Maritime passengers frustrated, scrambling after Sunwing cancels some routes, flights

Sunwing Airlines is scaling back or cancelling some of its flights out of the Maritimes this winter, after doing the same in other Canadian cities.

It means grandparents Kevin and Carol Hindle had to tell their grandchildren the March Break trip to Disney World they gifted them for Christmas will not be happening.

“It just broke your heart that you couldn’t pull this together,” Kevin Hindle said.

Tiffany Chase, spokesperson with Halifax Stanfield International Airport, said Sunwing will still operate eight routes to the Caribbean and Mexico this winter but it has cancelled others, including the Hindle’s flight to Orlando.

“They have pulled back one destination in Cuba and one in Florida and they reduced a bi-weekly frequency to Varadero, Cuba back to just one a week,” Chase said.

Fredericton International Airport Authority’s communications officer, Kate O’Rourke, confirmed Sunwing cancelled its flights to Cayo Coco, Cuba this winter but flights to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, Cancun in Mexico and Cayo Santa Maria in Cuba will still go ahead as scheduled.

In Moncton, N.B., one flight to Varadero, Cuba has also been halted.

“It was their Friday flight,” said Courtney Burns, the president and CEO of the Greater Moncton Roméo LeBlanc International Airport Authority. “The good news is there are still two other flights directly to Varadero, Cuba. One from Sunwing and one from Air Transat.”

Burns said Moncton airport will still provide 10 weekly flights to sunny destinations between Sunwing and Air Transat.

“The larger impact is really to those passengers who are now having to either see if they can rebook with a different flight or a different airline or maybe have to completely reschedule for a different year all together — it really depends for each individual,” Burns said.

Some passengers who are still scheduled to hop on a Sunwing flight are wondering if it’ll happen. Kevin King and many others with his company are supposed to fly from Toronto to Florida with Sunwing in April.

“It has a whole lot of people at unease. They’re not very comfortable,” King said. “So, we’ll see what happens.”

Kevin Hindle will take his family and grandkids to Valcartier, Que., for March Break instead.

He’s frustrated, not just because the dream of Disney is out of reach for now, but also because of Sunwing’s lack of communication and explanation.

He said in November, his travel agent told him the now cancelled flight was being rerouted from Melbourne, Fla., to Orlando. It all leads him to have a lot of questions.

“Come out and tell people,” Kevin Hindle said. “You know, you want people to come back to you as a company if you’re going to survive this and right now, people are just washing their hands of Sunwing and saying ‘We’re done.’”

CTV News reached out to Sunwing for an interview.

In an emailed response late Monday, Sunwing said it will not be doing interviews but provided a statement saying it is cancelling and consolidating some of its flights this winter to ensure “we are delivering the standards of service our customers both expect and deserve when travelling with Sunwing.”

The airline also said customers whose travel plans have been impacted are given the option to change their destination, or cancel their vacation for a full refund.

“No action is required and refunds will be processed within 30 days, per our standard protocol,” the statement read.