Passenger advocate urges stranded Sunwing passengers in Mexico to take legal action

As hundreds of Canadians scramble to get home after their Sunwing flights from Mexico were cancelled last week, a passengers' rights advocate says stranded travellers should consider legal action if they aren't compensated by the airline. Gabor Lukacs, president and founder of the Air Passenger Rights group, says passengers grappling with cancelled flights and inadequate information about when they might be rebooked should buy their own tickets home with a different carrier, and keep careful records and receipts of their expenses. If Sunwing refuses to compensate them under the federal Air Passenger Protection Regulations, they should take the matter to small claims court, Lukacs said in an interview. "We're at a point in Canada where suing an airline is not simply about your own money, it's about changing how they operate. It's about behaviour modification," he said. "And that's where the government is derelict in its duties to the public." He said passengers should also phone their local member of Parliament and ask for better enforcement of passenger rights in Canada. As of Sunday, hundreds of Canadian travellers were stuck in Cancun, Mexico after Sunwing cancelled their flights home. Some described being shuffled from hotel to hotel, sometimes arriving to find there were no rooms booked for them, while Sunwing officials offered inaccurate and incomplete information about when they might get home. Story has details.<br/>