The snowstorms that iced many Canadians out of their holiday travel plans, continue to leave airline and railway executives and politicians on the hot seat.
New data from the Angus Reid Institute finds Canadians blame airlines and rail companies almost as much as they do the weather for cancelled flights and delayed trains over Christmas and New Years.
The Angus Reid poll found that 70% of Canadians blame the weather, but that 68% said the problems lie with airlines and rail companies. One-in-three (33%) point the finger at the federal government. A similar number (30%) blame the travellers for putting themselves in the situation.
Maybe the most disturbing number in the report is that 61% of respondents say airlines don’t care about their customers. If I ran a major airline in Canada, I’d be worried about that.
The data also indicate strong desire from Canadians for more government regulation to protect consumers from cancellations (78% say this). Two-in-five (44%) want the Canadian Transportation Agency to levy fines against the airlines who failed to uphold customer rights even if it means the companies raise airfares to cover them. One-third (34%) want the CTA to find other ways to hold airlines accountable for cancellations and delays.
Travel troubles have become an all-too-familiar phenomenon for Canadians. Last summer saw persistent delays and long lines at Canadian airports. To “learn lessons” from the summer, and prepare for the holiday travel season, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra held a summit with airlines and airports in November.
Still, two-in-five (39%) believe Transport Canada failed to prepare for the holiday surge in travel. Two-in-five (43%) are more likely to absolve the Trudeau government, and say the December travel mess was out of its control.
Sunwing cancelled flights over the holidays, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded in Mexico. WestJet and Air Canada also cancelled many flights due to record snowstorms in Vancouver and a storm in Ontario/Quebec. There also were reports of lost bags piling up at Vancouver Airport, Toronto Pearson, and other airports in Canada.
VAI Rail also had significant problems with train operations in Ontario just before Christmas.
CTV reports Sunwing has cancelled the majority of its flights out of Regina for the remainder of the winter travel season. The network said the cancellations, due to “extenuating circumstances,” are effective Feb. 4, 2023.
“This impacts weekly flights from Regina to Mexico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, with the exception of Sunday departures to Puerto Vallarta starting on February 5th,” Sunwing said in an emailed statement to CTV News.
Open Jaw reports that Sunwing also has trimmed flights from Winnipeg, with weekly flights to two Mexico destinations set for elimination early next month. The website said Sunwing has confirmed that Thursday flights from Winnipeg to Los Cabos will stop on Feb. 2, while weekly Friday flights to Mazatlan end on Feb. 10.
Montreal-based aviation expert John Gradek told the CBC that Sunwing is now “thinning out its schedule” and pulling out of Saskatchewan to have a “half-decent chance” at keeping other destination flights running.
“Unless something happens dramatically changing Sunwing’s behaviour and its way of doing business, the sun may set on Sunwing,” he said.
