Despite multiple delays, the Toles family is happy to have made it back from their Cuban vacation on what may have been one of the last flights operating to Saskatchewan by Sunwing before the company made its big announcement.
Originally booked to travel with Sunwing to Cuba on December 20th-27th the family drove to Saskatoon on the evening of the 19th. When they arrived at the airport to catch their flight in the morning they found out that it had been postponed for 24 hours due to "staff safety", however they never heard from Sunwing directly. The company's app was showing the delay in the flight however there was nothing on the airport boards.
After spending the day in Saskatoon they went to bed planning to fly out the next morning. In the evening however they once again noticed on the Sunwing app that their flight had been delayed for an additional 24 hours. Carisma Toles adds that there was no way to confirm with the airline as no one answers their phonelines after 11pm. While on the app they noticed another flight was leaving for Cuba from Regina the next morning so they decided to take a chance and drove there in the hopes of catching that flight. They knew they would be arriving very early in the morning at the airport but assumed they would at least be the first in line when everything opened. However, when they arrived Carisma says the airport was full of people as the flight they were planning to catch had also been previously delayed 48 hours.
At the Regina airport they spoke with a very helpful Sunwing agent who managed to switch them on to the Regina flight. According to Carisma, the plan was to see if they could get their flight home switched to Regina as that was where their car now was. They were told to check with the Sunwing rep at their resort when they arrived in Cuba. According to the Toles they never saw a Sunwing rep the entire time they were at the resort.
Carisma says while the weather was a bit cool, they had a great time at their resort. On the day of departure, however, they experienced some Deja vu as she explains.
"We were getting ready to go and then Dean checked his app again. Again, we didn't get a notification but he did check the app and it showed the flight was delayed."
The family ended up staying on their original flight home to Saskatoon as Dean Toles explains.
"It was delayed again a couple of hours after we got to the airport but it did eventually go. So we ended up having to rent a car from Saskatoon and then drive again through the ugly weather back to Regina and we ended up getting a hotel that night and picking up our car at the airport the next day."
Delays and cancellations aside the family enjoyed their time in Cuba and are grateful to have been able to return home.