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INDIANAPOLIS — Sarah Beavers scrambled to find another flight to Hawaii as she stood near her wedding dress and piles of luggage at Los Angeles International Airport.
The 23-year-old and her fiance, Charlie Winder, arrived at the airport Thursday to find their 7 a.m. ATA flight canceled by the airline's latest bankruptcy.
That stranded their wedding party of 11 people.
"I can't believe no one has talked to us," she said as she worked her cell phone.
"They would probably be scared (to talk to us)," Winder responded.
ATA left frustrated travelers scattered around the country Thursday after it abruptly shut down operations at 4 a.m. Several passengers trying to reach Mexico wound up stuck at Chicago's Midway International Airport.
"It ruins my vacation," said Beatrice Martinez, who was trying to reach Guadalajara, Mexico. "I'm in shock. So I guess I'll try to make other arrangements. Right now I just need to get to Mexico."
Lisa Kendrick, 56, of Oakley, Calif., didn't learn until she was unloading her bags at the curb at Oakland International Airport that her flight had been canceled.
"No one called us. I confirmed everything yesterday," she said. "We had no clue."
The ATA counter in Los Angeles was deserted Thursday. It had a sign on it that read, in part, "We regret the inconvenience caused by the sudden shutdown of ATA."
Once the nation's 10th-largest air carrier, ATA entered bankruptcy for the second time in just over three years on Wednesday. The company had more than 2,200 employees, and "virtually all" were told that their jobs were gone, company spokesman Michael Freitag said.
About 10,000 passengers flew ATA each day when operations were shut down, according to the airline's Web site.
Airlines often fail with little warning to passengers because executives are trying to line up financing until the end, said George Godlin, an analyst for Moody's Investor Service.
"I don't think there's any concerted effort on the part of senior management to simply strand passengers or to treat them disrespectfully or anything else like that," he said.
Some also give little notice under these circumstances in order to preserve what business they have left, said Michael Boyd, president of The Boyd Group, an aviation consulting firm.
"If you say, 'In three weeks we're ... going to be shutting down,' who's going to buy a ticket for next week?" Boyd said. "You don't trust them for tomorrow if they say they're going to be gone in three weeks."
ATA's customers may have few options for getting their money back.
The defunct airline's Web site tells those who bought tickets with plastic to contact their credit card companies for refund information. The company won't provide refunds to passengers who used cash or a check.
Dallas-based Southwest Airlines is trying to help. It operated a code-sharing agreement with ATA for flights to Hawaii.
The airline estimates that between 35,000 and 40,000 passengers made reservations through August for ATA flights through Southwest, spokeswoman Brandy King said.
Southwest said Thursday that it immediately began rebooking passengers. Those with travel plans in the next 14 days will be priorities.
Other passengers are left to fend for themselves.
Kendrick, who also was traveling to Hawaii, said a nephew who works for United found room on a flight out of Sacramento on Friday for $1,000 a ticket.
Beavers and Winder eventually landed Sunday flights out of Las Vegas for $1,300 apiece. That would put them in Maui the day before their wedding.
Their ATA tickets had cost only $350.
___
Associated Press writers Solvej Schou in Los Angeles and Marcus Wohlsen in Oakland, Calif., and AP Videographer Mark Carlson in Chicago contributed to this report.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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{"commentId":1650647,"authorDomain":"jdl-28"}
Look at your government for allowing our gas prices to go up, plus allowing our job to go over sea, letting the H1-b and H2-b visa to come in and take our jobs.
How can we fly or go anywhere with out jobs, the illegal in this country is getting the jobs and welfare along with them. Maybe we should become illegal just to get free medical, along with welfare money for our illegal children.
{"commentId":1650647,"threadId":"244497","contentId":"1407658","authorDomain":"jdl-28"}
- 1 vote
#1 - Thu Apr 3, 2008 8:41 AM EDT{"commentId":1650684,"authorDomain":"figuresofstick"}
I feel the same way here in Australia. It's as if people are more willing to give some one that came here 2 days ago a job over some one that is qualified and has lived here their whole life.
