Frustration is running high at resorts and the Puerto Vallarta Airport as hundreds of Canadians continue to try to get home after flights into and out of the popular destination were suspended earlier this week in the aftermath of clashes between cartel and Mexican government forces.
One Pembina Valley resident and their family were supposed to return to Winnipeg early Monday morning, but are still waiting to get home, noting they have received “zero” communication from the airline. The resident didn’t want their name used due to concern it may impact their ability to secure a flight home.
“We’ve made several attempts to get back to Manitoba,” he explained in a late Thursday morning interview. “The frustrating part is we’ve had no communication from our airline for over 96 hours. We’ve been told we will have emails from WestJet, Sunwing, and have not received any emails. We’ve been on hold for two, three, some of us up to six hours, trying to get a hold of our representative for the airlines with zero communication.”
According to information provided to the Prairie News Network by a WestJet spokesperson, guests who booked with WestJet as an air-only traveller were advised on Monday evening via email to use the airline’s online Manage Trips tool and follow the step-by-step directions to view alternate flight options, request a refund or contact the company via their preferred method.
“Guests seeking re-accommodation on Sunwing Vacations, WestJet Vacations or Vacances WestJet Quebec are also welcome to contact their travel agent or contact WestJet Vacations directly to discuss options,” said WestJet Media Relations advisor Julia Kaiser in an emailed statement.
Resort area back to normal, but beefed up security
He noted, from his perspective of having gone back and forth from a resort to the airport several times this week, “It’s all back to business as usual.”
“People are going about their day as if nothing’s happened,” he said. “They have really beefed up military security. We see the Blackhawk helicopters flying over the beaches actively. There were Marine ships in the marina. You’ve seen soldiers being offloaded.”
He stressed the general feeling of the people he’s communicating with is that they are terribly frustrated.
“I look at my son, for example, who came out for reading week, and this week were major exams for him,” he explained. “We just got done talking with another couple, and they’re in the same boat, and as young students, this is a very stressful time for them.”
He has spoken with one family who has a sick baby, and they are very frustrated and stressed.
“We can only communicate with guests with whom we have contact information for,” noted Kaiser. “If a guest has not received communications from us at this point, it may be because they made an error in giving us their contact details, or their travel agent did not provide us with an email of phone number.”
No Communication according to resident
“There’s no communication,” he said. “Every morning, you have to check out of your hotel, then they tell you to check back in, they bill your credit card, then you have to come down for a refund, and it’s very frustrating. You just never know.”
He said everyone is doing the best they can, considering the circumstances.
“A lot of good people that are stuck out here are just feeling the frustration, and they’re just mentally drained, just exhausted mentally,” he noted. “You come on a vacation to recharge, and now you go through this, and it all boils down to lack of communication from the airlines.”
He concluded it comes down to a simple thing for him: WestJet and Sunwing need to do better.
“They’ve really let a lot of people down that are frequent travellers,” he said. “They are not stepping up in the way they should, and to not communicate is not acceptable. It will hurt their airline.”
According to Kaiser, as of Thursday, WestJet has scheduled a total of 12 additional flights and is looking at options to add more depending on demand. WestJet will review all expense submissions incurred as a result of this disruption.
