More flight cancellations fuel frustrations at MSP Airport and beyond

Another wave of canceled flights is adding to passengers’ frustrations, continuing a week of problems largely for the low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines.

Spirit canceled half of its flights in and out of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and more than 300 flights nationwide on Friday, according to the online flight tracker Flight Aware. Spirit has cancelled nearly 2,000 flights across the country since Sunday, blaming a combination of weather, technical and staffing issues.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS found customers of other airlines have also been affected, including Wendy Harstad, whose flight from the Twin Cities to Orlando on Frontier Airlines was canceled Friday morning.

She said she was trying to get her grandson, Maverick, home to Florida for his 5th birthday party on Saturday.

"And the next flight that Frontier has doesn’t get us there until like 3:30 tomorrow," Harstad said. "(You) just want to scream… what do you do?"

Other travelers have lost their cool at airports around the country as mass cancellations have left them stranded.

Spirit customer Erin Fargo told ABC NEWS she waited nine hours to speak with someone in customer service while stuck in Orlando.

"I’m about to cry… I have never seen such customer service in my life," Fargo said.

Spirit Airlines CEO Ted Christie called the combination of weather and staffing issues a "perfect storm."

"It’s been a terrible week for us, for our guests, all the team members working super hard to try to get us back, back where we want to be," Christie said.

In an email to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS, the company said its cancellation rate was improving but warned problems could continue through the weekend.

"There will still be cancellations over the next few days, a few days, but we can start to build back to the full operation… and then build from the takeaways that we get from this last week," Christie said.

Spirit says it is offering accommodations, flight credits, refunds, hotel vouchers and meal vouchers to customers "as warranted."

Harstad’s advice to her fellow travelers: "Good luck."