{"commentId":1650684,"threadId":"244497","contentId":"1407658","authorDomain":"figuresofstick"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1650677,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
No doubt that federal hands in the airlines has led to problems but it looks more like the loss of a steady defense contract than the fuel costs alone.
ATA performed services for the US military during the 1991 Gulf War, transporting 108,000 military personnel on 494 missions for Operation Desert Storm. The 727-100s were replaced by Boeing 727-200s in 1993.
By the mid-1990s, ATA began focusing on increasing its scheduled service (based on leisure travel) and began using the slogan, "On ATA, You're on Vacation."On April 2, 2008, ATA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. ATA then announced it was ceasing all services, citing the sudden loss of a charter contract with the United States military
{"commentId":1650677,"threadId":"244497","contentId":"1407658","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 2 votes
#2 - Thu Apr 3, 2008 8:52 AM EDT{"commentId":1650730,"authorDomain":"partisanhack"}
I took this airline only a couple of times, always seemed like a cut-rate outfit.
{"commentId":1650730,"threadId":"244497","contentId":"1407658","authorDomain":"partisanhack"}
- 2 votes
#3 - Thu Apr 3, 2008 9:06 AM EDT{"commentId":1650749,"authorDomain":"keggerlord-1"}
The reality of the situation is this: There are too many domestic air carriers trying to serve the US market. This is particularly true given the magnitue of fixed costs of air carriers (maintenance costs, staff, airplanes, taxes, etc) and the rising variable costs (fuel, food service, etc) all lending itself to a seat-mile cost that has to be passed on to the customer in order to have any kind of profitability. Unfortunately, the airline market is so saturated fo r the limited amount of business it has availalbe, the smaller companies with less financial resources are going to buckle first, leaving us with a competitive monopoly situation where only the large carriers remain, and even they will yield little economic profit. The only thing that will change this inevitability will be increased fuel efficiencies of the aircraft (e.g. - Boeing's 787 and 747-8 series), lowering fuel costs, subsidies from the government (which will actually hurt the industry in the long-term) or some other externality that stimulates domestic travel.
{"commentId":1650749,"threadId":"244497","contentId":"1407658","authorDomain":"keggerlord-1"}
- 2 votes
#4 - Thu Apr 3, 2008 9:13 AM EDT{"commentId":1650764,"authorDomain":"nitewingsg1"}
The Government folded to the auto makers, truckers unions, State and Federal highway departments, and oil companies when it gave up on the Railroads and mass transit systems. Out of control, greedy individuals Capitalize on making the most money today and not think of the future well being of people or the planet. I'm all for Capitalism, but when it has free reign to collapse the county, well it makes no sense. What's the point in the government bailing all these Capitalistic companies out of debt at taxes payers expense. History is right on course, there has never been a Super Power County, Government, that didn't fall. The Bush family is just Capitalizing on what past Presidents let go by the wayside, and We The People are paying for it. http://www.hermes-press.com/BushSaud.htm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2002/sep/05/foreignpolicy.iraq
{"commentId":1650764,"threadId":"244497","contentId":"1407658","authorDomain":"nitewingsg1"}
- 3 votes
#5 - Thu Apr 3, 2008 9:18 AM EDT{"commentId":1650832,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
Great links, thank you!
{"commentId":1650832,"threadId":"244497","contentId":"1407658","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1651270,"authorDomain":"bmvaughn"}
With Aloha and ATA out of Hawaii, prices should go up.
{"commentId":1651270,"threadId":"244497","contentId":"1407658","authorDomain":"bmvaughn"}
- 2 votes
#6 - Thu Apr 3, 2008 11:26 AM EDT{"canLink":false,"threadId":"244497","isPrivate":false}
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