A group of Detroit Lakes High School band and choir students are making a long trip home after a winter storm disrupted their return flights from a national music competition in Florida.
About 150 Detroit Lakes students traveled to Orlando through WorldStrides to compete. But severe winter weather over the weekend caused major flight disruptions in Minneapolis and Chicago, leaving about half the group stranded.
Band Director Tim Siewert said the students were scheduled on two different flights with different layover cities. One group was able to make it back to Minnesota, but the other group’s connecting flight was canceled.
“We had two different flights and two different departure times with different layover cities,” Siewert said. “That other group was fortunate enough that everything stayed on time. They landed in Minneapolis and drove home. But my group had a different connecting flight that was canceled. We couldn’t get out of Orlando, so we’re bussing it.”
With the next available flight not until Thursday, the school arranged buses to bring about 75 students and chaperones home. The trip is expected to take about 40 hours.
Before the buses were secured, the group also faced a hotel issue after their scheduled stay ended and the hotel was fully booked for another night.
“We were kind of just sitting in the hotel lobby for 10 hours trying to find another hotel to take us,” Siewert said. “Eventually we did, about 9 p.m., and got into that second hotel.”
The unexpected change has added about $35,000 in travel costs. The Detroit Lakes High School Music Boosters are asking for community donations to help cover the expense, and organizers say students will not be responsible for the additional cost.
The group is expected to return to Detroit Lakes late tonight (Tuesday).