October 23, 2018
This Sunday the Philadelphia Eagles will travel across the pond to face the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium, and with the Super Bowl champions come many loyal fans willing to make the trip to London.
Just make sure you're not scheduled to fly Primera Air.
The budget airline, based in Denmark, was known for offering intriguingly low cost flights between the U.S. and throughout Europe, including from a hub in Newark International Airport. A round-trip flight from Newark to London Stansted Airport, for example, would run for as low as $400 in off-peak travel season. It makes for a relatively affordable option if you're already down to drop some cash and PTO to see the Birds overseas.
But, surprise surprise, Primera Air couldn't keep up with the cheap flights it was offering, and the airline folded suddenly on Oct. 1. Really suddenly. Thousands of people were stranded at airports, only finding out about the airline's demise while in line to check in.
The company tweeted the news that day and released a statement online.
And that's when the outreach stopped. After the initial news broke of the airline's end, it seems the company didn't make much further effort to ensure people didn't keep showing up for their flights.
In the weeks since, many people have reported not getting notified about the interruption to their travel plans – it's even sparked a GoFundMe campaign to help for costs loss by a group of friends who had been booked on Primera, as passengers have been hard-pressed to get a refund from the airline.
Primera Air is one of several airlines to go bust in the last year. Just a few weeks after Primera collapsed, Cyprus-based Cobalt Air also folded, joining ASL Airlines Switzerland, Air Berlin, and a few other low-cost carriers that have ceased operations in the last couple of years.
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