A Brooklyn family missed out on an eight-day dream vacation they'd been saving for a year after their $8,500 cruise was delayed due to a flight delay at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Tisha Rassane had been working hard at the post office in preparation for her flight on June 30 from Orlando with her mother, twins and eldest son for a week-long cruise.
The getaway was meant to be a celebration of Rasein's 50th birthday and the final summer adventure for his oldest son, Kassim Miller, a junior at Hampton University in Virginia.
“I'm all about family. I care about my family,” LaSaine said. He told ABC7.
The trip began after Delta Flight 2019 was reportedly delayed for nearly two hours due to a “crew issue.”
“We took off at 11:40 a.m. The flight was scheduled for 9:54 a.m.,” Miller said.
The flight from JFK to Orlando was scheduled to land at 12:51 p.m., well before the cruise ship departed from Port Canaveral at 3:30 p.m.
“I went to my mother and told her mother that I don't think we're going to survive,” the grieving mother told the outlet.
When the family arrived in Florida, they walked the 45 miles to Cape Canaveral and simply stood on the pier and watched the ship depart.
Rassein and his family turned back and flew home because they were unable to secure accommodation for their late-arriving family members.
“We missed the entire trip — a full week, eight days,” Miller said.
“I think I cried more than the kids. It was for them,” Rassane added.
Luckily, the cruise line refunded the family, but when they asked Delta for similar assistance, they ran into problems.
The Brooklyn family wanted their tickets refunded after Delta delays caused them to miss their entire vacation, but Delta would only offer them a one-way travel electronic credit worth $250 per person.
“I thought it was a shame to lose that much money in just a few months,” Rassane said.
After working with the ABC affiliate, Rassane was able to get the full remaining ticket price refunded, $2,600.
“Delta apologized for the delays caused by this situation,” the company told the outlet.
Weeks after delays due to “crew issues” ruined Rahman's family trip, Delta flights were severely affected by a global CrowdStrike outage, with more than 6,000 flights cancelled over six days.
More than 500,000 passengers were stranded and airlines reported losses of $500 million.
