Class Action Settlement | Agents Won’t Tell You About This Sunwing Discount

You may be able to get 7% off your southern vacations with Sunwing for three years. But don’t count on travel agents to tell you about it — their association urges them not to advertise it, saying it’s not their responsibility.

Class action settlement makes around a million Quebecers^⁠1 eligible for 7% off multiple Sunwing flights and travel packages, unlimited for three years. Even better, they can share this discount with five other people travelling with them.

You must quickly take steps to access it, i.e. register on the site reglement.sunwing.ca no later than November 4, 2024. After completing the process, eligible persons receive an access code for another site allowing them to purchase discounted trips for three years.

The Association des agents de voyages du Québec (AAVQ) believes that it is not up to its members to publicize this agreement, citing bureaucratic burdens that should not be their responsibility. “It is not up to us to promote it and then the agencies end up receiving calls from consumers, being asked for help because they cannot obtain the code,” gives as an example to The Press the organization’s vice-president, Eric Boissonneault.

This would explain the comments made by the president of the AAVQ Moscou Côté, in an interview with PAX Nouvelles, a media outlet specializing in the travel industry. “It’s in the advisors’ interest to keep this dead. Promoting this site, giving interviews to the media, publishing posts on social networks, that would really be shooting ourselves in the foot!” he said.

According to the article, Mr. Côté even recommended that advisors hide any allusion to the agreement that would be made in their clients’ comments on their Facebook page.

Moscow Side mentioned to The Press that this article was intended for professionals in the field, who implicitly understood that this recommendation was there to save them from bureaucratic burdens. “In my mind, it was mainly aimed at professionals who already know the ropes of the job, I didn’t need to go into detail,” he says, adding that travel agents will be able to help clients with their shopping once they have a code.

The Commission’s question

It should be noted that during the legal process, the AAVQ opposed the agreement, judging in particular that it was unfair competition. A discount granted to customers who book getaways directly on the Sunwing site would encourage them not to go through travel agents, depriving them of their commission — and saving Sunwing its commission, the AAVQ alleged in particular.

Judge Lukasz Granosik did not agree to reject the agreement for this reason. [L]”The Association objects on behalf of and for the benefit of its members who risk losing a considerable volume of business. I therefore consider that, in its essence, the intervention is mainly aimed at protecting the economic interest of a third party to the debate,” he wrote in a judgment rendered in March 2023.

Despite this setback, it seems that the AAVQ has managed to reach an agreement with Sunwing to get its share of the pie. Also on the PAX News website, we can read that customers will be able to go through an agency to buy their vacations at a discount. Agents will receive a fixed commission, lower than what they usually receive.

M^e Jérémie John Martin, one of the lawyers representing the class action members, is shocked by the AAVQ’s attitude. He himself says he tried to share the settlement in the Facebook group “Voyages dans le sud — Les Deals de fou,” which has more than 100,000 people. His post was deleted, and when he asked for an explanation from one of the travel agents who administers the group, she did not respond, and he can no longer access the group, he says, with screenshots to support his claim.

“If we have the interests of travellers at heart, it would be good if people could save a little money,” he adds.

The Press did not receive any feedback from the Facebook group administrators.

Asked to comment on the case, the Office of Consumer Protection declined the offer of The Press.

Please note that customers who purchase trips at a 7% discount, whether or not they go through an agent, will be protected by the Travel Agents’ Client Compensation Fund (FICAV) since Sunwing Vacations holds an agency permit issued by the Office de la protection du consommateur.

With Marie-Eve Fournier

⁠1. To be eligible for the discount, you must have purchased or obtained tickets from Sunwing Vacations or Sunwing Airlines for a flight or package advertised, advertised or described using the word “champagne” between February 10, 2014 and April 30, 2017. Since sparkling wine was served on board the plane, not champagne, the Superior Court of Quebec has authorized a class action alleging violations of the Consumer Protection Act. It is an agreement between the two parties which allows access to this discount.