Sunwing Airlines

Booked a direct flight from Ottawa leaving for Cuba 9am. We left Ottawa at 11am flew to Punta Cana and then to Cuba a 3hr 45 min flight took over 7 hrs. Coming back were to leave Cuba at 5.10pm and arrive around 9pm. We finally left at 8.30pm and arrived home at 12am. Reason: well of course Sunwing first went to the Dominican Republic took on passengers and then made them get off the plane in Cuba then re-board the same plane. They then kindly let us board the plane and made us change seats 3 times because of course they had already double booked our seats. This flight was filled with tired frustrated and very angry travellers. I travel to Cuba and the Dominican Republic several times every winter and this is my third bad experience with Sunwing and my last. I lost almost 2 days vacation and came back frustrated and angry.

Booked a trip to Varadero with Sunwing first week of April 2013. Direct flight from Halifax to Varadero but my luggage was sent to Toronto only passenger on flight to have this happen! Worked with Sunwing rep at Varadero resort to find luggage but soon found out that they were more interested in tour bookings than finding my luggage. As a result my luggage was gone for 6 days of my vacation and it had returned to the Varadero airport 4 days later. This company has no credibility and I would advise for all to avoid. Sure if you are the 90% who have no problems as you should this airline is great; but have problems and they will put the responsibility on you to resolve.

Travelled on WG608 to Cayo Coco via Punta Cana - total 7.5 hr flight along with a 1.5 hour delayed departure from Ottawa. Computer problems. Luggage was loaded in wrong order then reloaded. Plane towed from one gate to another due to delays. Champagne offered 1.5 hrs into flight. Followed by no coffee or tea for entire 7.5 hrs. Sandwich offered - no napkin - around mid day and nothing for 4 hours of flight - we were on ground in Punta Cana for around 1 hour then 2 hours flight back north to Cayo Coco. Travelled WG609 to Ottawa from Cayo Coco. Flight delayed by 2 hours then 3 hours - in airport departure lounge for 6 hours - junk food only available - my Elite Plus seat was booked on check in at Cayo Coco airport then as walking out gate Cuban official changed it to a regular seat. My seat had been sold to someone else. No notification prior. Complained to flight crew. Issue resolved on plane and passengers not happy one had the nerve to challenge my right to the seat I had purchased months before over the rights of someone who had bought an upgrade that very day. Food was dreadful. Frozen pizza reheated or sandwich. Ate pizza - had complementary wine. Will never fly Sunwing again. Quality of service has changed significantly from 3 years ago.

10 days before our trip departure they change both the departure time and the return time. The return non stop turned into a stopover and an additional 4hrs to the flight time. An 8.5 hr flight time for a 4.5hr flight. I would not have booked the trip with such a terrible return flight and of course I was not able to cancel and get a refund. There were no apologies or any answers to my emails. This is the second time I have used Sunwing and they have changed departures 3 times out of 4. I am not retired with lots of time to make changes. I will drive to Buffalo and use an airline from there if the carriers in Toronto can not accommodate me. I will never use Sunwing again.

I use Sunwing because it is cheap to certain spots so I'm not going to complain about seating or extra charges to pick seats etc they do have the best price on a lot of tours. They need to give their stewardesses some customer service lessons. On the way down Vancouver to Varadaro Nov 22-30 they were feeding us the head stewardess was across our aisle when another stewardess pulled out a boxed pizza to give out the head stewardess said "I thought we were out of them I told a customer we didn't have anymore" then to our unbelief she said to the other stewardess "ahh forget it I wont tell her". Head stewardess just glared back and moved on. On the way back an elderly/not so fit women had a window seat she decided to sit in the aisle seat when the person who owned that seat showed up she didn't want to move the steward had to make her move to her assigned window seat. The plane was only 3/4 full if that. There was an extra 10-12 sunwing cabin crew catching a flight home that were seated in 4 rows at the back of the plane and they requested to sit up front in row 3 and 4 the remaining ones in the back never shut up it was an overnight flight people wanted to sleep. Would I fly Sunwing again I would like to say not likely most unprofessional crew however I probably will if the price is as cheap again.

