Kare11
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.
The council argues that the HERC must be closed to comply with the city’s zero waste policy, which was passed back in 2017.
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis City Council unanimously approved a plan to shut down the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC) on Thursday.
The resolution comes after decades of protests against the massive North Loop trash incinerator that burns roughly 365,000 tons of garbage a year.
“Today is a big step towards protecting the health of our communities and addressing longstanding environmental injustices that disproportionately impact communities of color,” said councilmember Robin Wonsley, in a statement.
The resolution calls for the incinerator to be permanently closed by Dec 31, 2027 and for the entire facility to be shut down by Dec 31, 2033.
The council argues that the HERC must be closed to comply with the city’s zero waste policy, which was passed back in 2017.
In October 2023, the Hennepin County Board signed off on a plan to close the HERC between 2028 and 2040, depending on how quickly the county can transition into a zero-waste system.
Of the garbage burned at the HERC, 75% comes from the city of Minneapolis. The other 25% comes from a dozen other cities in the area. The HERC produces enough energy to power more than 25,000 homes and half the buildings in downtown Minneapolis.
At a City Council Meeting on Oct. 10, Jenni Lansing with the City of Minneapolis Health Department provided analysis on the air pollution impacts of HERC. She said the health department supports working towards a zero-waste future and the ultimate closure of HERC, but said closing it now is not the solution.
“Overall emissions in Hennepin County are dominated by on-road and non-road, mobile and nonpoint sources, and these sources drive the cancer and non-cancer risks to health in Minneapolis,” Lansing said.
Hennepin County defines zero waste as preventing 90% or more of all discarded materials from being landfilled or incinerated.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
The snow is really coming down in some places with Maple Lake getting 3.5″ so far.
GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — The wettest Halloween storm ever — is making mischief before little trick-or-treaters hit their neighborhood’s slushy streets.
Officials are reporting several power outages and car spin-outs.
There have been over 14,000 power outages, according to Xcel Energy.
The Minnesota State Patrol has responded to 169 crashes and 94 vehicles off the road, as of 2. pm. Thursday.
Meteorologist Beny Dery said an additional 1 to 2″ of snow is possible before things taper off this evening.
So far some of the totals around town are: 3.5″ Maple Lake, 3.0″ Buffalo, 2.5″ Dassel, 2.4″ Windom, 2.0″ St. Bonifacious, 1.5″ Maple Plain and 1.5″ in Bethel.
The snow is expected to let up from west to east and should wrap up for the metro between 5 to 6 p.m.
Last week, prosecutors charged John Sawchak with attempted 2nd-degree murder and other felony charges after he allegedly shot his neighbor Davis Moturi.
MINNEAPOLIS — Following the shooting between two neighbors, the Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously to request that the city’s auditor conduct an independent investigation into the incidents and cases between Davis Moturi and John Sawchak.
Moturi was allegedly shot by his neighbor, Sawchak, on Wednesday, Oct. 23 but Minneapolis police did not arrest Sawchak until days later.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara defended not arresting Sawchak sooner, calling it a “high-risk” situation. O’Hara later said the victim, who had complained about harassment from Sawchak for months, was failed by police. Sawchak was arrested this past weekend after an hours-long standoff.
Moturi suffered a fractured spine, two broken ribs, and a concussion in the shooting. “Mr. Moturi’s life matters and I’m sorry that for nearly a year, MPD did not treat it like it did,” said Council Member Robin Wonsley in a news release, “Today’s vote affirms that the City Council is committed to taking meaningful actions towards accountability and restoration, starting with this independent review.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey released this statement:
“Mayor Frey fully supports an independent review of this incident. The mayor and City are committed to always doing better, and this means closely examining past actions and finding where there may be ways to improve and grow. The mayor extends his condolences to Davis Moturi, his wife, Caroline, and their family and friends. The safety of our residents is a top priority and any form of violence or hate speech is completely unacceptable and does not align with who we are as a community. Brian O’Hara will continue to be the Minneapolis Police Chief.”
