Southeast airlines gone bust

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Anyone using Southeast Airlines into Orlando Sanford, sad top say that they have ceased operations.
http://www.flyseal.com/

 

[d4est]

When is this supposed to occur? I still get sanford to come up...

And does anyone know where Sarasota Bradenton International airport is? Close to Tampa, Orlando?

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

If you go to their website, they state they have stopped flying already.
http://www.flyseal.com/

 

[jel0511]

When is this supposed to occur? I still get sanford to come up...

And does anyone know where Sarasota Bradenton International airport is? Close to Tampa, Orlando?

Sarasota airport is about 45 minutes south of Tampa. So, it's probably about a 2 hour drive to Orlando from there.

 

[JennSaint]

Wow! I'm so glad I didn't purchase tickets on SEAL for our upcoming trip to Disney in February! We flew on SEAL this past February and had no problems with them. I almost booked them again since their fares were so low. Sorry to hear of this news.

 

[Regina]

Phooey. We booked with them once and had to cancel that trip. We have a credit with them that we were planning to use.

We'll try to get it refunded, but I don't have much hope.

 

[Braque]

From our local news:

In an unexpected move last night, Southeast Airlines, which provides popular service from Stewart Airport to three Florida destinations, pulled the plug on its operations.

The announcement caught local people off guard. Orange County Chamber of Commerce President John D'Ambrosio said his children called frantically this morning after they heard the news. They were planning to fly from their Florida home to Stewart for a Christmas holiday visit with the family.

"I was shocked when I heard the news," D'ambrosio told MidHudsonNews.com.

He said he hopes another airline steps up to the plate to take over the popular Florida routes from the Hudson Valley.

June Visconti of Wappingers Falls was supposed to be on the 10:10 a.m. flight to Sanford Orlando today to visit her her son, daughter-in-law and new grandchild. "I called them and told them I wouldn't be coming down today," she said. As for her near term future travel plans, she has no idea.

"How could they do this to people; this was not an over night decision," Visconti said of the airline's shutdown.

“Southeast Airlines has made its final landing and has ceased airline operations,” a statement on its website said. “We apologize for the inconvenience this will cause to our customers. This action is due in part to the unplanned and uncontrollably high cost of fuel combined with a low yield environment that makes it impossible for Southeast to continue offering low-cost air transportation.”

The statement continued, “We sincerely thank all of our loyal employees, customers, and vendors for their dedication, support, and efforts.” It said customers “should refer to their Operator Participant Contracts, or contact their credit card companies, for information on how to receive refunds of their unused tickets.”

The airline had flown from Newburgh to Orlando Sanford, Tampa St. Pete and Ft. Lauderdale. It had recently announced it would start Sarasota service in February

Glad I didn't buy into that for our February trip! Our condolences to everyone affected by SEAL's shutdown.

 

[CarolA]

If you have tickets on them contact your CC NOW! I am pretty sure this was a charter airline and the tickets will not be honored on any other airline.

 

[ValpoMan]

Ok this stinks...I bought 5 roundtrip tickets for our trip from 12/31/04 to 1/10/05...from Gary to Sanford...

Never been through this before...so I am supposed to call my credit card company?...is there a procedure to get a refund?

Thanks

Monte

 

[CarolA]

Their website says to contact your CC company. I would give them a call and see what the process is going to be.
Sorry!

 

[dudspizza]

Ok this stinks...I bought 5 roundtrip tickets for our trip from 12/31/04 to 1/10/05...from Gary to Sanford...

Never been through this before...so I am supposed to call my credit card company?...is there a procedure to get a refund?

Thanks

Monte

I would hate to be in your situation..... a month from my trip and all of the sudden no no air.

I did a search for you.

