The Boston Herald reports that 20 students from Waltham High School outside of Boston had their trip grounded in New York because Delta Airlines gave their seats away.
The students planned and saved for a year so they could spend the week practicing their Spanish in Madrid. Delta stranded the students for nearly 12 hours at JFK Airport with no food or water. Around 1AM Saturday, after waiting 10 hours and unable to enter the secure zone because they didn’t have boarding passes, some of the group, according to them, were given 200 “Delta Dollars” to spend on airport food. However, the food court was past security and Delta Dollars are good for travel, not food.
“They actually stated to me, ‘You have 10 minutes to decide (to split up) or that gate will close and your bags will go to Madrid without you,’ †said teacher Lisa Geaney, who said she’s organized six previous student trips without a problem. “It’s like you listen to this story and go, ‘No, that couldn’t happen.’ ” Students on chaperoned trips cannot travel without their chaperones, and being told by Delta to split the group up, with 10 leaving on Friday and no guarantee the rest could get out the next day would be unacceptable.
Finally, at 2:30AM, after nearly 12 hours, Delta arranged for hotel rooms in New York and the students returned to Boston in the morning. A Delta spokeswoman Thonnia Lee said that the group showed up late, and the seats on their plane were already claimed, although it is not cleared if the flight was overbooked or not.
The trip cost around $2500 per student. Hopefully, they had travel insurance.