Edmonton travelers experience long Sunwing delays

Many Sunwing customers should be in Mexico kicking their feet up at the beach, instead, they’ve been kicking around at the Edmonton International Airport for more than a day, after their flight was delayed several times.

The Sunwing flight from Mexico to Cancun was originally scheduled to take off at 9 a.m. Wednesday morning. The flight was delayed multiple times before passengers were asked to come back to the airport the following morning for their flight.

We are experiencing a system outage with our third party provider affecting select flight plans. Your flight may experience some delays as this issue impacts multiple carriers in North America.

— Sunwing Vacations (@SunwingVacay) November 2, 2022

“They gave away some hotel vouchers for people who needed it. Thankfully we didn’t because we live nearby, but we got taxi vouchers and some food vouchers,” says James Nielsen, one of the passengers waiting to hop on board.

On Wednesday, the airline tweeted out saying a system outage with a third-party provider caused many flight delays. Later that day, they tweeted again saying all northbound Sunwing flights would be delayed overnight.

On Thursday morning, Sunwing said on Twitter “We have recovered the ability to dispatch our flight plans and operations are beginning to normalize, but customers can still expect delays as we work on recovery flights and resuming regular flight schedules as soon as possible.”

We have recovered the ability to dispatch our flight plans and operations are beginning to normalize, but customers can still expect delays as we work on recovery flights and resuming regular flight schedules as soon as possible.

— Sunwing Vacations (@SunwingVacay) November 3, 2022

“We’re hopeful and optimistic but not too optimistic considering everything that has happened in the last 24 hours,” he said while he waited at the Edmonton International Airport for his flight,” says James Nielsen.

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Herc Magnus and his family are also Cancun-bound. “We’re cut down already to a four-day trip from a seven-day trip, who knows what will happen from here,” he says.

While Magnus and Nielsen both say they understand delays happen, they say it’s the lack of communication that is leaving them feeling frustrated.

“I don’t think they’re communicating it the best, I don’t think they’re being very transparent to us or to the people at the front desk who are trying to help us out. They don’t seem like they know much so it might be a communication error within Sunwing itself,” says Neilson.

“Bad stuff happens, I understand that but there seems to be a lot of questions from people on what is actually happening and getting clear answers, when is this going to happen, when is that going to happen?” asked Magnus.

Both passengers say their flight was delayed Wednesday due to the system outage, and Thursday’s delay was due to a shortage of staff for their flight.

“Just a lot of confusion and unanswered questions, and frustration at this point because we don’t know what is happening, and we don’t know if we are getting compensated for it,” says Magnus.

Earlier this year, a cyberattack triggered a system-wide failure for Sunwing, which affected boarding and check-in features. The cyber attack in April 2022 grounded Sunwing flights and caused flight delays for several days. In a statement, Sunwing says Wednesday’s flight planning system outage involves a different third-party provider than in April.

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“Sunwing has employed an all hands on deck approach at all airports affected by this outage, including Edmonton International Airport, to ensure customers can return to their planned travels as quickly as possible. We sympathize with our customers and understand their disappointment as they anxiously await to go on their vacations or return home, and we are doing everything we can to keep them up to date and comfortable in the meantime,” says the airline.