Some Delta Air Lines passengers are frustrated that the airline continues to cancel and delay flights, leaving some stranded in Minneapolis.
MINNEAPOLIS — Travel woes continue as people try to get out of Minneapolis.
Landon Prowant and Amber Robbins planned a family trip to Spokane, Washington, a year ago. Minneapolis is the closest city to Spokane.
“As soon as I got here, my flight was canceled,” Prowant said.
“We waited in line for four hours. I literally woke up exactly at the hour to look for a new flight and there were no flights anywhere,” Robbins said.
They left Detroit, Michigan on a Delta flight early Sunday morning and will now spend three nights in Minnesota.
“Everything is on our shoulders except for the airfare, which we have been reimbursed for. We don’t have any meal vouchers or hotel vouchers,” Prowant said.
According to MSP, 81 flights were canceled and 159 flights were delayed out of Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport today.
Prowant and Robbins have to stay here with almost none of their belongings.
“I can’t find my luggage. I can’t find it. Everything is in my luggage, all my clothes, everything is in my luggage,” Robbins said.
Sheri O’Brien is stuck in the state she wants to be stuck in. Her home is in Bloomington, Minnesota. O’Brien flew to Jacksonville, Fla., last Sunday for a girls’ trip. All her friends are home now.
“Yesterday was a nightmare, an absolute nightmare,” she said.
She was due to return home on Friday, but her flight was cancelled and rebooked for Saturday. She was at the airport for more than 10 hours.
“At first it was kind of a joke, like ‘OK, it’s no big deal’, and then there was this huge sense of hope when the crew arrived and said ‘We just need to wait for one more crew member and we can get out of here’. But as time went on, it was like a balloon deflating,” she said.
O’Brien said she received about seven notifications from Delta that her flight was delayed. The flight was canceled about 9:15 p.m., and O’Brien had to wait in line to buy a return ticket. She is scheduled to leave Florida on Monday night.
“I was lucky. I had heard that a lot of people in the area hadn’t received their hotel vouchers, but I did. Then I went downstairs to baggage claim, where I was in big trouble,” she said.
MSP reported today that 105 arriving flights were canceled and 119 were delayed.
“Flight cancellations continued on Sunday as Delta teams worked to restore our systems and resume operations. Canceling a flight is always a last resort and is not a decision we take lightly. This technical issue occurred during one of our busiest summer travel weekends, leaving us over 90% booked and limited our ability to re-serve,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in a message to customers.
The Booker family is trying to move back to Missoula, Montana, where they live.
“We got here at 8 or 9 o’clock, got to the gate, the plane was delayed, 15 minutes delayed, 30 minutes delayed, then canceled,” Nick Booker said.
He said the hallway near the gate was crowded.
“There are people sleeping on cots in the back hallway and it’s chaotic, very chaotic,” he said.
Booker said he and his wife did not make the flight, but others did. He was traveling with his wife and 16-month-old son. He said he was grateful they had not checked in his son’s car seat. They waited in line for an hour to rebook their flight, then decided to drive home.
“My parents are heading out for a drive in a few weeks so they’re going to just take the car that they were going to tow behind the camper,” he said.
The Booker family has a 17-hour road trip ahead of them, but luckily, thanks to their son, he and his wife don’t have to go far to find smiles.
“He’s just so happy. He doesn’t care about what’s going on. He’s just going with the flow,” he said.
Allison French was one of the passengers trying to get home to Rhinelander, Wisconsin. She’s a veterinarian and has to see patients on Monday. Her flight from Orlando, Florida, was canceled yesterday.
“I had to book on another airline, so I flew on Allegiant Air from Orlando to Syracuse, New York at 6am this morning, then flew on Sun Country to Minneapolis, and now I want to get on Delta to Rhinelander, but that’s also delayed an hour,” French said.
She said Delta was the only airline available to get her home.
“Oh my gosh, it was so frustrating,” she said. “Delta wouldn’t answer my phone, they wouldn’t help me in person, they didn’t do anything.”
Many travelers told KARE 11 they spent hours on the phone or waiting in line to speak with a Delta representative.
