A group of about 200 Canadians, mostly from Southwestern Ontario, scheduled to fly to Toronto from Cuba via Can Jet Flight 0755 on Sunday, February 21, 2010 have been stranded following a mechanical difficulty with the Jet. The group arrived in Cuba for a vacation in Cayo Coco on Sunday, February 14, 2010. Some of the passengers are complaining of no food as they wait out the delay which has now gone over 24 hours. They have complained that there has been no communication from Can Jet or the Tour operator Hola Sun of Toronto indicating when the flight will happen and many have to get back to Canada to return to work or school. A spokesperson fro Can Jet says the parts to repair the plane’s wheel defect arrived in Cuba this afternoon but could not indicate why the stranded Canadian passengers have not been informed.
Update 10:30 pm EST
The latest from Cuba… and Cayo Coco… CanJet says they are sending a new plane as they can’t fix the broken one…. the 200 passengers (all canadian) were finally given some food late tonight… a sandwich.. first food in over 24 hours… my daughter says they aren’t getting much info as no one speaks english.. they can’t leave the airport terminal… authorities won’t let them… they were taken to a hotel late last night.. a flea bag joint.. that had duct tape on the doors to close them and no locks… and was apparently quite dirty… then they were escorted back to airport terminal early Monday morning.. and they’ve been there ever since.. no food until the sandwich tonight .. no clean clothes.. no showers… there are babies and no diapers and the tour operator Hola Sun has nobody there that speaks English.. Last update from CanJet was a plane would be there to load and depart at 2:00 am Tuesday morning… that’s at least the third change in times reported… there apparently had been one scheduled for 5:00 pm Monday.. then that didn’t happen.. another in mid evening and it was changed to a 1:00 am Tuesday departure.. now to 2:00 am.. but no new plane has yet arrived…. so the stranded passengers are not sure.. they are sure it continues to be a terrible experience…
Most of the passengers are from across Southwestern Ontario including a number from London and area, the Kitchener Waterloo Region, the GTA.. and four from Huron County… Goderich and Clinton..
#1 by David Roberts at February 23rd, 2010
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Latest on 200 Canadians stranded by Canjet: New plane has arrived and is being groomed for passengers.
Departure time extended again, now stands at 2:45 AM Tuesday 22 Feb with arrival in Toronto estimated at 6:11 AM
During the past 24 hours the only news the passengers received was from the pilot. The pilot informed the passengers that he was pleading with Canjet to provide shelter, food and water to the passengers. The result was a sandwich and soda late Monday.
As a result of intense publicity in Canada Canjet had the passengers bussed to a ‘nice’resort and provided a good meal and a chance to freshen up.
#2 by Normand Vallee at February 23rd, 2010
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Was there 4 hours ago, they really need some attention, many childrens with no drinkable water, food, diapers or clothes. Helped them as we could being short on stuff too but our flight was there (an hour late but still…there…)
Best luck to them!
#3 by Nicole at February 23rd, 2010
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This is Nicole from Toronto TV Stn. Are you still stranded in Cuba?
#4 by Lauren at February 23rd, 2010
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We arrived at 6:15 am this morning after along and grueling 24 hour wait in a tiny 2 gate air port!!! People were sent to a 1 star hotel in moron city to sleep sunday night. Very poor conditions (prostitues walking around, blood on sheets, bugs, no locks on doors and ect! The least that could have been done was to update us on the situation.. but we were finding out from people back home in Canada! finally after being at the airpoort for 10 hours with out food or drinks we were offereed a sandwhich and drink. This situation was poorly dealt with and for furture advice a reputable company such as canjet should be more organized and prepared for possible misshaps such as this!
#5 by dru at February 23rd, 2010
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I was one of the few family members sending back updates about delays from Toronto. I kept checking the Canjet website, and the Toronto Pearson GTAA website on flight updates, and would send messages back to my family. I just felt bad for the kids. I have never flown with Canjet before. However I do know how it feels to be delayed at an airport without getting any updates from the airline. But I have not experienced waiting over 24 Hours!
This is ridiculous. And you would think that they would have the decency to at least explain the situation throughout the day. The flight was delayed numerous times. I believe, after the first delay, it was scheduled to leave 1300, then 1510, to 1530, to 1700, then finally 0100 next day. But wait, it was then pushed back 0200, AND as I hear from my displeased family, it didn’t leave the runway till 0300!!! WOW, I feel the frustration, and I wasn’t there!
