Ils en parlent dans le Toronto Star :
Stranded passengers arrive in Toronto, livid over runaround in Paris
August 3, 2011 00:08:00
Henry Stancu
Staff Reporter
A Toronto-bound flight from Paris that left about
200 passengers stranded for 36 hours arrived safely Wednesday at Pearson International Airport.
Despite being provided food, accommodation and financial compensation, travellers’ biggest complaint was the lack of communication from the airline during the delays.
The Sunwing Airlines flight was scheduled to leave Charles de Gaulle airport Monday at 11:55 a.m., but a problem with the jet’s hydraulic system resulted in repeated delays.
Rescheduled departures had passengers returning to their gate multiple times, and the stranded travellers grew weary and irate without a Sunwing representative on hand to guide them.
“There was no communication. We were continuously brought back to the hotel, airport terminal, check-in, security, passport control and back to the hotel again,’ said Marianna Tsenglevych after getting a much- need rest following her arrival back home.
“All they needed to tell us from the beginning was that the flight was cancelled so people could relax instead of spending 28 of the 36 hours going back and forth,” she said.
Tsenglevych said the lack of communication caused undue stress for the passengers, including about 20 children under the age of 10, elderly travellers, a woman in a wheelchair and a pregnant woman.
The initial delay occurred after a mechanic detected a hydraulic problem and a part had to be brought from London by a Sunwing employee.
Checked as baggage and picked up at Charles de Gaulle, the hydraulic part then went missing for several hours.
“And that changed circumstances dramatically. It was really unfortunate, and to be honest we did everything we possibly could,” said Daryl McWilliams, Sunwing’s vice-president of sales and marketing.
The rescheduled flight arrived at Pearson at 2:30 a.m. Wednesday with Sunwing staff members on hand to meet the passengers.
McWilliams described the ordeal as a “Murphy’s Law” scenario.
“Unfortunately delays are a part of travel, but what turned this from a delay that would have been handled routinely was the loss of that part,” said McWilliams.
Passengers were offered a cash refund for the return flight or a credit voucher for the value of their round trip.
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