Trans Meridian Airlines (www.iflytma.com) flys out of Rockford (about 100 miles from Gary). The airport offers free parking. Here is the quote (dates close to yours).
OUTBOUND
Saturday, January 01, 2005 Flight T9-222
Depart Chicago Rockford 2:10 PM, Arrive Orlando Sanford 5:40 PM
RETURN
Wednesday, January 12, 2005 Flight T9-225
Depart Orlando Sanford 7:20 PM, Arrive Chicago Rockford 9:00 PM
Total cost of your selection:
OUTBOUND # Pax Fare
Price Per Adult 5 USD 73.49
Tax Per Adult USD 14.11
RETURN # Pax Fare
Price Per Adult 5 USD 73.49
Tax Per Adult USD 13.11
Grand Total: USD 871.00

ATA (www.ata.com) and Airtran (www.airtran.com) fly out of Midway. ATA prices at 179.00 plus fees on travelocity....

Here is an Airtran quote.
Departing Flight
Coach
Lowest Fare
* $79.00 Fri, 31 Dec 04
* Flight 23 2:00 pm depart Chicago, IL - Midway (MDW) arrives in Atlanta at 4:50 pm
*
Flight 445 7:30 pm connect Atlanta, GA (ATL)
8:58 pm arrive Orlando, FL (MCO)
Returning Flight
Coach
Lowest Fare
* $79.00 Mon, 10 Jan 05
* Flight 848 6:35 pm depart Orlando, FL (MCO) arrives Atlanta at 8:08 pm
* Flight 30 10:55 pm connect Atlanta, GA (ATL)
11:46 pm arrive Chicago, IL - Midway (MDW)

Departing (Coach)
Airfare $ 69.30
Taxes (details) $ 23.90
Subtotal $ 93.20
Passenger(s) X 5 $ 466.00


Total Cost of Flight $ 939.50


Good Luck

 

[Mary Anne]

We've flown them a couple of times. Luckily we went last Christmas on them but this is our Christmas to stay h ome. Never had a problem, I do have a $100 credit with them, due to a delay from last year. I'm wondering if we are intitled to anything. I would doubt it.

 

[magicalmoments]

I am one affected by this

We are scheduled to fly from Allentown, PA (ABE) on Dec 23rd and return home Jan 2nd.

I tried calling and all I get was a machine that says 'this office is closed...we will reopen at 5 AM'.

I called my cc and since I used a debit/visa kind of card I probably wont see any money from them. What do I do? I checked into rebooking thru some others and found the price so high--$1220 was the cheapest for 4 of us flying out of Newark, which is a 2 hour ride for us at least.

This has me heartsick. This was our Christmas!!!! We have saved all year long for this trip, and to pay for it. The insurance dont cover an airline that goes out of biz either..I tried that route. I tried getting WDW Travel to add in air and its ATROCIOUS!! We certainly cant afford that.

Now here we sit....tickets that are no good. We will never get our money back in 22 days til we leave no matter how we fight. Its about 750$ GONE!

I called Lehigh Valley Intl airport and they were very nice but of course could offer no advice. He told me when they came in this AM all the planes and everything was cleared out. There were folks there waiting for their flights down to Sanford. How low! The airport where I live told me they were busy, people liked there airline and they were there for 2 years. He didnt understand it either.

Airtran gave me a quote out of Philly for $1866! I am sick. I cant believe it. I dont know what to do. Can someone offer me any words of wisdom or advice?

Thanks a bunch,
Stacy

 

[tcwitt]

I'm in the same boat as Valpoman and magicalmoments, only were supposed to be leaving in 9 days. We were also supposed to fly out of Gary.

I've been feeling sick since I saw this.

Thanks,
Christine

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

I know its a long way, but could you not drive down over a couple of days?

 

[dudspizza]

I'm in the same boat as Valpoman and magicalmoments, only were supposed to be leaving in 9 days. We were also supposed to fly out of Gary.

I've been feeling sick since I saw this.

Thanks,
Christine

Here is a quote from TMA (www.iflytma.com). I have never flown them, but the reports on them seem OK. They fly out of Rockford, Il. You can park for free at Rockford airport if you don't mind driving a ways. Their price is so much lower than anyone else at this busy time of year.

