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Theft | Tagged Posts

2023
27
March
Is Sunwing Safe? Our Experience with Luggage Theft on the Way Home from Cabo

Question:

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Cindy

Just came back from Cabo with sunwing and flights there and back were , on time and transportation to the hotel was smooth . Are departing transfer back to the Cabo airport was not so smooth . We boarded the charter bus after all physically loading our luggage in the underneath storage compartment and I of course was last so I waited to watch our bus driver close the compartment and hopped on the bus . We were staying at the Rui Palace . We then went down the driveway to the Rui Santa Fe to pick up more people heading g back ti Vancouver and we’re on our way .
Our driver was playing music really loud and so my husband and I asked for him to turn it down which he totally ignored . As we approached the airport the driver was fiddling with his phone with a recorded message the message welcomed us to Cabo ( we were leaving ) and asked us to remain on the bus for 5 min until he uplosded our luggage . I thought they was weird as we came right off the bus on the way there and waited as they unloaded our luggage . I had my husband follow the driver to go help unload but the driver closed the door so fast that it almost caught him in it . Then we thought okay we will just wait. 5-7 min goes by and finally we are let out of the bus to collect our luggage and we all proceed into the airport.
My daughter was not feeling well and as we were in the checkin line asked her friend for some pesto bismol and when she opened her suitcase we discovered all her hair products / makeup and 2 pairs of shoes were missing from her bag . We were travelling with 25 other people in our group so we all check our suitcases and sure enough we have things missing . My daughter lost 2 pairs of shoes one of whitch was her runners that she was going to change into for the trip home . We talked to a few people in the sunwing line up telling them to check their suitcase as 4 people in our group were hit . Upon arrival to Vancouver we discovered two more people that had things stolen again it was makeup bags and shoes . Our bus knows it was our driver Julio . We believe their was a second person riding underneath as the 8 mins was not enough time to hit the number of suitcases that he did . While in the line up we contacted the sunwing rep at our hotel and she said she would file a report . On the airplane the charge flight attendant heard our story as we were canvassing passengers on our flight to see if they had items missing . Since then have ldiscovered 3 more people one from a tik tok post to which we DM’ d her and turns out she was on the same bus sitting behind us . We were on sunwing flight 576 to Vancouver from Cabo on Saturday Jan 7 , 2023. WE have all sent in our emails to sunwing as well the flight attendant took our booking numbers and filed a report so that sunwing is a where of what happened . I don’t think this is the first time this has happened although we were told by our sunwing rep that she has never heard of this happening . Has anyone else had this problem ? If you fly sunwing watch your luggage closely .

Humans say...

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Debra

Robbin DickieStorey

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Heather

Thank you for posting. That’s terrible. We fly with sunwing in Feb. and will be more aware.

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Sandra

Did you not lock your bags?

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Mae

Sandra good question

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Sheshlee

Sandra majority of people I know, including myself, never lock bags. There's never ever been a need.. sunwing is definitely going downhill..

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Sandra

Sheshlee Don’t blame sunwing. Suitcases should always be locked.

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Sheshlee

Sandra well it's their employees right? They Should maybe do a little more work when hiring staff and be sure people are trust worthy. They are the face of their company. Again, I've traveled to many countries over the last few years and have never had to lock my luggage. Security at the airport also doesn't like this either

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Rose

Sheshlee I’ve always been told if you lock your suitcases they can still get into them . Not sure if that’s true

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Jason

Sheshlee it is not their employees. These would be contracted out to local companies in Mexico or wherever the destination is.

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Ter

JasonThe employee of singing is responsible for their tri and since this was a preventable situation. Sunning is on the hook
A rep knows how the bus ride and safety practices shoukd go. It actually is negligence on sunning behalf.

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Ter

Roselock your suitcase.. .then take a knife and jab thru the end of the zipper.. u have your answer

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Maudy

Sheshlee i knew sunwing was going downhill about 20 years ago with many problems i had with them.. i cant belive they still around

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Gerry-Ma

Sandra ridiculous. Vendors hired should be able to be trusted.

