Big Sky cancellations stranding some people

Justin Dolan took an unexpected route home for Christmas.

He'd booked a round-trip flight from Jacksonville, Fla., to Cape Girardeau on Big Sky Airlines, but it was canceled Friday morning. Instead of flying to Cincinnati, Ohio, and then to Cape Girardeau, he flew to Atlanta, then St. Louis and took a BART shuttle to his parents' home.

Many Big Sky passengers are being stranded, despite an order from the U.S. Department of Transportation telling the airline to continue service.

The company announced Wednesday it would cease operations at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport and its operations in the eastern United States by Jan. 7. Big Sky's president, Fred de Leeuw, said he was unaware of the individual flight cancellations.

Two flights leaving Cape Gir?ardeau and all three scheduled from Cincinnati on Friday were canceled; the round-trip flight scheduled for today is in doubt, according to one travel agent.

"Delta will have to reaccommodate people," de Leeuw said Friday. "I don't have tickets. I don't have revenue. I just have airplanes."

While Dolan found a flight to St. Louis, he still doesn't have a valid return ticket; others have not found alternate flights to Missouri.

BART manager Terry Tripp said she'd talked to people stranded in Cincinnati and a man whose daughter is stuck in Pittsburgh on Friday. Five other passengers who got to St. Louis called BART for rides to Cape Girardeau.

Tripp said her company is trying to accommodate passengers where possible, but most shuttles are close to being fully booked.

Susan Berghoff, a travel agent at First Class Travel in Cape Girardeau, immediately checked her clients' reservations after Big Sky's announcement but did not have to rebook any flights.

This would be "the worst time of the year" to make changes, she said, because "most airlines are overbooked."

Berghoff said an airline is "responsible for getting you from one place to the next," either on its own planes or through another airline, if a flight is canceled for reasons other than weather.

Delta spokesman Kent Landers said the company is working with passengers "to find alternate routings where possible."

He said when that is not possible, the company is offering refunds.

"In a market where there's limited service, it's a difficult situation," he said. "We'll do everything possible."

Landers said he did not know the magnitude of the problem but that concerned customers could call Delta's reservation line at 800-221-1212 for help.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

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