Booked package to Veradero based on direct flight. One month after paying for flight we were notified the departure flight had moved up forcing us all to take an extra day holiday. They also rerouted us to Montego Bay 1st. We flew over Veradero for an extra three hours sitting in a cramped plane with many children. They gave us no option to cancel or expect compensation. The day before we left we were notified the seats we had prepaid to book were not being honoured and again we had no compensation. We then were notified that our return flight was also being moved up so that we could once again fly to Jamaica adding three hours to our flight. Once off the lane it took 45 minutes to deliver our luggage in the airport and the airport says it is the airline's responsibility to make their 20 minute advertised limit. Do not fly Sunwing! They cost us two days of our holiday.

We usually fly Sunwing to the Caribbean but after this trip we shall be looking for another airline for our holidays. The flight crews were good my main complaint is with the airline flight operations and reservations. We were told after we had booked our flight down to Cuba (Nov 22 from YOW) that it will be a would be a combined flight (MBJ and VRA) and that on the return trip to Canada the plane would be stopping in MBJ before picking us up at VRA. A couple of days before the flight the return leg was changed and that it would be VRA THEN MBJ giving us 2 seven hour flights. When the flights were combined we called the airline and got nothing but the usual run around and hiding behind their rules even when it was supposedly escalated 4 levels. But the topper was that on the return flight the MBJ passengers had to deplane and become transit passengers and VRA doesn't have a transit lounge. The MBJ were left to their own devices in the terminal causing the MBJ leg of the trip to be delayed by 30 minutes. On the flight down to MBJ from YOW we were delayed at the gate for paperwork which seemed to be a running thing with this particular captain. At MBJ they had to off load some of the VRA luggage to move it to another cargo hold. The captain said it was for weight and balance but a B737 isn't a Cessna 174. Lastly this is one of the TUI Travel PLC's Euro fleet and the in flight entertainment system didn't work properly. ON the YOW to MBJ portion a large number of the screens didn't drop down until the flight attendant crew trainer from the Euro division rebooted the entire system but then we were on the MBJ to VRA leg. Same thing again on the return to Canada.

August 16 2013. Supposed to travel to Punta Cana that day from Cincinnati. We were told there was a slight delay and we would depart an hour later. That hour turned into a 20 hour delay reason being said because someone on the returning flight got very sick and the solution (IV bag) was used on that person and they could not fly us back out until the solution was replaced. They had no other plane to put us on and we would fly out the next morning. Yes they gave us a voucher to use at the airport but by that time everyone had already eaten and also the airport stores were closed. They gave us free hotel rooms near the airport and a shuttle service. Needless to say we arrived in Punta Cana a day later and they did reimburse us for a small amount of the daily room charge.

On return flight from Toronto to Vancouver both legs were 3 hours late due to 'the aircraft from the Caribbean flight being late'. Myself and other passengers inquired about the 'Champagne flight' as advertised but was told by the attendant that it only on the international flights that champagne is served. Well many of us were mistaken about that. I will not travel Sunwing again and I told them so but I don't think they care enough to respond.

We just came back from a 7 day (Nov 13-20 2013) All Inclusive Trip to Cancun through Sunwing Vacations. Our flight out of Calgary was delayed 3 hours we had been told it was because the captain had called in ill and Sunwing had to fly a new pilot in from Vancouver. The agents at the check in apologized and offered a $5/person voucher - enough to buy a coffee! On our flight back home same issue the flight back was delayed almost 2 hours because again the crew was late. This time we had to ask the Sunwing agents for a voucher but they said sorry this is Mexico we do not offer vouchers. On top of everything else the seats were most uncomfortable mine didn't even recline back and there was no way to change seats because the plane was full. There was hardly any room between seats and most folks end up knocking their knees against the seat in front of them. Sunwing weigh your carry-on bag at check in. If you would like to take advantage of their pre-flight seat assignment (Online) then be prepared to pay $15/person per flight - an additional $60 for the vacation. When checking in at Calgary airport we were the very first people in line at the counter their agent assigned us seats in the row behind our friends. Once we got to the gate an agent paged us to the counter and informed us that our seats had been sold (I assume online) and should not have been assigned to us. I asked how could this happen as “their system” must have created the error. He didn't have an answer apologized and sent us into the bowels of the airplane. We will not fly with Sunwing again.