Air Transat delays flights leaving Mexico vacationers in limbo

Air Transat passengers stranded Customers are looking for answers after flights face long delays. Bill Macfarlane has more.

It’s been a long couple of days for some Air Transat customers who have been stuck at the airport after their flights to and from Mexico were pushed back with little to no explanation.

Grant Zima’s flight to Puerto Vallarta was changed by the airline on Sunday morning and he and his sister and brother-in-law have spent over 30 hours at the Calgary airport waiting to get on a flight.

They were told by the airline that the flight was delayed because the flight crew required more rest but Zima says that explanation doesn’t add up.

“They said it was because the crew needed rest that flew in so I though okay well that’s fine because then there’s nothing wrong with the plane and as soon as the crew has their rest we’ll go so we showed up back here at 11:00 last night and they said, now it’s been delayed until 3,” he said. “So they gave us a room. While we were in the room, at 1:00, they phoned us and said, the hotel phoned us, because they asked the hotel to phone, and said it’s now delayed until next day at 5:00. So we’ve been here 30 some hours and not one email from Air Transat.”

Zima is frustrated by the lack of communication from Air Transat and says that some passengers are pretty upset about missing part of their vacations.

“Everyone has lost two days of their holiday. Some people are going for a week, they’re talking about maybe offering an extension of two days but that doesn’t help for people who have booked their holidays and need to be back to work next Monday morning,” he said. “You just can’t treat customers like this and no email from Air Transat. You just show up and they change this and they change that, so it’s just unacceptable.”

At the other end of the line, passengers wait at a resort in Mexico for word on when they can expect to fly home.

Jamie Hanlon says his group was scheduled to leave the resort and return home to Edmonton on Sunday afternoon when they learned that their flight had changed.

“We’ve got, probably, 30 to 35 people at this resort that are here. We’re not being told anything. Most of us got up at about 1:30 at night with the intention of checking out and getting on the bus to head to the airport only to find out that, no, now it was delayed until 6:00 this morning with an estimated departure time of about 9 am. So when we rounded up at 5:30 we were told no, sorry, there’s a new change, now we’re looking at a potential departure from here at about 730 with an estimated departure time of about 11:55 from PVR airport,” he said.

Hanlon contacted Air Transat’s customer service line in Montreal and says the airline wasn’t much help.

“It’s been any number of difficulties. Transat customer service is not saying much from Montreal, if you can get through to them,” he said. “We’re still waiting to find out whether people are going to get kicked out of their rooms today or whether we’re going to be able to keep a few rooms here and be able to kind of bundle up and huddle up until we have to leave here at 7. But again, if our flight is delayed beyond that time, then we’re going to be making good friends with strangers very fast.”

He also says it’s an inconvenience for those who have to get back to work and that the hotel has been terrific but even it has limits.

“There’s going to be a tap out point for them as well where they’re not going to be able to hold 30, 35 people from Calgary much longer because, simply they can’t, they’re already booked to capacity and they’re going to need those rooms right?”

Some people booked flights on other airlines in an attempt to salvage their vacations but it’s unclear whether they will be reimbursed.

“It’s certainly frustrating and, you know, unacceptable but I don’t know what to say. They said they’re going to give us some type of compensation, I don’t know what I’ll be but it won’t be enough anyway right? And if it’s a credit for their airline, I’ll give it right back to them because I don’t want a voucher for Air Transat airline,” said Zima. “I’d like to see a little more communication. This day and age, you can’t email everyone who’s flying, like, all the customers?”

“Not a clue. Nobody’s even discussed any sort of compensation or anything. Like I said, there are some people who have some specific challenges,” said Hanlon.

The main issue seems to be a lack of communication but Hanlon says he will be rethinking using Air Transat in the future.

“When I’m now looking in the future of coming back to Mexico, because I love this place, I’m definitely going to start having to figure out whether or not I want to use the same carrier, especially since they’ve done such an absolutely atrocious job of any sort of communicating with us,” he said. “I’m not angry, I’m not upset, I’m just disappointed the way that myself and our fellow passengers are being treated right now.”

Air Transat Marketing Director Debbie Camana released a statement on Monday afternoon saying…

 “The delay on our TS318 flight was caused by a series of events.  We had a mechanical problem on previous flight departing from Calgary to Cancun (Flight TS190). Due to maintenance delay, we had to respect the federal regulation about the crew Flight Duty Time Limitations and Rest Periods, which caused a second delay in Cancun for the flight returning to Calgary (Flight TS191). Due to a second mechanical problem, we changed the aircraft for flight TS191 between Cancun and Calgary, which caused a third delay, with an impact on the following flight to Cancun (Flight TS318). We are very sorry about the inconveniences caused by this situation. 172 passengers were impacted by this delay, and they will receive a $250 cash compensation.”

(With files from Bill Macfarlane)