More than 100 Swoop Airlines passengers who were expecting to arrive in Hamilton’s John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport on Tuesday were “stranded in Mexico” after a cancelled flight.
Passengers say they had a hard time getting information from the airline, were offered “dingy” places to stay in unsafe areas of the city, not provided with transportation and in some cases told they’d need to wait days for a new flight home.
Amrit Jhooty, 26, from Brampton, Ont., tells CBC News she and other Canadians were set to board Flight WO651 from Cancún International Airport around 1:25 p.m.
Almost two hours later, staff at the airport told them the flight would be delayed.
“We kept asking someone at the front desk what was happening and they said it’ll only be a 5-10 minute delay,” she says.
“People were getting worried because we’re two hours in with no answers.”
Between 3 and 4 p.m., Jhooty says anxious passengers heard there was an accident on board caused the delay.
Helen Ball, 61, frrom Brampton, tells CBC News that about an hour later, airport staff revealed a flight attendant suffered a knee injury which required a trip to the hospital.
Swoop told CBC News in a statement “industry regulations stipulate that we cannot operate a flight without a full complement of flight attendants.”
They watched the stewardess roll through the airport with ice on her knee, but still, Jhooty and Ball expected to make it home.
“It’s ridiculous to think the plane may have had to fly back empty with just the crew,” Ball says. “What a waste.”
Jennifer Woo, 37, from Bowmanville, was also waiting with her two daughters and husband, Jesse.
When they heard about the longer delay, they approached the staff to get Jesse’s medication from his checked baggage.
“He needs medication every five hours or else he’s in pain,” Woo says.
“They told us they could and then they couldn’t and then another person told us they couldn’t do it … and we made them very well aware that he needed it.”
We had to show airport staff the flight was cancelled for them to believe us.– Jennifer Woo, passenger on Flight WO651
But at about 7:00 p.m., the mood in the airport worsened.
“Family members started messaging us saying that online our flight was cancelled,” Jhooty says.
Woo says she also got texts from family saying Hamilton listed the flight as cancelled.
Not long after, passengers say Swoop began sending emails to passengers officially cancelling the flight.
“I had a panic attack,” Jhooty says.
Jhooty and Woo say no one was able to get a hold of Swooop members, alleging that some staff hung up on them and did not respond via social media or email.
“When an incident occurs, call centre wait times do increase. We understand how frustrating it is when travel doesn’t go as planned and apologize for the inconvenience,” read a statement from Swoop Airlines.
They also say tensions within the airport began to flare with miscommunications from employees and few accommodations, though Swoop Airlines says it offered meal vouchers.
“We had to show airport staff the flight was cancelled for them to believe us,” Woo says.
But Swoop also offered alternative flights. Some were set to take off the next day or the day after.
Though, Jhooty would have to wait until Jan. 23 while Woo and Ball’s alternative flight was scheduled for Jan. 25.
“It was ridiculous,” Ball says.
Three to four more hours of waiting the hungry, fatigued and frustrated passengers began to collect their luggage at around 11 p.m.
Woo says her husband finally got a chance to take his medication.
“He was in pain today though … when we land and get back we’ll have to set up a doctor’s appointment to make sure everything is ok,” she says.
Swoop also provided passengers with a list of places to stay and Jhooty says the airline offered to pay for two nights. Passengers say one spot was a hostel while all three areas were in “unsafe” areas — and customers add the airline didn’t provide any means of transportation.
Ball’s daughter described the area where they stayed as what appeared to be “cartel territory.”
“It was a cockroach-infested, two-star, really dingy place,” Woo says. “It was a trip from hell.”
“The bed was on a piece of plywood … people in the hotel said ‘you really shouldn’t leave after dark because it’s a dangerous area,’ ” she says.
Jhooty opted for her own hotel instead.
Now, passengers are looking for compensation.
“I’ve spent $600 out of pocket, maybe more,” Ball says.
Ball, Woo and Jhooty are expecting to return to Canada on non-Swoop flights.
Demands for government intervention in Air Canada labour talks could negatively affect airline competition in Canada, the CEO of travel company Transat AT Inc. said.
“The extension of such an extraordinary intervention to Air Canada would be an undeniable competitive advantage to the detriment of other Canadian airlines,” Annick Guérard told analysts on an earnings conference call on Thursday.
“The time and urgency is now. It is time to restore healthy competition in Canada,” she added.
Air Canada has asked the federal government to be ready to intervene and request arbitration as early as this weekend to avoid disruptions.
Comments on the potential Air Canada pilot strike or lock out came as Transat reported third-quarter financial results.
Guérard recalled Transat’s labour negotiations with its flight attendants earlier this year, which the company said it handled without asking for government intervention.
The airline’s 2,100 flight attendants voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike mandate and twice rejected tentative deals before approving a new collective agreement in late February.
As the collective agreement for Air Transat pilots ends in June next year, Guérard anticipates similar pressure to increase overall wages as seen in Air Canada’s negotiations, but reckons it will come out “as a win, win, win deal.”
“The pilots are preparing on their side, we are preparing on our side and we’re confident that we’re going to come up with a reasonable deal,” she told analysts when asked about the upcoming negotiations.
The parent company of Air Transat reported it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31. The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
It attributed reduced revenues to lower airline unit revenues, competition, industry-wide overcapacity and economic uncertainty.
Air Transat is also among the airlines facing challenges related to the recall of Pratt & Whitney turbofan jet engines for inspection and repair.
The recall has so far grounded six aircraft, Guérard said on the call.
“We have agreed to financial compensation for grounded aircraft during the 2023-2024 period,” she said. “Alongside this financial compensation, Pratt & Whitney will provide us with two additional spare engines, which we intend to monetize through a sell and lease back transaction.”
Looking ahead, the CEO said she expects consumer demand to remain somewhat uncertain amid high interest rates.
“We are currently seeing ongoing pricing pressure extending into the winter season,” she added. Air Transat is not planning on adding additional aircraft next year but anticipates stability.
“(2025) for us will be much more stable than 2024 in terms of fleet movements and operation, and this will definitely have a positive effect on cost and customer satisfaction as well,” the CEO told analysts.
“We are more and more moving away from all the disruption that we had to go through early in 2024,” she added.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