#6 by Andreas Theiling at February 23rd, 2010
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i would like to thank all the people that kept us updated through this difficult time. I was traveling with my friend Bonnie and unfortunately booked with hola sun, because we were the unlucky bunch (3 busloads) that were put up at hotel Moron, a one hour drive from the airport. After spending 6 hours at the airport and that one hour drive we all arrived at the hotel. There wasn’t a hola sun rep when we got there he showed up about 45 mins after. We had to beg and I mean beg for the rep to organize a few bottles (12) so we could have at least one cup each. Some rooms had no water, heavy mold underneath the paint on the walls, a dead cat in the hallway, blood stained bed sheets, bed bugs…(etc etc) needless to say we didn’t get much sleep…after a restless night we got shipped back to the airport at 10 am and stayed there until 3am on Tuesday morning…no water or food supplied, there were families with small children that need to change their babies diapers, but no way at getting at them… until finally (after someone informed the media) things started to happen. The pilot and copilot gave us a briefing for he first time around 5pm…they fixed the flat tire and the brakes, but now a sensor was broken that prevented the plane to take off in the rain and it was raining cats and dogs, so they organized a flight from punta cana to bring us back to toronto at 11pm…that broken plane did take off at midnight in the rain, hmmm
At 7pm after presenting our boarding pass we received one sandwich each and a Cuban pop, the Cuban food vendors that gave them out and kept the coca cola from the plane, so they could sell it to us at a higher price after. Then at 8 o’clock we were offered a trip to a 5 star hotel for a real dinner, some people accepted, but I was too frustrated and anxious for another bus trip. A little too late. We were informed that canjet was sending a direct flight from toronto to cayo coco to pick us up at 1am…of course it didn’t happen. the flight from punta cana came through for us at… we left at 3am finally… no apology from hola sun, neither from canjet…customer service is not their specialty…i hope more people will raise their voices as well so we can get in some way compensated for being treated like animals…
#7 by Normand Vallee at February 23rd, 2010
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Andreas Theiling, I hope you are kidding, animals aren’t treated like that in Canada… I was there while they were waiting. Saw people crying, desperate or just exausted. Even with all the problems some of them even help us with diapers problems… Didn’t know their names but to this couple with kids that came to us and helped us. A big thanks. Very happy that you made it after all this.
#8 by TJ at February 23rd, 2010
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That place they called a motel was the most disgusting place I have ever seen. Every word Andreas says is the honest truth. My girlfriend and I found feces on our bed sheets and blood stains on the matress. There was used toilet paper in the trash can, numerous amounts of mold that was visible, no light or running water in our bathroom. When we arrived to our room the door was wide open and the lock didnt work. We felt so unsafe that we put a desk from the room infront of the door and slept hugging our passports and tourist cards. But the worst part by far were the prostitutes that were hanging out infront of the hotel, and we later found out that a young Cuban girl (approx. 10-11 years old) was being “solicited” which absolutley disgusted us!!!!!!!!!! We also were not fed nor given any water untill various people began begging….and were told by “eddie” the hola sun operator guide to go across the street and get some water….we told him that we had no pecos, for we were on the plane on our way home and we exchanged the pecos we had for canadian money, (they would not exchange canadian for pecos) He simply said “Thats not my Problem”!
Seems interesting that only Hola Sun customers were sent to the “Hotel Moron” when other passengers who booked with different tour operators were sent to a 4 and/or 5 star resort on the island.
After we “survived the night” we were sent to the airport to wait around…hungary and exhausted…..We were told no details by staff, and the airport staff did not know anything. The only reason we knew anything is because i brought my phone (thank god) and was texting back and forth to family members….not looking forward to the phone bill
ALL in all a horrible experience…..CanJet as well as Hola sun need to definatley learn customer service and they need to compensate us for our ordeal!!!!!!!
#9 by Nat at February 24th, 2010
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Well…we made it! We’re finally HOME! I’ve never been so happy to be back home from a “sunny holiday”, I’d like to look back and think that this was only a nightmare…and that I am still going to go on my “wonderful” holiday with my husband. I hope everyone from our stranded group will raise your voices and get some sort of REFUND back from this horrible experience! I’m just happy that we all made it back home safe. The experience will be one that is hard to forget but we did meet wonderful people at the airport.
