Delta Comes To The Rescue After Students Abandoned By Frontier Airlines

Delta Air Lines came to the rescue after weather impacted a high school group. When a Frontier Airlines flight was canceled, a group of runners trying to get to Florida sought help and Delta came to the rescue. In fact, they specifically arranged for a jet to fly the runners from Philadelphia to Orlando.
Delta 737-900er
Delta Air Lines came to the rescue when a group of high school students were left without a flight. Photo: Delta Air Lines

Ocean City High School students stuck in Philadelphia

Ocean City High School sent close to 80 students and chaperones to participate in Disney’s Cross Country Classic. The team was excited and all booked together on a Frontier Airlines flight. However, the team’s spirits were dashed after learning their flight was canceled due to weather, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Frontier
Bad weather forced Frontier to cancel the student’s flight. Photo: Frontier

This led to the entire team scrambling to find replacement flights. However, as such a large group, they knew it would be hard to get everyone on the same flight. Frontier did not have any immediate availability that would get the students into Orlando on time. So, the team took to social media and tried to get anyone’s attention. They ended up in luck.

Delta takes notice

Representatives at Delta came across the team searching for help and came to the rescue. The airline got the team and the chaperones on a flight from Philadelphia to Orlando on an unscheduled charter. Frontier Airlines worked to transfer the team onto Delta tickets.
Frontier
Frontier did not have immediate availability to rebook such a large group and worked with Delta to get them accommodated on Delta’s aircraft. Photo: Frontier

Delta comes to the rescue

An MD-88 flew from Atlanta to Philadelphia to especially fly the team down to Orlando. Since this was not a normal flight, Delta Air Lines even had to summon a crew to work for the flight. The team was not burdened with any costs associated with Delta’s actions.
Delta MD88
Delta chartered an MD88 to fly the students from Philadelphia to Orlando. Photo: Alec Wilson via Wikimedia Commons
And, after reaching Orlando, the team pulled off an incredible feat. The boy’s teams (varsity and junior varsity) placed first. The girl’s varsity team took second place. Meanwhile, the girl’s junior varsity team took fourth. These finishes placed the school among the top of over 75 participating schools.

This is not the first time Delta has come to the rescue after students were stuck due to circumstances beyond their control. Although such incidents are unfortunate and can be quite stressful, hopefully, other airlines like Delta are up to the challenge of stepping in when they can.

What do you make of Delta’s actions? Were you a part of this very special flight? Let us know in the comments!

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Deputy Content Manager & Lead US Journalist - Jay’s extensive travels and experience with premium products has given him incredible insight into the wider landscape of commercial aviation. Cited by TIME and Intelligent Aerospace, among others, and interviewed by major outlet NPR, Jay’s focus on route planning and fleet developments allow him to dig deeper into the stories behind the headlines. Based in Washington DC, United States. Follow him on social media for all his latest travel updates.

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