I want to advise fellow travellers of the recent events that took place on Fri. Feb 08/13 in Toronto, ON with Sunwing Airlines flight 794. Myself and approx. 200 passenger were boarded at Pearson at approximately 7:15am and we disembarked the aircraft at 7:45pm at Pearson. We travelled the tarmac to and from various locations try to get off the ground with no success. The airline provided 2 personal size salty snacks and 2 half glasses of water to suffice as food. Additionally, the cabin staff told us the washrooms were unavailable and sent us back to our seats. The weather that day was questionable as to whether or not we could get off the ground but at no time did we think we would spend the entire period of delay in the plane!!! They have offered all the passengers a $25 food voucher and a $150 flight voucher with a number of restrictions for use. I am not satisified with this. I don't want compensation, I would NEVER fly with them again. I want to know who I need to write to get an investigation on their standard operating procedures. God help us if something happened in flight and emergency measures were needed. This Company and flight crew would have left all of us to our own devices. Thank you for your feedback.
12.5 Stranded on the tarmac!!!
23 replies to this topic
It is in the press... "Frustrated passengers spent 13 hours on the tarmac aboard a Sunwing flight bound for Panama City and Costa Rica before they were finally returned to the gate."
thestar.com/news/gta/2013/02/09/toronto_stor…
Absurd indeed... I guess the company would argue it was weather related. Still...
So, they would not let anyone use the toilets for 12 and a half hours ???
there must have been an awful lot of cleaning/disinfecting to be done.
Not being a technical sort of person, would they not need to refuel/top off their tanks before taking off?
- and the crew run out of hours?
I'm staggered.
Thread already running
It seems however the flight took place after all...
Of course, they did allow for washroom breaks, they randomly disallowed this while in a stationary position. Yes, the crew ran out of hours, yes there was refueling. Do you work in the industry?
I know that would drive me crazy...but one thing puzzles me. If a massive storm is blowing in why would you go to the airport in the first place? Especially somewhere like YYZ which can mess things up amazingly, on the best day.
CBC has a better analysis of exactly why the delay was so long.
cbc.ca/news/…toornto-sunwing-delay.html
Also its Sunwing - you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. Not that Air Canada did any better from what I understand but at least they have a few more resources at hand.
I can appreciate your frustration. The only statement in your post that makes absolutely no sense is this one,"God help us if something happened in flight and emergency measures were needed. This Company and flight crew would have left all of us to our own devices. "
What anywhere in your post or anywhere in any of the news articles would allow the drawing of this conclusion. I sure hope if you are contacting the airline and asking for additional compensation ( but this does seem weather related) that you exclude that statement. It makes you sound foolish.
Although it sounds bad the CBC article makes a lot of sense. Essentially issues compounded themselves and rightly so the crew are wary of telling people too much to avoid undue panic.
Africandaisy: "If a massive storm is blowing in why would you go to the airport in the first place?"
I would think because you never know when they will decide to actually fly off, and if you haven't gone to the airport, you will lose your ticket for being a no-show, therefore won't receive a refund, and won't get to have your vacation?
I find this situation to have been extremely badly handled by Sunwing. But it appears the passengers did eventually make it to their destination? So given the choice, I will always take the gamble of going to the airport for the flight (unless it has been completely cancelled), rather than losing my money and my vacation.
Don't they tell you to "check with your airline first" ? I get FB notifications form Air Canada when their are delays at any airports... and when I flew Westjet to YWG a few weeks ago I signed up for text messages re- the status.
I appreciate that is probably easier said than done, but a lot easier on the nerves.
Don't think I'll ever fly Sunwing though.
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