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Karin

Rose yes but harder and takes more time

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Brenda

Sandra wow, shaming the victims isn't very kind or helpful

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Karin

Sheshlee security always tells you to lock them...tsa can access if necessary

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Nam

Sandra carry on ?

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Nam

Rose its true, fly to south east Asia u will find out

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Sandra

Brenda No one is shaming anyone. You have to travel smart, especially to a place like Mexico.

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Deb

Sandra that does not stop anything

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Sheshlee

Deb agreed, most of those tiny luggage locks are flimsy and easily broken.

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Sandra

Sheshlee Not the ones I use and I’ve never been robbed. It’s just common sense.

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Brian

Sandra as much as I agree with you, you might be missing an important point, there appears to be a criminal enterprise at work here.

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Sheshlee

Sandra I have to agree with Brian here though, it's not quite the locking of the luggage I'm concerned about, but rather the employees and whoever else they've got rummaging through people's luggage bags. Even if the bags were locked, I'm sure those thieves had supplies to cut thru them. It doesn't take much. It may even entice them to search those bags first.

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Karin

Sandra I agree..
Not flimsy and not been robbed

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Karin

Brian Probably... obviously one of the transfer companies....

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Mukwa

Locks are routinely cut off

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Karin

Mukwa never had that happen

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Karin

Mukwa

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Ter

Sandrayou can't lock a zippered bag.

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Ter

Zippered bags open easy thru the zipper not the lock.

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Karin

Ter yup but that doesn't usually happen....never to me in o er 20 years of travel to Mexico and many other countries

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Cindy

Karin Just because it never happened to you doesn't mean it usually doesn't happen as you read It happens regularly with sunwing

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Ter

Also. If a sunning rep was on that bus like they shoukd have been. They would have noticed something was OFF. IE: LOUD MUSIC , KEEPING PASSEGERS ON BOARD DURING LUGGAGE OFFLOAD. I SAY FILE A CLASS ACTION SUIT WITH sunwing. They will likely compensate you and I a small claims court you would win. As a rep should be on the bus and aware of suspicious circumstances. They say to always look out the window and watch the luggage compartment being opened and closed. Get get em@ by the way I commend you on how observant you were. More pple should be observant.

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Maudy

Ter good luck with that.. im sure many people have tried suing them over the years

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Ter

Maudyit's actually easy. You don't even need to sue. You file a complaint. This is a blsvk n white case of negligence only an idiot wouldn't see that. Luck has nothing to do with being smart. There's also the BBB
BBB is great for this type of situation.! If your not participating of the solution your part of the problem.

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Karin

Ter the transfer companies are not part of sunwing and the reps do not accompany them on way back to airport..

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Tonya

Had to split our family onto two vacations one air canada vacations and one sun wing same hotel (puerto Vallarta). sunwing was the worst of the two bad shuttles, no tv’s on the plane, no free drinks on board.

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Denise

Always lock your bags! Happens everywhere!

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Cindy

Denise If someone wants in they'll cut the lock and if it has You've been lucky

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Leslye

Denise I worked at an airport. You can open a zippered bag with a ballpoint pen, regardless of the lock. They also show it on Border Security

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Denise

Leslye sounds like there were two guys in on it. The driver and the guy below. I am sure he targeted the easiest bags to open and didn't waste time breaking locks. It's like locking your doors. It's just an extra step to prevent someone breaking in your home but yes you are right. If someone wants to get into your bag they will. But at least make an effort to secure your bag is my point. I too have had items stolen from my luggage but since I started using a lock on my luggage I have not had the same misfortune. Safe travels everyone!

