A Saskatoon family says their trip to Mexico ended with them soaking up far more than just the sun.
Brette Cowen and Andrew Hoffman were vacationing in Cancun with their child Lennox when they fell ill with suspected severe food poisoning, causing them to be removed from their WestJet flight home, they say.
“I don’t think we realized how sick we were until we actually boarded the plane, and we couldn’t function,” said Cowen. “There was a point where we were one of the first families to board because we had a child so you can board sooner.
“So, we were sitting on the plane, Lennox and I were just throwing up in anything that we had, just cups and bags. They finally said, like, you know, we can’t let you fly, you’re too sick. And … at that point, I couldn’t talk. I was like in and out of consciousness.”
Cowen and Hoffman, who booked their trip through Sunwing Vacations, claim they were told they could see a doctor later at the hotel they stayed at, something they couldn’t wait for as their sickness worsened.
“They eventually said. ‘You’re going to go back to your hotel and see the doctor at the hotel,’ and said the bus will be here in, what, 30 to 45 minutes?” said Cowen. “And then it’s another half an hour on the bus to the hotel. That doesn’t make any sense, because we already checked out, we’re going home, and like, based on his condition, we couldn’t wait that long to get any help, so we kept saying, like, ‘no, no, we need help now.’”
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“They told us that we should not go to the hospital,” said Hoffman. “They said nobody’s like keeping us there but you should stay and not go to the hospital, and it’s still going to be half an hour until the bus gets here, right?”
“Meanwhile we literally had to check Lennox’s pulse to see if he was still alive,” he said. “I thought we were going to die there, honest to god I thought one of us was not going to make it.”
The family eventually got treatment at the hospital themselves and were able to get a flight home two days later. They’re investigating what action can be taken against the airline for their handling of the situation, and are actively working with their insurance providers to cover some of the debts incurred during their extended stay in Mexico.
Air passenger rights experts say while what WestJet did is allowed, it wasn’t very courteous to the sick family.
“Based on what the passengers describe, what I understand, they were very sick,” said Air Passenger Rights president Gabor Lukacs. “So I cannot blame the airline in this specific case for making the right call to say, ‘You are too sick to fly.’
“In this case, it’s quite clear that WestJet did the right thing by removing the passengers. Where they may have erred is not doing enough for the sick passengers to ensure they get care. And that’s more a moral blameworthiness than a legal one.”
Sunwing responded to Global News’ requests for comment with the following statement:
“We can confirm that Sunwing Vacations received a post-travel inquiry regarding the incident in question,” the statement read. “First and foremost, the health and safety of our customers is of paramount importance throughout their vacation journey, and we sincerely regret to hear that the customers fell ill during their vacation in Mexico and subsequently could not return home on their scheduled WestJet return flight.
“Upon deplaning in Cancun, our in-destination partner offered the customers assistance at the airport, and they ultimately decided to seek medical assistance at the local hospital rather than with the airport doctor. Our destination team was also in contact with their travel agent who handled the vacation booking to check in on their progress, including when they were cleared for travel. We understand the customers made their own travel arrangements to return home after leaving the hospital.
“Once again, we regret to hear that the customers became ill while on vacation and hope they have fully recovered from this unfortunate incident.”
While he doubts any legal consequences will be felt by the airlines, Lukacs hopes they know the story could have been a more positive one.
“The story that we should have had is, you know, passenger falls sick and then airline employees get out of their way to get them to hospital,” said Lukacs. “It would have been a much nicer, better PR.
“I hope that this story is going to create some moral accountability.”
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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