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Delta passengers frustrated over flight delays and cancellations
Several Delta passengers are frustrated over the airlines continued flight cancellations and delays, stranding some passengers in Minneapolis.
MINNEAPOLIS — Travel woes continue as people try to get out of Minneapolis.
Landon Prowant and Amber Robins planned a family trip to Spokane, WA a year ago. Minneapolis is as close to Spokane as they’ll get.
“Our flight got cancelled as soon as we got here,” Prowant said.
“We waited in line for four hours, literally four hours on the dot to get up, to find a new flight, no flights, none, to anywhere,” Robins said.
They flew out of Detroit, MI on a Delta plane early Sunday morning. Now, they’ll be spending the next three nights in Minnesota.
“Everything’s on us besides the flight. They’re reimbursing us for the flight. No meal voucher, no hotel voucher,” Prowant said.
Today, 81 flights have been cancelled out of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, and 159 flights have been delayed, according to MSP.
Prowant and Robins will have to stay here without most of their things.
“We also can’t find our luggage. We can’t find it. I mean everything, all of our clothes is in our luggage, everything is in our luggage,” Robins said.
They’re stuck in a state Sheri O’Brien wishes she was stuck in. Her home is in Bloomington, MN. O’Brien flew to Jacksonville, FL for a girls trip last Sunday. All of her friends have made it back home, except for her.
“Yesterday was a nightmare. An absolute nightmare,” she said.
She was supposed to fly home on Friday, but her flight got cancelled and rebooked for Saturday. She was at the airport for over 10 hours.
“At first it became kind of a joke where ‘ok, no big deal’ and there was a big hopefulness when the flight crew got there and they said ‘we’re just waiting on one other flight member and then we’ll be able to get out of here’ and then it was kind of like this balloon deflating as the hours kind of ticked by,” she said.
O’Brien said she got about seven Delta notifications telling her that her flight was delayed. She said her flight was cancelled around 9:15 p.m. O’Brien then had to wait in line to get a ticket home. She’s scheduled to fly out of Florida Monday night.
“I was lucky enough, I heard many people in the area did not get hotel vouchers, I did. Then I went downstairs to baggage claim that was a disaster,” she said.
MSP reports 105 arrival flights have been cancelled today, and 119 have been delayed.
In a message to customers, Delta’s CEO Ed Bastian said “cancellations continue on Sunday as Delta’s teams work to recover our systems and restore our operation. Canceling a flight is always a last resort, and something we don’t take lightly. The technology issue occurred on the busiest travel weekend of the summer, with our booked loads exceeding 90%, limiting our reaccommodation capabilities.”
The Bookers are trying to get back to Missoula, Montana where they live.
“We got here at 8 or 9, got to our gate, our flight got delayed, got delayed by 15 minutes, then 30 minutes, and then it got cancelled,” Nick Booker said.
He said the hallways are crowded at the gates.
“People are sleeping in the hallways back there on cots, it’s chaotic, it’s very chaotic,” he said.
Booker said they didn’t board the plan, but other people did. He’s traveling with his wife and 16-month-old son. He said he’s grateful they didn’t check their son’s car seat. They decided to drive back home, after they waited in line to rebook their flight for an hour.
“My folks we’re going to be driving out in a couple of weeks, so we’re just going to take their car that they were going to tow behind their RV,” he said.
The Bookers have a 17-hour car ride ahead of them, but luckily, he and his wife don’t have to look far for a smile, courtesy of their son.
“He’s just so happy. He doesn’t care what’s going on. He’s just along for the ride,” he said.
Alison French is another passenger trying to get home to Rhinelander, WI. She’s a veterinarian and has clients to see on Monday. Her flight out of Orlando, FL was cancelled yesterday.
“I had to book other airlines, so I flew Allegiant Air from Orlando this morning at 6am to Syracuse, New York I flew Sun Country to Minneapolis, and now I hopefully I get on Delta and go to Rhinelander but they’ve delayed that an hour now too,” French said.
She said Delta is the only airline she can fly to get home.
“Oh, it’s been frustrating, very frustrating,” she said. “Delta, they wouldn’t answer the phone, they wouldn’t help me in person. They wouldn’t do anything.”
Many travelers told KARE 11 they waited for hours on the phone or in line to speak with a Delta representative.
“This Valentine’s Day, 2025, will mark the five-year anniversary of the premiere of ‘Love is Blind,” Vanessa said on the Season 7 finale. “And, it is gonna be the launch of Season 8, which takes place in Minneapolis.”
The episode also revealed three of the new cast members, one of whom, “Alex,” told Lachey Minneapolis is “not like a major city, but it’s also not a small town,” which he said is just one of the obstacles in his way of finding the one.
“I just never found the right person that clicked for me,” he said.
Meantime, you can bone up on Seasons 1-7 streaming now on Netflix.
MINNEAPOLIS — How much do you know about your grandma’s upbringing?
“The Stories From My Grandmother’s Hands” is a book that aims to show young Black children how their grandmas lived through beautiful illustrations and descriptions.
KARE 11 News at Noon shared more on Thursday about the impact that this book will have.
Gary Peterson and his friends are collecting donations to help people in their community.
ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. — A St. Louis Park pumpkin display is raising money for their local food shelf.
Gary Peterson started carving and painting three pumpkins over a decade ago. It’s now grown to over 100.
“I’ve heard people say they’ve come from Hutchinson,” he said.
Peterson along with two of his neighbors have spent the last 14 years growing their display, turning it into a neighborhood event.
“It’s been incredible, I just can’t believe how much this has expanded,” he said. “We did it just because we like to and then people were asking to give us money to cover the cost.”
The trio refused to take people’s money, but then one of them had an idea.
“My neighbor, Steve Leensvaart, just mentioned how about we just do it for the STEP program and the STEP program is our local food shelf in St. Louis Park,” he said.
So, they started to collect donations to help families in need. They’ve raised hundreds of dollars and donated hundreds of pounds of food over the last few years, carving for a cause.
“It is more gratifying every year,” Peterson said.
He estimated they have over 100 unique pumpkins in their yard. They’ve created the displays and come up with new family-friendly concepts for people to enjoy. Peterson said about 30 of their neighbors carved their own pumpkins to be put on display, and it’s been a big hit.
“It’s great. In the last couple of years, it’s turned into more of a neighborhood event,” said Sarah Durch.
“We love this Halloween display, we come every year to see it. We love that the whole community gets involved to craft and carve the pumpkins,” said Jami Gordon-Smith.
“The shading and the details are unbelievable,” said Elizabeth Hanson.
Hanson hopes to take her 2-year-old son trick or treating for the first time but is worried the cold temperatures might keep them indoors.
“We’re going trick or treating hopefully,” she said. “He’s going to be a firefighter, but we’re probably going to have sweatshirts maybe like two pairs of sweatpants underneath. We’re going to be bundled up.”
Gordon-Smith said her family will be out Halloween night no matter the weather.
“Halloween only comes once a year, so you really have to take advantage and enjoy the evening no matter what the weather brings,” she said. “Guess it’s not totally unheard of in Minnesota to have a cold Halloween, but we are going to try and modify and do a lot of layers underneath our costumes and then we might add some hats and maybe some warmer socks.”
Durch also isn’t surprised they’re in for another chilly night.
“Well, what would Halloween be without Minnesota cold? I feel like every time you plan a costume you have to plan for how you can make this work if it’s snowing,” she said.
Peterson said they will have a bonfire and some hot chocolate and cider on Halloween to keep trick-or-treaters warm while they look at their pumpkins.
Click here to learn where you can see the pumpkins and how you can donate.
