Following travel chaos which left Sunwing passengers stuck in destination over the holiday period, CEO Stephen Hunter has apologized to customers and is vowing to comply with Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations as the federal Transport Minister and consumer protection advocates push for stronger air passenger rights in response.
Sunwing Apology
"We are incredibly sorry for letting our customers down," Hunter wrote in a statement on 05JAN. "We had clear failures in execution, particularly in responding to weather-related delays and the aftermath of severe weather disruptions, which limited our ability to reposition aircraft and crew to other airports to help alleviate the backlog in flights."
Hunter highlighted that the operator took several measures to mitigate further delays, including subservicing aircraft from airline partners to operate recovery flights to bring pax back home. As previously reported by Open Jaw 03JAN, the airline said all recovery flights were completed by 02JAN.
Sunwing's CEO says the company has a roadmap in place to "ensure that these issues do not repeat themselves in January or any of the months that follow." Further measures include working on a mitigation plan to address technical issues with flight alert notifications and enhancing communication customers in destination through airline and destination management teams.
Hunter added that Sunwing has reduced some capacity during the month of JAN "to ensure that we can execute to the highest standards with the least disruption to customers as we move through the winter season."
However, the statement to the trade did not address the sore issue of travel agents in Saskatchewan losing commissions on Sunwing bookings after the operator announced it was cancelling all flights from that province in JAN as part of its capacity reduction.
Lastly, Hunter said that Sunwing will ensure "full compliance" with Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations and is actively accepting eligible claims for compensation through its web site.
"We know that we cannot replace the time lost or disruption experienced during this holiday season, but we would like to reassure our customers that we are committed to doing better and regaining their trust in the weeks and months ahead," Hunter concluded.
Transport Minister Vows to Strengthen Air Pax Rights
The Air Passenger Protections Regulations (APPR) were updated in SEP2022, strengthening minimum airline requirements in the case of flight delays or cancellations, including “standards of treatment” and “compensation for passengers,” among other requirements, crucially, whether or not those delays or cancellations were within airlines' control, as Open Jaw has reported.
But following the meltdown of air travel yet again over the holidays, after a summer of travel chaos that the industry and government assured Canadians would not be repeated, the pressure was on Ottawa to take further action.
In an interview with Global News on 05JAN, federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said his department has a “plan on how we can strengthen the rules."
“We’re looking forward to figuring out what other measures can we put in our passenger bill of rights to make sure that the airlines are the ones who are responsible for these claims, not the CTA [Canadian Transportation Agency],” Alghabra said. The minister did not further elaborate on what those measures would look like.
The CTA is the body that judges claims against airlines, but Alghabra says that going to the CTA should be a last resort.
“The airlines are the ones responsible for refunding passengers without having to go to the CTA,” Alghabra said. “I hope passengers don’t have to go to the CTA. This is a conversation that I had with Sunwing today [05JAN].”
“It’s really important that passengers’ rights are protected. It’s a priority for me. It’s a priority for our government and we will continue to pursue the highest level of protection for our passengers,” said Alghabra in a separate statement.
Open Jaw also previously reported that Liberal MP Peter Schiefke, the chair of the federal government’s transportation and infrastructure committee, is calling on Sunwing and VIA Rail to appear in a meeting regarding travel chaos that affected both operators over the holiday season.
When asked by Global News whether he plans to testify before the committee on the disruptions, Alghabra said: “If I can play a role in providing some information and talking about the work that we’re doing, I’d be more than happy to do so.”
Consumer Advocates Also Chime In
Consumer advocates are also saying that Canada's current process for making a claim puts the burden on the consumer instead of the airlines.
John Gradek, faculty lecturer and coordinator of McGill University’s aviation management program, said that consumers who file a complaint have to go through a long and exhausting process.
“They are not the right tool and not the right vehicle to in fact look at adjudicating and making decisions about appeals from customers about airlines’ refusals to in fact pay compensation. There’s got to be a better way,” Gradek said.
The CTA said that as of 20DEC 2022, it had over 31,000 complaints pending - and the wait time between when a case is submitted and when it is reviewed is over 18 months. Critics say this wait time is unacceptable, and so is the lack of action to fine airlines who breach the APPR.
“We have a system that we have established under the APPR that defines what the violation of these rules are, they are not being applied, they are not being enforced,” Gradek added. Other advocates point out compensation that is only a fraction of the maximum, creating an apparent incentive for airlines to deny compensation and wait out a lengthy CTA process.
Advocates are seeking further action from Ottawa.
“Certainly the minister hasn’t been very public about saying ‘I have your back consumers I’ll get this fixed next time’ and that’s unfortunate because I think that’s his role and without that there won’t be any movement from the airlines because they sense the weakness in the government and they say why should we change,“ said the Public Interest Advocacy Centre’s John Lawford.
