Here is the letter I sent to Sunwing which details are horrible experience with them, I have not received a response from them:
"Dear Sunwing Customer Service,
I would like to share with you the experience that my husband and I had on December 19th, 2010 flying with Sunwing. We were scheduled on a flight at leave Toronto International Airport at 7:30am. We were flying to Fort Lauderdale to go on a 7 day cruise leaving the port at 6:00pm. This option gave us plenty of time to get there, so we thought. We arrived at the airport at 5:00am to give us a good 2.5 hours to get settled. When we first got into line to check in a lady came by to inform us that the flight would be delayed to 12:00pm due to mechanical issues. Of course we were upset but understood that these things happen and figured that we would still take the flight at 12:00pm and get to Fort Lauderdale in-time to catch our cruise.
We continue on through customs and arrive at the gate where we are waiting around for a our flight. Around 10:00am a passenger comes to the gate and tells us as well as others on the flight that she just checked into the flight and that it’s been further delayed until 2:00 or 3:00pm. We didn’t take her word for it as we figured if the flight was further delayed that Sunwing would have the decency to either update it on the flight board and/or have a Sunwing representative come to the gate desk and let us know. Neither was done. At this point people were getting stressed and nervous as they didn’t know what to believe. Most of the people on the flight were cruising so everyone was getting very anxious. Finally, at close to 11:00am the Sunwing representatives came to the desk and announced that the flight is delayed until 3:00pm. What was so upsetting about this is that Sunwing had known for a good hour that the flight was going to be further delayed (as they were telling the newest people checking in), but they didn’t have the decency to let the entire flight who had been sitting around since 5:00am know this information.
At this point we realize we are going to miss our cruise. We look into other flights, however since Sunwing waited so long to let us know about the delay, all of the possible alternative flights to Fort Lauderdale and surrounding areas are full, as well I would have to dish out approx. $2000 dollars if there was room on another flight. The Sunwing representative says he is going to deal with people in 3 groups; 1st- people who are going on cruises without a Sunwing package, 2nd-people going on a cruise with Sunwing package and 3rd – people just flying to Fort Lauderdale. We fell into category 1 and when I went with him to discuss my options he basically said that I didn’t have any as Sunwing didn’t have weekday flights to San Juan (the first port destination) during the week. When I asked him what my Sunwing Cancellation Policy covered that I had purchased when I booked the flight he had no idea. So at that point I called Sunwing offices to speak to someone but they were closed! The flight finally left at around 3pm, we landed in Fort Lauderdale just after 6:00pm and to make matters worse as we landed we could see our cruise ship leaving without us out of the port. We had notified them that we would be late, but they can’t wait of course.
We then had to find accommodations in Fort Lauderdale, book a new flight from Fort Lauderdale to San Juan for the next day as well as a hotel in San Juan Monday night. We missed 2.5 days of our 7 day vacation. We understand delays happen but this was handled horribly and the theme of our vacation (as well as others we met that missed their cruise) was that Sunwing ruined our first vacation that we have taken in the last five years. I have never been so disappointed with an airline and with the lack of compassion and customer service that was demonstrated. I would appreciate if someone from Sunwing would acknowledge my complaint and either contact me back my phone or email. I have not posted my horrible experience anywhere else yet as I thought it wouldn’t be fair to do that until I contacted Sunwing first and see how you handle issues like this.
Looking forward to hearing from someone very shortly."
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