BLOOMINGTON, Minn (FOX 9) – Katie Nelson not too long ago spent a picture-perfect week in Orlando along with her household, absorbing the solar and having fun with Disney World along with her niece and nephew. As they had been on the point of board a Solar Nation flight dwelling to Minneapolis final Friday night time, that every one modified.
“We had simply parked the rental automobile within the ramp and I acquired a textual content message that actually stated nothing greater than, ‘Sorry. Your flight dwelling has been canceled. We apologize for the inconvenience,’” stated Nelson.
They went inside to see if a gate agent may assist them however say nobody ever confirmed up.
“The total time that we had been there (2-3 hours) there have been completely no Solar Nation gate brokers. They left a whole aircraft of passengers fully stranded at 9, 10 o’ clock at night time,” stated Nelson.
Her household was compelled to take issues into their very own palms.
“At that time, we weren’t prepared to danger getting dwelling by way of Solar Nation.”
The group drove a rental automobile to Daytona Seaside, Florida the following morning, flew to Atlanta, after which flew to Chicago, the place they picked up one other rental automobile and drove dwelling to Minneapolis. It wasn’t an inexpensive journey.
“We’re in over $4,000,” stated Nelson, who provides that nobody from Solar Nation acquired in contact along with her till after she was again dwelling.
“That is their enterprise follow. They don’t worth their clients and my recommendation (to different vacationers) can be don’t attempt to save a number of {dollars},” stated Nelson.
That is the most recent incident in a string of issues folks have had with the hometown service. Earlier this yr, delayed Solar Nation baggage lined the walls at Terminal Two.
In 2018, tons of of passengers had been left stranded in Mexico after a blizzard canceled flights.
Ultimately, Solar Nation did reimburse Nelson and her household for his or her unique Solar Nation flight and gave them every $100 journey vouchers. An airline consultant tells Fox 9 Nelson’s flight was canceled because of extreme climate in Florida and Georgia.
Nelson says she understands nobody can management the climate and flight cancellations are simply part of life. What she doesn’t perceive is the dearth of communication she acquired from Solar Nation.
“If you’re going to fly Solar Nation, discover journey insurance coverage choices. Simply be brutally conscious that if something occurs along with your flight, which appears to occur pretty commonly, that you will be left to your individual gadgets and you aren’t going to have the ability to discuss to anyone,” stated Nelson.
A consultant from Solar Nation despatched Fox 9 the next assertion:
A number of Florida flights cancelled the weekend of March eleventh and final Friday night time due to extreme climate in that area. Delays and cancellations can have a ripple impact wherein crews could time-out (which means they must take a mandated relaxation interval). Crew and plane availability compounds the issue of rescheduling vacationers.
Like different airways, Solar Nation is experiencing unprecedented demand for trip and leisure journey. After dwelling with the pandemic for 2 years, our visitors are desirous to journey once more for winter and spring break. We apologize and know these disruptions are extremely irritating and disappointing.
Like different airways and industries, we’re working arduous to rent crew members to extend our service to our visitors. The very best route for our visitors is to name our customer support line to find out whether or not they are often rebooked, obtain a voucher or a refund. Our customer support representatives are doing as a lot as they will to assist every visitor impacted by these cancellations. We encourage our visitors to make use of the call-back function in order that they don’t have to attend on maintain.
On Saturday morning, a mechanical difficulty brought on a Solar Nation flight out of MSP Worldwide headed to Montego Bay, Jamaica to show round. The flight landed safely, and the flight was in a position to depart later that day. Passengers had been supplied meal vouchers throughout the delay.