Hotel Moron….I would have rather slept with the chickens outside…DISGUSTING!!!!! Lack of communication from CanJet and Hola Sun..UNACCEPTABLE!
This was my 8th time to Cuba…
My first time getting sick to the point that I had to be put on intravenous overnight…and our first time with a delay as such! It will take sometime to get over this one.
WE’RE JUST SO HAPPY to be HOME…ALIVE!
#10 by Jim Pollard at February 24th, 2010
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Well said Andreas. My wife and I were among the stranded Canadians. To further some of the information already provided…
-Food! The “Five Star” hotel that was offered, one bus leaving at 8pm and another at 8:30pm, was either Blau Colonial or Tryp Club. Both of which are NOT “Five Star” hotels. Having stayed at the Blau during the week leading up to this nightmare at the airport we were very sick from the food. In fact my wife needed medical attention that cost us almost $200 CUC (Cuban Convertable Peso). Needless to say we did NOT want to go back to the Blau to eat. Furthermore, we visited the Tryp Club earlier in the week and were disgusted by the odour at the buffet (the walk way leading down to the buffet smelled like sewage).
-Elderly! We felt terrible for the families with kids and the elderly people. The seats were hard plastic and very uncomfortable after a while, let alone 15 hours on Monday! The elderly people were sleeping in wheelchairs, one of which has a heart condition that became concerning early Tuesday AM (around 1am). A lot of us felt as though we would have to stay another night and were becoming extremely desperate.
-No calling home! When our flight on Sunday night was delayed and we returned back inside the airport the stores were closed and we couldn’t arrange for a calling card to inform our families. We were then shipped via bus to Moron, passing a horrific bloody accident on the road (cow hit by car, driver and cow surely dead). Once at the hotel we were told by the reception that they don’t sell calling cards and we had to buy them in Moron, which was a cab ride away, but oh wait, “the stores are closed”. No currency exchange was available at the hotel. After sleeping in our clothes we were shipped by bus back to the airport, arriving at 11am on Monday. Unless you still had CUC left we couldn’t exchange any money until after 12pm. That meant we still couldn’t buy a calling card to inform our families that we were stranded in Cuba. FINALLY, at 12pm on Monday we were able to buy a calling card and let our families and work know that we were alive but stranded in Cuba.
-Lessons learned! Never book a trip with Hola Sun, the “Cuba Specialists”. Never fly with CanJet! The CanJet Pilot and crew that took us home yesterday morning were great. The Pilot was eloquent in his cabin address before take off, saying how “embarrassed” he was for working at CanJet. Well said Captain! He has worked for them for 8 years and was sickened by how we were treated. Even the Cubans who worked in the airport were sympathetic and told us of other airlines that send replacement planes rather than make the passengers wait 30 hours (Departure time 9:30pm on Sunday, delayed until 3:00am on Tuesday morning). Never, never again!
#11 by Andreas Theiling at February 24th, 2010
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just to give you guys an update… I finally reached a person at escapes.ca, where we booked our trip and she said to write a very detailed complaint letter to her so she can forward it to her supervisor…apparently they had NO IDEA about what we went through…LOL…anyway here is the email addy
krystal@escapes.ca
#12 by Jim Pollard at February 25th, 2010
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Another update, CanJet is giving $200 to each passenger. See your travel agent for more details. Additional parking fees and phone bills are also being accepted. DO NOT stop there! I read the email and the comment only pertains to passengers who had cell phones with service while in the Cayo Coco airport. The large majority of passengers did NOT have a cell phone with service available in Cuba and therefore had to purchase calling cards for $12.50/EA in CDN funds ($10 CUC). We had to exchange $25.00 in CDN funds to purchase two calling cards, allowing us 10 minutes of air time TOTAL ($1.99/Minute).
Many more questions must be answered by Hola Sun/CanJet and $200 per passenger is not acceptable.
-What about making us stay at Hotel Moron when the other tour operator sent their clients to NH Hotels and other 4/5 Star hotels? Our safety and well being were jeopardized for the obvious purpose of Hola Sun saving MONEY! We were treated like barn yard animals, no exaggeration.
