My children experienced something I never have in my millions of miles of flying: a weather-related diversion onboard.

A Sun Country Diversion To Fargo, North Dakota

While we are dealing with tsunami warnings on the West Coast, the weather in the Midwest has been bad for several days. Earlier this week, my kids flew…or at least were scheduled to fly…from Los Angeles (LAX) to Minneapolis (MSP) on Sun County, the MSP-based “hometown” carrier.

They were flying with my neighor and heading to visit our former neighbors who moved from a couple doors down to Minnesota a couple years ago. We have remained in contact and last year my son Augustine went to visit since they have a boy around the same age. This year, my daughter Claire Marie, now five, went too.

I dropped them off at LAX on Sunday afternoon and they departed on time. But around 9:45 pm my time I received a text that they had diverted to Fargo, North Dakota (FAR) due to storms in Minneapolis.

I remember flying into Hector International Airport in Fargo for the first (and only) time more than 20 years ago, on a trip wtih my grandmother to visit the the farms where she and my grandfather were born and had grown up. We met many new cousins on that trip and it was an abosutlely wonderful time I hope to replciate one day with my own children.

Anyway, I quickly booked a hotel for them, choosing the Delta Hotels Fargo, a Marriott property, because it had an indoor water park. I thought that would be a great diversion for the kids during the layover…and I even told the kids on the phone, which made them very excited.

Shortly after booking, however, I received an email from the property:

Hi! Valued guest, this is a notification that the hotel has a scheduled Power Outage on Monday July 28th, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

MONDAY DEPARTURES: We recommend checking out before 9:30 while the property management system is still accessible.

MONDAY IN-HOUSE GUESTS: There will not be any stay-over service this day; the restaurant will close at 9:00 a.m. All electricity powered amenities including lights and elevators will be down during this time.

MONDAY ARRIVALS: Check-in time is postponed until 5pm. Check in time is depending on when property management systems are functioning after the down time. We will be happy to check in when capable this also pertains to mobile check ins.

We do apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Please make the necessary arrangements. Thank you!

Turns out the pool was closed due to the planned power outrage, so the premium I paid for this hotel was meaningless. Well, maybe not…

Augustine, who I am hoping will turn out far shrewder than I am, asked for breakfast instead. Granted.

I love that.

And while I don’t approve of the carb-heavy breakfast choices they made, at least he turned lemons into lemonade. May he and Claire Marie far outshine me…

The following morning around 10:00 am they headed back to the airport where a special desk had been set up, since Sun Country does not serve Fargo. Allegiant employees were helping.

The flight took off with the same crew and they landed in MSP about 14 hours late.

CONCLUSION

I must admit I’m a tad envious over this whole thing. What fun to spend an unexpected night in the city where their great-grandmother was born. Of course, it’s a shame they could not see the family farms…or even get to swim..but it’s a fun story nevertheless. Maybe one day I’ll have a weather diversion too.