Rough starts for study abroad

Jessica Frizen / News Editor

Students heading abroad this Winter Term were met with a string of bad weather on the East Coast. What resulted were flight delays, missed flights and a load of lost luggage.

It started for some students on Jan. 2, when Independence Air announced that it was declaring bankruptcy. They canceled all flights after Jan. 5. This meant all students who were able to take Independence Air on their first domestic flight had to find another flight back.

That night, faculty members of the "Conducting Business in the Pacific Rim" class missed their international flight out of Newark, due to weather and air traffic delays.

The next day, people keeping up with the study abroad travels were glad to learn that seven classes made it safely to their destinations, with the only problem being some missing luggage.
Students traveling on Jan. 4 were not so fortunate. One student could not make the international flight to Peru and arrived later than the rest of the class. The same situation happened for six students headed to Greece and a student in the New Zealand Business class.

Fourteen students on their way to Ireland arrived a day late.
Although the Hawaii group arrived later than expected, the travel problems seemed to stop after all the late students arrived. It wasn't until Jan. 6 that all students and faculty made it to their study abroad destination.

Dean of International Studies Larry Basirico said flight delays and lost luggage are inevitable in study abroad circumstances.

"Last year for winter term maybe two people missed flights," he said. "This year was different because probably about 18 students and two faculty had missed their flights."

Of course, when bad things happen, there are always extreme cases. Take sophomore Virginia Zint for example, who was on her way to England. Because of a delay in her Raleigh-Durham International flight, she missed her connecting flight from Newark - International to D.C. She was able to fly standby on a British Air flight to London and she was even lucky enough to arrive at the same time as her fellow students. Unfortunately, she thought her luggage didn't follow her to London.

"After spending multiple hours on the phone (on hold mostly) I had spent over 70 pounds (close to $140) on phone calls to airlines over a period of five days," she wrote in an e-mail. "What ended up happening was that no one knew where my luggage was, every airline would send me to a different airline, but the bag had been in London the entire time."

The next day, Zint's purse was stolen from under her feet in a local pub.

"That seemed to be the icing on the cake because I didn't have any clothes, and now I didn't have money, a cell phone, my credit cards and phone cards, airline tickets, bus tickets, show tickets, and a passport," she said.

While there was turmoil abroad, the Isabella Cannon Centre for International Studies staff was working with the students and staff to fix it.

"Everyone's there, and we stay on it 24 hours a day until they're there," said Basirico.

Zint explained that the professors on her trip were a big help in dealing with traveling difficulties.

"My professors have been great throughout the whole experience, and so was the study abroad office," she said.

"They know my name, I assure you. Ask Emma Jones about the airline situation, I was in contact with her for most of the trip."
Basirico said his staff does all they can, but mishaps like unpredictable weather and uncontrollable flight delays are out of their hands.

"We recommend some students get there the night before if they hear of inclimate weather as a worst case scenario ?but as far as controlling airlines, there's nothing we can do about it," he said.

Zint's advice for the unpredictability of travel is to "be prepared for the worst."

"I thought the worst was losing my luggage, but it got double worse after that," she explained. "Also, don't let something like that ruin your trip."

As far as Independence Air, Basirico said it wasn't a surprise, because everyone using Independence Air got e-mails and phone calls to announce their bankruptcy and to discuss refunds. "Students and parents probably took care of it before they left the country," he said.

Despite the rough beginnings, students have made it to their destinations and are well into their classes. Students like Zint have found their luggage and are learning to forget the mess of how they got there and are becoming thankful for the fact that they're experiencing new places.

Contact Jessica Frizen at pendulum@elon.edu or 278-7247.

Photo Courtesy of Virginia Zint

Virginia Zint takes a picture on top of the mountains in Fulda, Germany.