A customer whose Sunwing flight was delayed after a mix-up with a crew member’s security clearance is speaking out over difficulties getting compensation from the airline.
Sunwing blames Transport Canada for incorrectly cancelling a crew member’s airport security badge, causing a knock-on delay. It claims the delay was out of its control and is refusing to compensate passengers.
Ian Cooper flew with Sunwing from Punta Cana to Toronto on Dec. 20. He was coming home from a two-week vacation in the Dominican Republic when he heard his flight would be delayed. He landed nearly six hours later than he was supposed to.
Once he got home to Brampton, Ontario, he went to file for compensation under Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations.
“The answer I got back [from Sunwing] was very poorly written, saying it’s out of our control,” he said. “I thought, like, who wrote this? It’s not doing anything that’s required of the airlines to explain the delay.”
The message from Sunwing told Cooper that his journey home was disrupted because “a crew member can no longer operate the inbound flight due to circumstances outside the carrier’s control and was outside the control of the carrier.” The airline informed him he was ineligible for compensation.
Ian Cooper/Submitted
A customer whose Sunwing flight was delayed after a mix-up with a crew member’s security clearance is speaking out over difficulties getting compensation from the airline.
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Sunwing blames Transport Canada for incorrectly cancelling a crew member’s airport security badge, causing a knock-on delay. It claims the delay was out of its control and is refusing to compensate passengers.
Ian Cooper flew with Sunwing from Punta Cana to Toronto on Dec. 20. He was coming home from a two-week vacation in the Dominican Republic when he heard his flight would be delayed. He landed nearly six hours later than he was supposed to. Once he got home to Brampton, Ont., he went to file for compensation under Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations.
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“The answer I got back [from Sunwing] was very poorly written, saying it’s out of our control,” he told Daily Hive. “I thought, like, who wrote this? It’s not doing anything that’s required of the airlines to explain the delay.”
The message from Sunwing told Cooper that his journey home was disrupted because “a crew member can no longer operate the inbound flight due to circumstances outside the carrier’s control and was outside the control of the carrier.” The airline informed him he was ineligible for compensation.
Cooper followed up with the airline and finally got a resolution agent to provide more details. In an email, the Sunwing staffer told Cooper that his flight was delayed because of security clearance difficulties for the crew.
Sunwing blames Transport Canada for incorrectly cancelling crew member’s security clearance
According to the airline, on Dec. 20, a Sunwing crew member’s Restricted Area Identity Card (RAIC) was confiscated by the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) in Hamilton, Ontario.
The cards use biometric data to grant airline crews access to restricted areas of the airport, and the program is managed by CATSA, Transport Canada and airport authorities.
The crew member had to go to Pearson International Airport near Toronto to figure out the reason for the confiscation and couldn’t operate the flight they were supposed to.
According to Sunwing, the confiscation ended up being an administrative error by Transport Canada. Instead of processing the crew member’s latest transfer, Transport Canada mistakenly cancelled the identification card.
Sunwing said it had to re-staff the entire flight down to Punta Cana on Dec. 20 while the crew member sorted out their security clearance.
Cooper said that explanation made sense because when he finally boarded his flight, staff aboard mentioned they’d been called in on a day off. But he doesn’t believe the security mix-up should prevent him from getting compensation for the delay.
“What if somebody called in sick at the last minute? At the end of the day, a crew issue is a crew issue,” he said. “But they’re claiming that because it was customs, that it’s outside their control… I think that’s absolutely bogus.”
Gábor Lukács, an air passenger rights advocate, thinks Sunwing should first compensate passengers and then sue Transport Canada for the expenses incurred because of its alleged mistake.
“This is something within the carrier’s control,” Lukács said. “They are responsible for their crews and ensuring that crew members have proper credentials.”
We reached out to Transport Canada, Sunwing’s media relations team, and CATSA for comment. None responded before publication.
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