For a Regina couple, saying yes was easy – but in reality getting married was much more difficult due to repeated problems with Sunwing.
The wedding at their dream destination in Mexico was canceled in early January when Sunwing halted their flights and rescheduled, only to cancel new flights again this week.
For a bride-to-be who says she paid about $16,000 for a non-refundable venue wedding, it’s another wave of sky-high stress and anxiety. Lindsay May, who rescheduled the entire wedding for March after the first cancellation, told CTV News that she and her partner learned through social media about the new cancellation.
“At this point I was shocked, why did you let us rebook?” Cloud said. “Why would you even provide this service?”
The pair are just one example of customers abandoned by the airline company, which has now canceled nearly all of its winter flights from Regina and half from Saskatoon.
“I can’t understand anyone in Saskatchewan who trusts Sunwing at this point,” May said. “After all, they did it with Regina and Saskatoon, and now I’m hearing in Winnipeg this is happening.”
She is right. Sunwing has canceled weekly flights from Winnipeg to Los Cabos and Mazatlan starting February 2.
It was a continuation of the chaos that surrounded the airline this winter. With complaints piling up, it is questionable whether this company, which is losing the trust of its customers, can stand.
In a statement, the company said, “the decision to reduce winter flights in Winnipeg from February onwards is deemed necessary due to operational and business constraints that will prevent us from providing standards service that our customers expect and deserve when traveling with Sunwing.”
The company added that affected customers can change their holiday destination at “current system rates” and are being offered “a $100 future travel credit.” as a gesture of goodwill”.
One expert said Sunwing flights from New Brunswick and Northern Ontario are also being scaled back and more cuts are likely.
“I don’t think Sunwing is done,” John Gradek, coordinator of the Aviation Management Program at McGill University, told CTV National News. “They’re trying to figure out how many planes they can actually operate and what kind of schedule they can actually operate on.”
Last week, Sunwing executives revealed the company had received 7,000 complaints stemming from the travel chaos in December. Weather delays were cited as the biggest problem.
But Sunwing also has personnel problems. The company had planned to bring in more than 60 temporary foreign pilots with higher wages this winter to help address staffing shortages, but withdrew the plan in early December following criticism from Unifor, the union representing 16,000 members across Canada. aviation field.
“The brand was hurt,” Gradek said. “Will this be the end of Sunwing? Probably not, since Canadians tend to have short memories. they like [good] price, and Sunwing is the price leader.”
Some Canadians, such as May, won’t forget that quickly
“I know myself and our guests will never book with them again,” she told CTV News.
May and her wedding party are finally scheduled to depart for the Cancun festivities in March, but they will be traveling on a WestJet flight.
