Woman stranded in Jamaica amid hurricane after airline removes her from flight

While travel stories on the internet are often fascinating, there are many that turn out to be disastrous. Such was the case with TikTok creator Tsahai Layne (@tsahailayne), who was stranded in Jamaica after her airline removed her from her return flight, without any explanation. The creator was worried that she may be stuck in the country for a while as Hurricane Beryl was heading towards America at the time.

Airline’s faulty service forced her to spend over $1000

In a video, which was posted about a week ago, Layne explains the entire experience of flying with the Delta Airlines. Starting from the top, Layne says she had planned a vacation in Jamaica and was scheduled to fly to Montego Bay from Miami on June 26.

She says she made a mistake by booking with the airline as problems immediately started to pop up as she checked in. She said her flight was delayed by an hour and when they finally made it to Montego, they had to turn back to Miami. “Like literally we were hovering over the airport, we could see it,” Layne recalled.

She explained that the pilot announced that it wasn’t safe to land in Jamaica, which is why they had to turn back. While Layne appreciated the concern for safety, she soon got frustrated by the airline’s poor handling of the situation. She said that nobody was giving the passengers any information about their next flight or about the refund for the cancelled flight.

“The flight attendants were straight up getting hostile with us and telling us to stop asking questions,” she says. She adds that the airline did not provide any compensation for food or stay at the time, despite telling the passengers that will be flying the next morning. She said all they were given was a form to fill up to claim the refund of their cancelled flight, which she filled.

Through the second flight, Layne finally made it to Jamaica. She was scheduled to fly back to Miami on July 1. However, when attempted to check in for her return flight she was told that she had been removed from her flight. After struggling to find an explanation, Layne learned that the refund which she claimed for the cancelled flight was processed for her return flight instead.

Layne recalled that she had made it clear in her request that the refund was for the cancelled flight, so someone made a mistake at the airline. She shared a screenshot of the email which clearly stated that her refund had been processed and her flight on July 1 was “still active”.

Thus, it made no sense to remove her from the return flight. The airline officials at the airport, told Layne that the refund for the requested flight could not be processed as she had already taken the flight.

“I was like, ‘Then why would they tell me to apply for a refund?’ And also, if you can’t refund me for a flight I already took, why wouldn’t you just say,” Layne says in the video.

So Layne had to buy another ticket with Delta and extend her stay which cost her over $1,000. However by this time, Hurricane Beryl was approaching. 

“This is, like, the most expensive mistake I’ve ever made in my life,” Layne said. It appears that Layne was indeed stuck in Jamaica for the next few days as she shared updates.

Several viewers of her video lashed out on the airline while sympathising with Layne. “this feels both inhumane and illegal,” wrote user @huanviyasenor. “Omg I absolutely despise frontier,” added another @lari__214.

As per a July 9 report from AP News, Hurricane Beryl weakened to a tropical depression, after ravaging through Texas, knocking out power for nearly 3 million homes and businesses, and killing at least three people. While the category 5 hurricane, which tore through parts of Mexico and Caribbean last week, downgraded, the report warned that the winds and rains were still powerful enough to threaten damage in several other states. Thus, it isn’t clear if Layne has made it back home.

For more updates, vlogs, and entertaining content, follow Tsahai Layne (@tsahailayne) on TikTok.