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Davis

Don't think it's sunwing. They would just hire a company to do the transfers. I always get a private transfer. Usually they have cold beer in a cooler to give you as well

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Cindy

Davis They are responsible for who they contract out to

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Davis

Cindy it's Mexico. Good luck with that

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Cindy

Davis sunwing is Canadian and should take of there travelers. If Mexican companies start losing there jobs due to stealing just maybe this might stop. Or we can take your way of thinking and Canadian companies can close there eyes to who they give contracts to

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Davis

Cindy you have any idea what's going on in Mexico right now? You have any clue how they make extra money? This isn't anything new. You have to be completely aware of your surrounding. Like I said, I take a private shuttle down there. Even that isn't a for sure bet as you can get robbed straight up from those guys (as a few friends have).
By your logic, sunwing will fire this company, then they'll hire a new company and subcontract transfers thru them. You think they'll be perfect and honest too? It's Mexico, completely different than up here

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Cindy

Davis I don't have my head in the dirt or even up my ask but it has to start somewhere or people need to stop going to Mexico by what you're saying it's that dangerous I go every year and I don't consider it that dangerous and yes I know What is going on There's a whole lot more dangerous countries out there than Mexico

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Davis

Cindy well this isn't going anywhere. Have a good night

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Lisa

Was your luggage in a storage room prior to departure? We noticed our luggage storage room had no attendee, no tickets to retrieve luggage and door open all day to anyone

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Cindy

Lisa no we packed from our rooms and left in the morning . The only time we didn’t have our luggage was while it was under the bus .

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Maureen

and for any folks taking a day excursion that is organized by sunwing and handed off to a local company called Vista tours. BE CAREFUL. I went on an excursion to a village and tequila tasting and was ripped off regarding some jewellery as well as another guest on the bus. I wrote a detailed tripadvisor comment on this yesterday so if you wish to know the details...check it out. I would never NEVER take sunwing again nor ever deal with anyone they deal with. I took westjet for the air but the hotel brand...RIU...is only sold by sunwing, unfortunately. I had no issues with luggage when i arrived or departed and everything was smooth.

Profile picture of Marshall

Marshall

Honestly, guys, you should be aware of this regardless of which airline you fly with. There is no way it’s isolated to sunwing customers (which is the largest vacation airline in North America). You should film the driver if there is any stop. I am pretty much 100% sure that this is a wide spread crime that was planned by the cartel. No way it’s just sunwing. Be careful out there, folks!

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Brendan

Marshall
Yes the cartel will take the time off from exporting millions in drugs to loot suitcases and steal hair products and shoes. Ja ja.

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Cindy

Marshall By chance do you work for them

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Maria

Years ago I travelled thorough the States had nice new locks on my suitcase, and I as standing in front of customs, didn’t ask me for keys, just cut the locks. Since then I never lock my suitcase and never take anything of value.


A.I. says...

AI Profile Pic

Theft on Sunwing Flight 576 From Cabo to Vancouver

Just returned from Cabo with Sunwing, and while the flights there and back were on time, and the transportation to the hotel was smooth, the departing transfer back to the Cabo airport was a nightmare.

We boarded the charter bus after loading our luggage into the storage compartment underneath. We were staying at the Riu Palace and picked up more passengers from the Riu Santa Fe before heading to the airport.

The bus driver was playing music extremely loud, and despite my husband and I asking him to turn it down, he completely ignored us. As we approached the airport, the driver played a recorded message welcoming us to Cabo (even though we were leaving) and instructed us to remain on the bus for 5 minutes while he unloaded our luggage.

This seemed odd, as we were allowed to disembark immediately upon arrival. When my husband tried to help the driver unload, the driver slammed the door shut, nearly catching him.

After waiting 5-7 minutes, we were finally allowed off the bus to collect our luggage. When my daughter opened her suitcase at the check-in line, we discovered that her hair products, makeup, and two pairs of shoes were missing. Upon checking with our group of 25 people, we found that at least four others had items stolen from their bags, primarily makeup and shoes.

Two more people in our group reported missing items after arriving in Vancouver. We suspect it was our bus driver, Julio, who was responsible for the thefts, possibly with an accomplice riding underneath the bus.

We contacted the Sunwing rep at our hotel, who filed a report, and the flight attendant on our return flight also documented the incident after hearing our story.

Since then, we've discovered three more people, including one from a TikTok post, who had items stolen on the same bus. We were on Sunwing flight 576 to Vancouver from Cabo on January 7, 2023, and have all submitted emails to Sunwing about the incident.

While the Sunwing rep claimed to have never heard of such an occurrence, we suspect this might not be an isolated incident. If you're flying with Sunwing, keep a close eye on your luggage.



   










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