I priced out a week long trip. There are flights back on the 17, 18th, and 19th, all priced the same.


OUTBOUND
Friday, December 10, 2004 Flight T9-222
Depart Chicago Rockford 2:10 PM, Arrive Orlando Sanford 5:40 PM

RETURN
Friday, December 17, 2004 Flight T9-221
Depart Orlando Sanford 11:30 AM, Arrive Chicago Rockford 1:10 PM

Total cost of your selection:
OUTBOUND # Pax Fare
Price Per Adult 1 USD 54.88
Tax Per Adult USD 12.72
RETURN # Pax Fare
Price Per Adult 1 USD 73.49
Tax Per Adult USD 13.11

Grand Total: USD 154.20

 

[J&BDisney]

This is from the Gary airport website:


CUSTOMER SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT FROM GARY/CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

We thank you for your continued support of the Gary/Chicago International Airport. Unfortunately, Southeast Airlines has announced today that they are going out of business nationwide effective immediately.

Passenger awareness and support continued to build for the St. Petersburg and Orlando/Sanford, Florida routes as Southeast Airlines served approximately 50,000 passengers from/to the Gary/Chicago International Airport since their February 2004 start.

Southeast Airlines statement: “Southeast Airlines has made its final landing and has ceased airline operations. We apologize for the inconvenience this will cause to our customers. This action is due in part to the unplanned and uncontrollably high cost of fuel combined with a low yield environment that makes it impossible for Southeast to continue offering low-cost air transportation. We sincerely thank our loyal employees, customers and vendors for their dedication, support and efforts.”

The Gary/Chicago International Airport wanted to provide the following information to passengers based on recent communication from Southeast Airlines. The Airport does not handle any passenger refunds nor flight reservations.

Refunds
As a public charter, passenger funds are held in escrow until a passenger travels which is designed to expedite refunds. Southeast reports, “Customers should refer to their Operator Participant Contracts, or contact their credit card companies, for information on how to receive refunds of their unused tickets.”

Travel Accommodations
From Air Tran Airlines…

“AirTran Airways has put in place assistance for the Southeast Airlines affected passengers -
$50.00 one-way plus airport/government taxes stand-by travel
Travel 12/01/04 through 12/08/04
FLL/MCO/MIA/PBI/RSW/TPA
to/from
MDW/CAK/DAY/EWR/LGA/PHL
The Southeast Airlines passengers must contact 1.800.AIRTRAN prior to going to the airport. This will streamline the check-in process for the passengers at the departure location.
Mike Gordon
Senior. Manager - Revenue Management
AirTran Airways
407 318 5254

 

[magicalmoments]

Airtran....I called them at the advice of my local airport who said AIRTRAN contacted them about assisting SE customers. This is only for stand by like today and in the next few days. Anyone traveling after that pays regular fare. They will not honor SE tickets, or discount them.

Stacy
PS: Who is in the same boat from PA!

 

[leanne11]

there goes $800.00 i called my cc they said they would try to help but i used my debit, just make copies of all the tickets showing paid. letter documenting thay closed down and i cannot contact them, and my bank said they can't promise anything but they will try. The contract participant thing says they will refund if they cancel the flight,,,, so we will see at 5:00 am i don't understand there planes were always so full and we loved leaving from allentown, i' just in shock.we were leaving 2/25 3/05.

 

[CarolA]

Well, while that doesn't help many people traveling later it is VERY nice of AirTran.

I do think that you should get your money back. Getting it back before you leave on vacation may be harder... If you used a debit card I would call your bank and work with them. They processed it as a "visa/MasterCard" and should be able to work with the CC company.

Stacy,
I am not sure what to tell you. A couple of thoughts...I just checked USAIR. They just announced a sale and show $158 sale fares but they are not availalbe on your dates. Can you adjust the dates? SW also has $99 each way, but your dates are completely sold out. The two dates you have are probably VERY busy. I would suggest Priceline, but if things are sold out...

I tried Hotwire, but nothing was available on your dates.

SORRY!