tcook052

https://www.newswire.ca/news-release...852850749.html

TORONTO, Sept. 27, 2019 /CNW/ - Canadians looking for a tropical escape that's easily accessible from their local airport have even more options to choose from this coming winter thanks to a new agreement between leading tour operator, Sunwing, and ultra-low-cost airline, Swoop.

Sunseekers departing from Hamilton, London, Abbotsford, Edmonton and Winnipeg can now book vacation packages with the tour operator that include a Swoop flight.

Andrew Dawson, President of Tour Operations for Sunwing, commented on the news, "Saving our customers time and money by providing convenient, direct flight services from their local airport has always been a key priority for us. Sunwing Airlines already offers flights to over 45 of the most popular sun destinations from over 30 departure airports coast to coast. With this new agreement, even more Canadians will be able to experience our top-rated resorts (including leading chains such as Royalton Luxury Resorts, RIU Hotels & Resorts, Planet Hollywood Hotels & Resorts) as part of a valued-added vacation package departing from their local airport."

All Sunwing vacation packages with Swoop flights include one complimentary item of checked luggage, round-trip airport to hotel transfers, assistance from Sunwing Experiences representatives throughout, the option to benefit from savings by pre-purchasing Sunwing Experiences excursions at the time of booking and more.

"It's a privilege to be entrusted with carrying Sunwing travellers onboard Swoop flights to our extensive network in Mexico," said Steven Greenway, President, Swoop. "Partnering with a well-respected tour operator who shares our vision of making travel affordable and more accessible is a welcome opportunity for Canadians who want to travel more."

Sunwing customers that take advantage of Swoop's extensive network of flight services can now benefit from even greater access to some of Mexico's most popular vacation destinations. A new departure airport now available as part of this agreement is Abbotsford, where travellers can take advantage of twice-weekly flights to Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta. The popular vacation destination of Cancun is now within easy reach for Sunwing customers in London if they choose to take advantage of the twice-weekly Swoop flight service as part of their vacation package.
Vacationers departing from Hamilton can now select from both Sunwing's and Swoop's regular flight services to Cancun – giving them the choice of four different departure days each week (including both Saturday and Sunday). Vacationers from Edmonton will enjoy additional weekend departure options to reach Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta. Finally, the addition of Swoop flight services from Winnipeg to Los Cabos has tripled the choice of departure days for customers travelling from the region, with new flights options departing Sundays and Wednesdays.

YYCguy

Swoop’s fleet limitations and reliability better improve multi fold in order to meet this new partnership’s demands! I wonder which carrier initiated discussions. I’m surprised that Sunwing would agree to this partnership.

tcook052

I did wonder back when Swoop routes to sunspot destinations were announced months ago how it would work for those travellers wanting to include accommodation so now I guess we're seeing that questions answered with this partnership.

The upside is there could be worse places than PVR to be stranded when Swoop suffers another mechanical meltdown.

tracon

Maybe there is a reliability cause in the contract.

aerobod

Despite the press reports giving the impression they have lots of cancellations, in August Swoop cancelled 1.8% of flights, or 19 flights in 1036. Pretty average for all airlines. They also had better (but still not good) on time performance than Sunwing themselves:



I expect with the full rules of the Passenger Bill of rights in place by Dec, Swoop will look to WestJet to provide a spare aircraft for recovery when they have flights cancelled due to unscheduled maintenance, at least once the MAXs are back in service.

From an on time perspective, they are doing better than Encore did in it’s first couple of years of service. Encore started at 40% on time performance in it’s first year, evolving to generally top 3 in North America and top 10% in the world these days. Ryanair also is generally in the top 10%, so Swoop’s business model following them, has the capability to get there if they pay attention to operational optimization.

Sopwith

If I was running for Prime Minister right now I would promise to make it mandatory to post this table at the top of every airline’s booking page.

newfbc

Unless you're stranded on the way out, in Abbotsford, Winnipeg, Hamilton... enough said.

Ron.

tcook052

Sorry but I don't think the press focuses on there being lots of Swoop cancellations but rather focuses on the extreme delays in rescheduling new flights in some cases as is noted in this article.

Cathie Puckering, president of the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport, says Swoop flew 972 flights out of Hamilton in July and August. And the high-profile Swoop cancellations, which happened for reasons like bird strike and unscheduled maintenance, only accounted for 3.5 per cent of them.

Swoop cancelled 30 flights in the first 10 days of July this summer, and some customers paid out of pocket to salvage their travel plans.

Among them was Radek Romanowski, who got a cancellation notice the evening before his July 8 return flight from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to Hamilton. A second email that night informed him that he was rebooked to fly on July 15 — one week later.

To bring this back to the topic at hand, will Sunwing compensate passengers stranded for a week in Mazatlán due to a Swoop cancellation?

cedric

Likely initiated from Sunwing to provide more lift in the absence of their MAXes.

aerobod

When there are only one or two flights a week to a given destination, there will be multi day delays possible on their own metal if a rescue flight isn’t run. There isn’t any specific answer, but several factors will come into play after the Dec 15 Air Passenger Protection Regulations (aka Bill of Rights) is in place:

- what is considered a “reasonable time” for a replacement flight for destinations with infrequent flights, there doesn’t seem to be any specific definition, so I’m sure there will have to be some court challenges to define this.

- Swoop will only do what either the contract with Sunwing defines or the law dictates, nothing extra will happen, to ensure costs are minimized.

- There will be calculations done to determine the most cost efficient recovery method and when it is best to pay Bill of Rights compensation vs speedy recovery.

- I’m sure Swoop won’t want to set precedents for liberal compensation, until PAX have complained to the CTA and rulings have taken place where the law is vague.

- PAX better have travel insurance if they don’t want longer delays and out of pocket costs due to recovery from weather IROPS. I’m sure Swoop will have a best efforts clause with Sunwing and they should have this as a pass through to PAX contracts,

I think overall what will happen is the Bill of Rights will tighten up the recovery times and circumstances that will be dealt with as controllable delays, especially after court and CTA clarifications, but both Swoop and Sunwing won’t fully compensate for long delays that are uncontrollable (weather being the biggest factor). So PAX have a responsibility for insuring against this, no different than ensuring they are covered for unexpected medical events or losses due to theft.

Fiordland

I think the difference here is Sunwing is selling a 7-nights all-inclusive package at a beach resort somewhere. IF Swoop decided to delay flying the passanger for a few days, Sunwing needs to deal with the fact it sold a 7-night vacation and it is delivering an abridged vacation or if it extends the vacation it is finding rooms in what is likely a sold-out hotel with new return flights.

Sunwing is also saying the Swoop booking include one checked bag. Not certain what else Swoop is going to have to include to meet Sunwing customer service standards. If they are meeting all of Sunwings standards it would include a free welcome on-board glass of sparkling wine, free soda, coffee and water and free entertainment.

As for Swoop providing compensation. I think the issue most people have is not the lack of compensation, it is standing passengers and not delivering on their commitment to delivery on was sold in a reasonable time. I suspect reasonable come down to what options was available. If a major snow storm hits and grounds everyone, then the delay is reasonable until aircraft start moving again. If there are aircraft with the competition going to the same place with empty seats and Swoop did not move its passengers over to the competition that is not reasonable.

tcook052

Sunwing isn't immune to travel delays but when they happen IME they are in the 12 - 24 hour range and while inconvenient for holidayers they are far from the lunacy of a Swoop 7-day delay.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out but I counsel caution for those considering a Sunwing package with Swoop flights.

newfbc

Well Sunwing and Swoop are now comparable... Welcome to the bottom!



Ron.