ATA left Midway passengers stranded without even polite phone call

After 35 years in operation, ATA Airlines discontinued all flights and filed for bankruptcy Thursday, stranding thousands of travelers in the United States and Mexico, including some at Chicago's Midway Airport.

Once the nation's 10th-largest air carrier, Indianapolis-based ATA entered bankruptcy for the second time in just over three years. The company had more than 2,200 employees, and "virtually all" were told that their jobs were gone, company spokesman Michael Freitag said.

Passengers hoping to leave on a 10 a.m. flight to Guadalajara, Mexico, Thursday morning found the ATA check-in counter completely deserted when they arrived at Midway. Several sat disappointed on benches in the check-in area, using phones and laptops to look for alternative travel options

Rangel and other would-be passengers said they had received no advance notice of their flight's cancellation, either by phone or e-mail. Jorge Aguirre, 24, of Chicago, said he checked his flight status on ATA's Web site at 3 a.m. Thursday morning and found nothing amiss.

Click here full the full story: Chicago Tribune

This pisses me off, and I didn't even have to fly anywhere today. What is ATA's problem? Why couldn't they at least have the decency to notify people. Some people are even stranded because of this. And some people will not even be refunded. What a bunch of jerk-offs. I was watching the news this morning and nobody was even at the counter telling people what was going on. What nerve these people have. I would say to sue them but that obviously wouldn't work.

That's not good, professional business. Obviously, if they had an ounce of professionalism, they wouldn't be bankrupt again.

In reality, this doesn't surprise me, as this country has gone into a me now attitude, and the big whigs at all the companies make sure and get theirs first, screw everyone else.

The old Braniff Airlines did the exact same thing to their passengers and employees back in the early '80's. Employees were left stranded far from home with no money to get back home. It was horrible.

It's a really dumb way to handle a bankruptcy. I mean, didn't they know last night that they were going to file for bankruptcy?