As many students, faculty and staff returned from Elon University Study Abroad and Study USA programs, they were greeted by a traveler’s worst nightmare: a record-breaking series of winter storms.
Winter Storm Juno, accompanied by other winter storms in the Northeast region, have caused havoc across the nation, affecting the lives of millions of people and testing the patience of travelers. Media reports noted more than 14,000 flights were canceled because of heavy snow and record-breaking high-speed winds.
According to Rhonda Waller, director of study abroad at the Global Education Center, six of the 35 total programs at Elon were affected by the inclement weather conditions. Of that group, about a dozen flights had to be re-routed.
“We were being told that airports in the Northeast might be closed for four to five days,” Waller said. “So, getting students, faculty and staff back to the United States became our next priority, even if it meant dividing the program into smaller groups or bringing them into cities not on their original itinerary.”
Madeline Monaco, a senior aboard the “India: Education & Development” Winter Term trip departing from Kerela, India, was one of the students whose arrival home was delayed. Her transferring flight from Dubai was scheduled to leave at 2 a.m. Jan. 27, but didn’t end up flying out until 8 p.m. Jan 27. Anticipating the cancellations caused by the weather conditions, the group decided to stay at a hotel, paid for by the university, and wait for word from Elon.
“The time difference was at some points frustrating,” Monaco said. “But with Wi-Fi in the hotel, good food and good company, we made it through.”
According to Waller, the process of rerouting flights was difficult, especially because many were group bookings handled by divisions within airline offices that were all dealing with systems overloaded with cancellations and limited seat availability.
“In a few cases, we had to wait for the airline to officially cancel the flight before they could be asked to respond to requests for rebooking,” she said. “We were grateful to the airlines that acted proactively and canceled flights early on, as opposed to those few who adopted a ‘wait and see’ attitude.”
Lexi Williams, a sophomore student on “The Sundance Experience” trip returning from Utah, said that though her traveling group inevitably had to be divided because of flight availability, she is staying positive.
“I’ve been up since 5 a.m. this morning, so it has definitely been a long day,” she said. “But we’re all trying to remain positive, especially because we’ve had such a great experience on the program.”
Williams emphasized the role of her program leader, Mark Dalhouse, director of Study USA, who missed his own flight home in order to be with his students, in maintaining a sense of calm to weather the storm.
“They told us that everything would be taken care of, booked us a hotel and have offered to pay for our dinners,” she said. “At this point, there’s nothing we can do but just wait — so I think everybody’s trying to do the best they can.”
Waller said that while the office did everything possible to keep groups together, the scenario of finding 30 available seats on another flight, all within 24 hours, proved tough. For the most part, she said, the airlines determined how individuals were rebooked.
Elon Winter Term programs include a round-trip international airfare from a designated U.S. departure airport in their program fee. Some students who didn’t depart from a nearby city had to book other domestic flights with the office’s affiliated travel agency, Aladdin Travel. Waller noted that many students booked their domestic flights independently of the GEC, which complicated the troubleshooting proccess.
But for some students, finding their own way home wasn’t an option.
Senior Leah Channas, who was also a member of the Sundance program and a former Pendulum staff member, said that she is disappointed by how the situation has been handled.
“Students spend thousands of dollars each year to attend Elon,” she said. “When it came to getting us home, it seems there was a lot of miscommunication regarding transportation home between our university, travel agency and us.”
Channas said their flight was changed even before weather became an issue.
“Once our flight was canceled, it felt like it became a game of cat and mouse to try to get the university to work with us to get a flight home because of financial reasons,” she said. “The university is willing to let students miss two days of classes to save a couple bucks, and I think that is what is most disappointing.”
Her group’s flight Monday morning to Minneapolis was scheduled for only five of the students, leaving an additional four stranded in Utah. Channas said the remaining group was left to “fend for themselves,” finding a return flight without the help of the travel agency or the University. The group reached Elon Tuesday morning.
Waller said the entire ordeal has been difficult on both ends. Emphasizing that her team greatly values efficiency, she said that when reasonable and efficient solutions presented themselves, they took them.
“I would like to say thank you to those who showed great patience and adaptability and to those who recognize how difficult this kind of situation really is,” Waller said. “We got a lot of complimentary emails, which was really motivational to those of us who lost many hours of sleep in the past week helping to keep lines of communication open.”
Waller also pointed to the dedicated work of her colleagues at Aladdin Travel, noting that at the height of the storm, they had an entire team of people working literally around the clock.
“People who have to face these types of unexpected difficulties can understandably become frazzled and frustrated. Patience can really wear thin,” she said. “No matter what, Aladdin’s team maintained professionalism and worked hard to achieve the desired goal- getting our programs home safely.”