Sports

Delta strands passengers so Florida basketball team can use the plane

Sarah Hofmann Contributor
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After the flight meant for the Florida men’s basketball team needed repairs Sunday, Delta decided that college basketball was way more important than people getting back home after Thanksgiving.

The team had a game against UConn at 7 p.m. Monday, so flight 5059, which was initially supposed to carry passengers from Gainesville to Atlanta at 3 p.m. Sunday, was rerouted to take the team from Gainesville to Storrs, Conn. The Gainesville Sun reports that passengers were told the flight was canceled due to mechanical error, but then saw the men’s Gators basketball team boarding the plane.

The result of the plane being falsely canceled led one passenger to miss a moving truck they needed. Another missed a funeral. That passenger, who didn’t want to be identified, said, “It just felt like the wrong decision made by somebody who didn’t think it through.”

Delta claims it did enough, though. Delta spokesman Michael Thomas said that all passengers were put onto other planes and given travel vouchers for the future. The team claims they had no knowledge of this situation.

Oh, and Florida lost to UConn.

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