Disrupted travellers hope government can get to bottom of Sunwing, Via Rail holiday delays

Sunwing Airlines and Via Rail will face scrutiny from the House of Commons transport committee after federal politicians called for an explanation of the travel chaos that occurred over the holidays.

Mark Briere, whose original Sunwing flight to Cuba was cancelled, said, "I just hate their attitude. It’s disrespectful. And I think that the Canadian government should take action against this company. They should straighten them out."

Liberal MP Peter Schiefke, chair of the transport committee, tweeted about convening a meeting that would call on Sunwing and Via Rail to appear.

Briere added, "The way they're mistreating Canadians, I think that’s just awful. I would never have thought that I would be treated that way from a Canadian airline, never."

There have been numerous complaints about delayed flights, lost luggage, and cancelled vacations over the past two weeks. Richard Smart, CEO of the Travel Industry Council of Ontario stated, "In general, we're hearing consumers are extremely frustrated. Tired. They feel that they've in many cases been misinformed." He also explained that under the Air Passenger Protection Regulations, airlines must provide compensation for flight cancellations and delays of three hours or more unless they are cancelled for safety reasons.

Sandi Moser, who cancelled her Cancun trip after the tenth delay in 24 hours, said, "We were supposed to leave on the 31st and it didn't leave until just after 11, from what we can tell, just after 11 on Jan. 2. So had we stayed with that flight, we would have only had four full days in Cancun from the seven that we had booked."

Briere's family had to pay an extra $5,000 to rebook with another company at the last minute.

"Never ever in my life again. Even if they give it free for me, I'll never fly Sunwing again," he said.

Sunwing has said that it has completed all of its recovery flights to bring home passengers stranded in Mexico during the holidays.

"We can confirm that all scheduled recovery flights are complete, and any remaining passengers in destination are those who are rescheduling previously missed return flights, or enjoying longer vacations of a two to three-week duration and are scheduled to return at a later date based on their originally scheduled departure date. Any further scheduling changes are unrelated to the disruptions experienced over the holidays," Sunwing said in a statement to CTV News.

The company said affected passengers may submit a claim for compensation or a refund online for assessment. Receipts for related expenses can be sent to Sunwing Cares for review.