Dayana Lagos, a junior and HP’s Yearbook Editor-in-Chief was recently stranded in Mexico because of issues with the airline. She was in Mazatlan visiting family for winter break. Dayana was originally supposed to come back home on January 8, 2024, but instead, she was stuck for a week, missing school and coming back on the 13th.
The reason she was unable to get on a plane and return home was because one of the flights before hers had an issue where the door of the plane came off in mid air.
There are 4 bolts designed to prevent the door plug from falling but in this case, on the Boeing 737 Max 9 Alaska Airline flight, those 4 bolts were missing. The Alaska Airline decided to cancel all other flights until they were able to check every single one of their planes.
This chaos forced Dayana and her family to stay in Mexico longer than expected. She was under the impression that their flight would only be delayed but instead it was completely canceled. They later struggled to find a flight back home due to the grounding of more flights.
She was supposed to return on January 8th then on the 11th but on the 9th they let her family know that their Thursday flight was also getting canceled.
She spent a day trying to get in contact with the airline but nothing worked. When she finally did get in contact with them, the Alaska Airline was offering them a flight back on the 18th. Unfortunately, it would cause her to miss an additional week of school.
“My mom didn’t want that so we got a flight with another airline,” said Dayana.
The Aeromexico Airline offered them a flight back on Saturday the 13th and her family accepted it and the airline ended up paying for it.
The biggest issue Dayana faced with the cancellation of her flight was missing school. Being absent affected her schoolwork. She missed a week of school and once she came back she realized how behind she now was.
“I was able to catch up pretty fast in a couple of classes but in other classes, I still haven’t caught up even though I’ve been back for 2-3 weeks.”
said Dayana.
She is taking two AP classes but she mentioned that her AP English Language and Composition class was the hardest for her to catch up on. She missed the beginning of a book reading which caused her to be unable to answer discussion posts.
She also missed her dad a lot because he stayed in California. Eventually, after being stuck for a few days, she became tired and homesick. In her head she knew that she should be home already which affected her mindset.
Dayana and her family stayed with her family in Mexico for a little longer. Her mom and her little brother were also stressed because they were all packed and ready to leave. Her older brother has work so staying did mess with his schedule as well.
“We had to do the stuff we usually do here, over there.” Dayana stated.
Being stuck in Mexico was a step back for Dayana but her family was able to fly back home. She now continues to work on what she missed and is still trying to adjust to school.
Written by Co-Editor-In-Chief & Features Editor, Tyra Galeana