-What about the money we spent in lieu of any food and water being available? None of which receipts were possible. Simple human decency would have been to provide passengers with the basic fundamentals required to sustain living.
We want a complete refund for the flight portion of our trip. No negotiations.
#13 by Blake Roberts at February 25th, 2010
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I totally agree with you Jim, it makes sense for them to reimburse us for our food and phone bills, however the biggest concern about the entire ordeal was not that. The fact is that we paid them to bring us to and from Cuba on the days we booked as a VACATION.
What we experienced in the last 36 hours of that “vacation” was not only far short of that description, it was nothing short of a nightmare. I fully agree that us passengers should be reimbursed for the flight portion of the trip, in addition to the money spent on phone cards, food, and currency exchange while stranded in that country.
Any other information or next steps in the best approach to go about this would be appreciated.
#14 by Cyril Burke at February 25th, 2010
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Now that we are home after our ordealin Cuba it is time to hold Canjet & Hola Sun responsible. So far we have been told we will be reinbursed for phone calls,food,extra parking fees,(what if you arranged a pickup flight was posted as eing on time) a gift of $200.00 Wow
Now tell me who covers our lost wages and appointments that were missed??
Here are a few phone #s and email addresses I have been given
Canjet 1-800-809-7777 or 1-866-447-7000
guest.relations@canjet.com
Hola Sun clientserv@hotmail.com
Redtag info@redtag.ca
And I wld like to say how proud my wife and myself are off our daughters for being so helpfull and free in helping other mothers with the extra diapers that they had. Lol they even helped a cpl on another flight to Montreal. Thanks kids cburke70@hotmail.com
#15 by Cyril Burke at February 25th, 2010
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Still no phone calls
#16 by Andreas Theiling at February 25th, 2010
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we should get as many people together,maybe through Facebook, to ensure everybody gets compensated for our nightmare…that way we can share updates more easily…
#17 by Blake Roberts at February 26th, 2010
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That is a great idea… if someone has made or plans on making a facebook group, post the name of it here and we can at least get a few passengers to join. Not sure how to get ahold of those who haven’t visited this page though
#18 by Jim Pollard at February 26th, 2010
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There was a student at the airport with us named Raeanne. She was asking everyone to share their experiences from the Moron Hotel (in a blue three ring binder). The best/worst one in the book was the family that was served at the restaurant (2nd floor) by a Cuban with a bloody hand! I have her email address but she hasn’t responded to my message yet. Her list of people would be helpful in communicating the facebook group information. I’ll try emailing her again before posting her email address here for everyone else to try doing the same….
Thanks
#19 by account money at February 27th, 2010
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#20 by Michelle at May 29th, 2010
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Has anyone contacted Canjet about the flight 751 from varadero to Toronto at 8:30 pm and then 9:30 pm we were told we wouldn’t be leaving until 4am next morning. The hotel was awful and the shuffling back and forth on the bus was awful. I have contacted Canjet by email, fax and telephone. i called my travel agency and the manager said that Canjet is a ood company alhough I have horrific things written about people being stranded last february. Something has got to be done and obviously this company couldnt give two hoots as they continue to do this
#21 by Michelle at May 29th, 2010
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Has anyone contacted Canjet about the flight 751 from varadero to Toronto at 8:30 pm and then 9:30 pm we were told we wouldn’t be leaving until 4am next morning. The hotel was awful and the shuffling back and forth on the bus was awful. I have contacted Canjet by email, fax and telephone. i called my travel agency and the manager said that Canjet is a good company alhough I have horrific things written about people being stranded last february. Something has got to be done and obviously this company couldnt give two hoots as they continue to do this
#22 by Michelle at May 29th, 2010
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Has anyone contacted Canjet about flight 751 May 22, 2010 from Varadero to Toronto that was supposed to leave at 8:30 pm and then 9:30 we were told we wouldn’t be leaving until 4am next morning. We were shuffled off to a horrible hotel by bus for a few hours and then shuffled back by bus to the Varadero airport and then had to check in again. I have contacted Canjet by email, fax and telephone but have not heard anything from Canjet. I contacted the manager of the travel agency I used and she said Canjet is a good company but she will forward my complaint to them. Something has to be done about this and the Canjet company obviously could not give two hoots as they continue to do this