Family of five returns home after being stranded in Atlanta | Delta concerns

ATLANTA — After spending nearly a week stuck in Atlanta, the Johnson family is finally back in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The family landed in Atlanta on Friday and couldn’t catch another flight until Wednesday afternoon because of the massive computer outage that has affected Delta Air Lines more than most other airlines.

That flight didn’t even take them home, it only took them to Omaha, Nebraska. The family then rented a car, at their own expense, and drove another two hours to Sioux Falls. Johnson told 11Alive’s Angelina Salcedo last week that the airline told her it wouldn’t refund her for the rental car.

RELATED: ‘Delta is doing nothing’ | Family of 5 stranded in Atlanta after Delta flight issues overshadow their trip to Paris

“We have three small children, and Delta has not helped us with a hotel voucher, transportation, nothing,” Fatima Johnson said. “We’ll take you to Omaha, but to get to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, you have to rent a car, pay for it, and we won’t reimburse you.” That’s what they said.

Delta Air Lines continues to face intense scrutiny from travelers and is now under investigation by the Department of Transportation.

As the disaster left hundreds of people stranded and far from home, this family, who had just returned to the United States from Paris, is one of the worst affected.

She and her family were vacationing abroad for her birthday. On their flight back to the United States on Friday, family and friends alerted them that CrowdStrike was out of service and causing flight delays. But it was too late.

“They were telling us to extend our trip if we could, but we were already only three hours from Atlanta,” Johnson previously said.

Since then, she and her husband have been living in chaos. As they tried to return home, two cancellations left them stranded in a town miles from home.

“The second cancellation was too much, and we had seats. I even took screenshots so I had proof. We arrived Monday and had just been dropped off to find out our flight had been canceled, and Delta emailed me about it,” she said.

The agents at the counter tried to get them accommodation vouchers and hotel rooms, but the system was still down. They were told they would have to pay the bill and try to get a refund later.

RELATED: Delta Announces Normal Operations, Offers Solutions for Displaced Baggage

“Trying is the key word here. You’re basically saying I’m not going to get my money back,” Johnson said, frustrated.

Their trip to Paris was overshadowed by the problem with their preferred airline. They had the choice of returning to Paris and flying abroad, trying another airline at a cost of more than $4,000, or simply staying in Atlanta and paying for hotels and transportation themselves.

In an exclusive one-on-one interview with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, 11Alive learned that the family is entitled to refunds and accommodations that Delta failed to provide them.

“Their expenses absolutely have to be covered in terms of ground transportation and hotels. Also, if your flight is canceled and you don’t rebook, you’re entitled to a cash refund, and that’s another thing that we enforce. If the airline is not living up to its responsibilities, I encourage that family, or any family, to go to our website, flightwrights.gov. Not only will you find information about your rights, but you’ll also find a way to report to us if an airline is not doing what they’re supposed to do. We will hold them accountable,” Buttigieg said.

He said it was the most “widespread and intense” crisis the department has seen since Southwest Airlines about a year and a half ago.

“One of the things that is common to this situation is that it affected everybody. In this case, it was a winter storm, but when all the other airlines were recovering, one airline had a different set of problems, and of course, it was Southwest. We ultimately investigated Southwest and found that there were multiple violations, which led to a record enforcement action of $140 million. I can’t say yet where that investigation will lead, but I will say that we sought to usher in a new era of passenger protection, and we’re going to hold ourselves to that high standard as we deal with this situation,” Buttigieg said.

Their story reminds us that travelers deserve protections. If your airline objects, the Department of Transportation urges you to do so here.