Travelers are waiting in line at the Sunwing Airlines check-in counter at Montreal’s Trudeau Airport on April 20. Graham Hughes / The Canadian Press
Sunwing Airlines Inc. struggled on Thursday to take passengers to and from their holiday destinations after a cyber attack earlier this week, but many remained blocked and frustrated by the airline’s communications.
The cyberattack affected Sunwing’s third-party provider, Airline Choice, a US-based service provider responsible for checking passengers in and providing basic information. The security breach has affected other carriers worldwide, but Sunwing is the only Canadian airline to use the provider.
The airline now issues boarding passes and leases aircraft from other carriers such as WestJet, AirTransat and Nolinor Aviation to ease the backlog.
Sunwing said late Thursday that 188 flights to and from holiday destinations had been affected by delays, and by Thursday afternoon, 153 of those flights had been completed or were in operation.
“We expect to be close to normal operations by the weekend. Customers with upcoming flights over the next few days are encouraged to continue checking the status of their flight at Sunwing.ca for the latest departure time information.
Montreal resident Matilda Garno was due to depart from Cancun, Mexico, on Wednesday, but found her flight canceled after airport transfers did not arrive to pick her up.
Although she turned to Sunwing, Ms. Garnot did not know about the cyber attack until she checked social media. She was later told she could take another flight on Thursday.
“Sunwing’s lack of communication was disappointing.” Said Mrs. Garnot. “Fortunately, I only had to wait 24 hours. The people sitting in front of me on the plane right now are trying to leave on Monday. It was chaos. “
Toronto resident Adrian Carter was due to take off from Cancun on Thursday, but as he was unsure if his flight would take off, he struggled for two days to coordinate a contingency plan for his group of eight children. He boarded his flight on Thursday, but before the flight was confirmed, Mr Carter said he was worried when his hotel refused to leave late Thursday.
In an updated statement emailed Thursday, Sunwing said it has expanded the option to change travel dates without a penalty fee for “bookings with originally scheduled departure dates between April 19, 2022 and April 25, 2022, which is valid for travel until June 23, 2022.
“There will be no change in prices for customers’ initial reservations.”
Airline Choice said it had taken “certain systems offline to protect our environment” and immediately launched a security breach investigation to determine the source of the disruption.
“We have already begun to restore the functionality of our systems and are working around the clock to complete this as soon as possible,” the company said. “As our investigation continues, we are unable to provide additional information at this time.”
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