,” he recalled.

By Thursday, Air Canada and Sunwing, which use Terminal 3, had created depots for people to come and pick up their luggage. Some, like Omar Abdullah, were able to get their bag quickly and easily.

“I’m pretty happy, I’ve got some things for family in here so, a lot of gifts I’ve got to give,” he said.

But others weren’t so lucky. Taylor Foord left empty handed.

“Day five,” he said. “I had my whole life in that bag.”