Regina firm preparing class-action lawsuit against Sunwing in wake of cancellations

A Regina law firm is preparing a class-action lawsuit against Sunwing and Sunwing Vacations after hundreds of Canadian travellers experienced delays and cancellations with the airline in December.

Merchant Law Group LLP is filing the suit.

“The lawsuit is on behalf of all Canadian travellers who experienced delays of more than nine hours which can not be attributed to weather issues or aircraft safety between the dates of Dec. 22, 2022 and Feb. 3, 2023,” the firm’s website stated.

Michelle Stinson was scheduled to have her wedding in Mexico on Jan. 25. When Sunwing cancelled all flights to and from Saskatchewan up to and including Feb. 3, she was forced to cancel her dream destination wedding.

“They agreed to give us our money back,” she said. “But that doesn’t cover all the disappointment and the stress that comes with planning a wedding.”

Stinson decided to join class action lawsuit against the airline and travel-booking agency.

“They need to be held accountable for how they made people feel,” she said. “Not everyone has the luxury of just rebooking and carrying on with their lives. They need to realize what they did was wrong.”

“Travellers who had their trips cancelled, rerouted or delayed for more than nine hours because of the airline’s blanket cancellation of its Saskatchewan routes between Dec. 29, 2022 and Feb. 3, 2023,” according to litigation eligibility.

“[Sunwing] reorganized to deprive Saskatchewan people of their tickets,” said lawyer Tony Merchant. “Reorganizing for [customers] makes it very expensive and sometimes ruins holidays."

Merchant said although travellers sign a contract when they buy their ticket to waive certain rights, the airline has the responsibility to follow through with the service the customer is paying for.

“The courts are very sympathetic to the idea that even if you’ve signed a contract, you’ve really been misled,” he said. “That’s not the way things ordinarily work and it’s not what your expectation is.”

Merchant outlined three areas the lawsuit is hoping to address: The blanket cancellation of Saskatchewan flights, Canadian travellers stranded abroad and those with future flights and airlines planning for smooth operation when its not feasible.

“If anything goes wrong, [they] don’t have to suffer the loss because [they] can just pass on those losses onto the customers,” he said. “That doesn’t seem right to me.”

Last week, Sunwing told CTV News they were paying for stranded guests’ accommodations, food and making their best efforts to repatriate them.

“In part that Sunwing is paying these funds voluntarily is an indication they know they’re at fault,” said Merchant. “I haven’t heard one person say, ‘they’re happy, they got everything from Sunwing.’ [Sunwing] is paying minimal amounts.”

CTV News reached out to Sunwing for comment on the lawsuit but has not received a response.

Stinson wants to see the airline put business aside.

“It’s not just a trip,” she said. “For some people, it’s their dream wedding, or their family vacation that they haven’t got to have in the last two years with everything that’s been going on.”