American Airlines passengers waited in a long ticket counter line at DIA this morning as the carrier scrambled to accommodate passengers bumped from flights because of the grounding of AA MD-80 fleet.
Carol and Bob Relitz, of Fort Wayne, Ind., were back at Denver International Airport waiting for a second rebooking to get them home after a ski vacation.
On Tuesday afternoon they were on board one of American’s MD-80s and only 20 minutes from leaving when the pilot announced that the entire fleet had been grounded.
“We were on the plane, buckled in and ready to go,” Bob Relitz said.
Everyone was taken off the plane. The couple was given hotel vouchers and rebooked on another American flight for this morning, but that flight was canceled, and they were back in line looking for another way to get home.
Yet after spring skiing that resembled winter powder conditions, they were in good spirits.
“It snowed every day. It was a great vacation until yesterday,” Carol Relitz said.
The airline has so far canceled eight arrivals and 13 departures at DIA, where American is the sixth-largest carrier. It wasn’t clear how many would ultimately be scrapped.
Vic and Jane Giannelli of Carbondale were traveling with their 4-year-old son, Jack.
They knew their 9:10 flight to Chicago had been canceled, but they couldn’t get through on American’s reservation line so they came to DIA.
“We thought we might have better luck talking to an agent face to face,” Jane said.
They did.
American booked them on a United flight to O’Hare Airport in Chicago with a departure time of 10:30 a.m.
When the family went to the United counter to check their luggage, the sign flashed that the new flight was delayed 90 minutes.
Jane Westfall of Yuma was heading to Dallas on American for a Presbyterian church meeting and her flight also was canceled. American ticket agents put her on the 10:10 United flight to Tulsa with a later leg to Dallas, arriving only an hour later than her original itinerary.
She wasn’t complaining.
“I have a real philosophical attitude,” she said. “I’d rather fly on an inspected plane.”
The ticket line snaked even longer by midmorning, with hundreds of people waiting up to 90 minutes.
But there were other winners.
Carolyn Jackson of Telluride had been booked on American to Cancun through Dallas. With the Dallas flight canceled, the agent put her on a nonstop Frontier flight to her final destination in Mexico.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
