DENVER — Lane Nelson is a senior at Prospect Ridge Academy High School in Broomfield. Her final semester starts Monday, but she won't be there to help kick it off because her family is stranded in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
“We can't really enjoy ourselves here even though we are in a nice place, because we don't know when we're going home. We don't know what's going on. We know nothing,” Lane said.
Lane said the disappointment started Saturday, when their group of six was at the airport getting ready to hit the runway and head home to Denver.
“The pilot came running out of his cockpit and he was obviously a little distraught,” Lane said. “He didn't know what was going on and he was like, ‘The FAA grounded everything. We can't go anywhere. You guys have to get off the plane.’”
United Airlines shared a post on social media saying it temporarily suspended service on select Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft after an Alaska Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing Friday when a panel and window blew out mid-flight.
RELATED: Alaska Airlines again grounds all Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliners as more maintenance may be needed
Lane’s mother, Christine Nelson, said United bussed people to a hotel a couple hours away, but her family decided to stay near the airport. It wasn’t until later that night when they were back at their hotel that Christine said her family finally got an update from the airline.
“So far the only action they've taken is to book us on a flight a week later than when we were supposed to go home,” Christine said. “My husband has been the primary contact calling multiple times since this occurred.”
“I feel bad for the customer service agents taking hundreds of these phone calls and trying to solve the travel plans for each family individually,” Christine’s husband, David Nelson, said. “It's an incredibly inefficient way to try and find solutions.”
“We’re grateful that they’re thinking of our safety, but they should do it with a plan,” Lane said. “They shouldn’t do it and just leave us stranded. We just want to know what we can do to get home the fastest.”
"I mean it’s been a beautiful vacation, but we were here for 10 days and that was pushing it, so another seven, that’s too long," Christine said.
Christine said their family is just one of many going through this.
“The lack of communication has been appalling,” she said. “We want to feel that we matter and what direction we should be taking.”
For now all they can do is wait, hope, and try searching for their own solution as they continue living out of suitcases.
"Currently our stuff is thrown about the room because we haven't unpacked,” Lane said.
Other flight options for the family of five plus one friend are averaging around $4,000. If the Nelsons went that route, the earliest they could get out would be Thursday, and it would be about a 20-hour trip with layovers. The family said United Airlines claims it will reimburse them for the extra hotel stay and airfare, but because of past experiences, the Nelsons are not hopeful that's going to happen.
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