Hundreds of Sunwing Airlines passengers are banding together and considering a class action lawsuit after being caught in a wave of cancellations and lawsuits that left many stranded in tropical destinations, unable to return to Canada.
A social media group dedicated to organizing passengers has grown to 750 members and organizer Sohail Shahidnia says they are trying to find a lawyer to take the case.
"We just wanted to get home. This is not right," Shahidnia said in an interview. "We want to hold them accountable."
Shahidnia was among the crowd at the Cancun airport whose return flights had been canceled repeatedly over Christmas. In a video recorded from the airport, hundreds can be heard chanting "take us home!" Elsewhere in the crowd, a video shows a Sunwing representative threatening to strand a man and his five-month-old son in Mexico "forever," something the airline has since apologized for.
He and his family booked another flight and made it home. Many did not, caught in a whirlwind of cancellations, a continent-wide storm, as well as a digital communications failure that led to many empty seats on some rescue flights.
To top it off, a baggage belt failure at Toronto's Terminal 3, from where Sunwing airlines departs, meant thousands of suitcases piled up in the terminal.
Sunwing apologized and said its 43 rescue flights have already brought in everyone stranded in the difficult travel season.