Minnesota Travelers Stranded In Mexico: Senators Demand Answers

U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith are calling on Eagan-based Sun Country Airlines to account for why it left hundreds of customers in a foreign country without flight options during Minnesota's historic spring snowstorm. On April 14, Sun Country cancelled flights from Los Cabos and Mazatlán, Mexico to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, leaving about 250 passengers stranded.

Customers were forced to purchase last-minute, one-way tickets through alternative airlines in order to return to Minnesota. While customers were compensated for the return-leg of their original ticket, in many cases this amount was far less than the cost of the last-minute return ticket through another company that they were forced to purchase.

Heather Garnett and her family spent nearly $2,000 to fly to Chicago and planned to drive back to Minneapolis, she told the Associated Press.

Few consumers were able to reach a customer service representative to help them understand their travel options, according to Klobuchar and Smith.

In a letter, the two senators asked Sun Country CEO Jude Bricker whether the company did enough to help passengers, including charter a replacement flight, rebook passengers on other airlines, and provide consumers with advanced notice off their policies for final flights of the season.

"After cancelling flights, airlines have an obligation to support consumers who are making short-notice international travel plans," the senators wrote. "Sun Country has an obligation to make a good faith effort to charter a replacement flight or rebook passengers on other airlines after a final flight of a season is canceled."

In the letter, Klobuchar and Smith asked Sun Country CEO Jude Bricker the following questions:

• If Sun Country was unable to make one of its own planes available, did Sun Country make a good-faith effort to rebook passengers on other airlines to provide consumers with a return flight to MSP?
• If Sun Country was unable to make one of its own planes available, did Sun Country make a good faith effort to charter a replacement flight to provide consumers with a return flight to MSP?
• For final flights of a season, does Sun Country have a policy to make consumers aware that if flights are cancelled, alternative transportation will be necessary?
• How much notice did Sun Country provide before the flight cancelations from Los Cabos and Mazatlán, Mexico to MSP? For final flights of a season, does Sun Country have a policy of providing customers any advanced notice of inclement weather that may result in a potential flight cancelation so consumers can make alternative arrangements?
• When Sun Country cancels flights, does it include any resources to make alternative transportation arrangements?
• Does Sun Country have procedures for increasing call center capacity during and following severe weather?

Hundreds of angry comments were posted on Sun Country's Facebook page and sent to its Twitter account following the cancelations.

The incident comes months after Sun Country was sold to New York-based Apollo Global Management.

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images