'No one to contact at Sunwing': Sask. family left stranded in Mexico for 8 days

A Saskatchewan family is describing their experience after they were left stranded in Mexico for over a week after Sunwing cancelled flights to and from the province.

What started as a dream vacation for Shaun Snell and his wife, quickly turned into a nightmare. They were scheduled to fly home from Mazatlan, Mexico on Dec. 23.

“It was just supposed to be a trip to catch some sun before Christmas,” he said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way.”

The Snell’s were left without a flight for eight days. They say they were one of the lucky ones, as they were able to stay at their resort, while many others were forced to sleep on airport floors.

“Our main concern was just the lack of information from Sunwing,” he said. “Every day they told us to check in with them and there was never any news.”

Finally, on Friday night they boarded a plane but did not know where it was going.

“The cabin crew were surprised there were people from Saskatchewan on the plane,” recalled Snell. “We didn’t even know it was going to Calgary until we were on the plane.”

They landed at YYC early Saturday morning but Snell and his wife still had no way to get home.

The Snells said kiosk workers did their best to find answers for the stranded travellers but could not get them any.

“There was literally no one to contact at Sunwing,” Snell said. “We were just on our own. When we realized that, we quickly booked a flight with WestJet.”

The Snell’s walked through the arrivals gate at YQR at around 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon, eight days after they originally planned to.

“It’s just terrific,” he said. “We have an hour’s drive home. We’re just very relieved we’re home.”

Dozens of travellers remain stranded abroad.

“For our Saskatoon and Regina customers who are currently in destination, our team is proactively working to repatriate all customers with cancelled return flights,” Sunwing said in an emailed statement to CTV News.

“[We] expect most, if not all customers will be repatriated by Jan. 2, 2023,” Sunwing said.

Sunwing added they are providing hotels, food, beverage and airport transfers for all customers still delayed.

For Snell and his wife though, it was an experience that will change the way they travel.