The Truth About Why These Minnesotans Were Just Stuck in Canada
It was exciting news when our home state airline began offering service to our neighbors to the north, but things quickly soured when several Minnesotans ended up stranded in Canada.
It was earlier this year when Minnesota-based Sun Country Airlines announced it was beginning service to Canada, with nonstop flights to start in June between Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) and Vancouver International Airport (YVR) in British Columbia.
So, yeah, those nonstop flights took off here in Minnesota and successfully delivered their passengers to their Canadian destination last week Wednesday (June 15th.) The problem was when those same passengers then tried to get back here to the Land of 10,000 Lakes last Sunday.
According to this KARE-11 story, Sun Country abruptly canceled that nonstop flight back to MSP late on Saturday-- leaving several Minnesotans still stranded in Vancouver on Monday. Here's how Sun Country explained the cancellation, according to the story:
"We are sorry for the disruption to the travel plans for the Vancouver flight. Like other airlines, we have been working hard – including our crews – to meet the unprecedented demand for travel from the public. We realize travelers and our customers are frustrated and we sincerely apologize," Sun Country Senior Director of Communications and Marketing Wendy Burt wrote, KARE said in the story.
Sun Country isn't the only airline canceling flights, of course. CNBC said over 1,700 flights were canceled over the Father's Day and Juneteenth holiday weekend as airlines still struggle to find staff, and as severe weather impacted several areas of the country. Making things worse was the fact that last Friday was the busiest travel day of the year so far, the TSA noted, with over 2.4 million people making their way through security checkpoints.
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Meanwhile, KARE reported that those stranded Minnesotans were scheduled to catch a late-afternoon flight back to MSP on Monday. But this story serves as a heads up if you're flying at all this summer-- make sure you keep an eye on your scheduled flights, especially if you have a connecting flight.
And if you DO have a connecting flight on your trip, the travel site, The Points Guy, recommends that you leave at least two hours between your flights, so if one is delayed you have a better chance of still making your second flight-- and not end up stranded.
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