ORLANDO, Fla. — A Utah household is stranded in Florida for a number of days due to the vacation flight cancellations occurring throughout the nation.
The Tesch household, who’s from Enterprise, Washington County, has saved and deliberate for this Christmas journey to Orlando, Florida, for the previous 12 months. The unique plan was to be again house on Christmas Eve. Sadly, they’re caught on the East Coast till Wednesday, at the very least.
“Full and whole chaos,” Keya Tesch stated. “I needed to wait in line for customer support for 2½ hours simply to be informed there was no method to get house till Wednesday, Dec. 28.”
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Tesch, her fiancé and 6 youngsters anticipated lengthy traces on the amusement park they visited on Christmas trip.
“The plan was to fly out on Dec. 14, go to Common (Studios) for 4 days, then type of discover Florida, possibly go to the zoo, and are available house on Christmas Eve and rejoice Christmas on the home,” Keya Tesch stated.
They did not anticipate ready for days for his or her aircraft journey house.
“On Dec. 20, we obtained the e-mail saying there’s an excellent risk of delays attributable to storm Elliot,” Tesch stated.
The Teschs went to the airport Saturday.
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“We checked our baggage as a result of we had been knowledgeable that our flight was gonna be good,” Tesch stated.
Two and half hours later, they had been informed it was canceled attributable to understaffing, and Southwest Airways’ subsequent accessible flight would not be till Wednesday.
They spent Saturday night time within the Orlando airport.
“It’s a must to make do and make the very best of what you possibly can,” Tesch stated.
She stated they had been informed by airport employees they’d must go discover a resort.
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Days later, they haven’t any of their baggage, automotive seats or strollers as a result of it is possible at their ultimate vacation spot, with out them, in Las Vegas.
“What worries me is it should get misplaced as a result of that is a very long time for baggage to be in an airport and never get misplaced,” Tesch stated.
A Utah household is stranded in Florida for a number of days due to the vacation flight cancellations occurring throughout the nation. (Photograph: Tesch household)
She and her household took a shuttle to a close-by resort the place they are going to keep till Wednesday. She’s run out of provides for her youngsters, ages 6 weeks by means of 14 years outdated.
“I used to be blessed to have one Southwest worker — they purchased us diapers. They went to the one Walgreens that was open on Christmas Eve,” Tesch stated.
She stated eating out and resort charges are including up. She and her fiancé cannot get their paycheck by means of direct deposit; it is again in Washington County.
“Our checks are within the mail, however no person can get it as a result of we now have the mail keys,” Tesch stated. “We weren’t anticipating this. We’re getting brief on funds.”
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She stated she’s had little assist from Southwest Airways, which has had a big portion of the flights canceled throughout the U.S.
“They stated I may ship in receipts and file a declare, however that is about all of the communication I’ve had with customer support,” Tesch stated.
The Tesches noticed quite a lot of different passengers resolve to surrender on rebooking.
“We dwell on the opposite facet of the nation; we will not simply hire a automotive and drive house,” she stated.
Due to the scale of their household, they would want a bigger automotive. Additionally they would want three automotive seats. If their flight would not take off on Wednesday, they don’t seem to be certain they’re going to have one other alternative.
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“That is scary as a mother,” Tesch stated.
The Teschs had been informed their upcoming flight might not take off as a result of it stops in Austin, and so they’re anticipating tough climate to impression the flight. They had been additionally informed the airline has had points with understaffing.
They hope to get house quickly, and hopefully discover their baggage there.
It’s been a good couple weeks for Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier. He’s picked up two long-awaited SEC wins. One is his first win over LSU and another is his first top-10 win since the Gators beat No. 7 Utah in his first game as their head coach.
ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg made sure to give him some love in their college football Week 13 takeaways.
He considers Napier, along with Oklahoma’s Brent Venables and Auburn’s Hugh Freeze to have further redeemed themselves with big wins on Saturday.
“But Napier, Venables and Freeze all strengthened their profiles and elevated hope for the future by leading their teams to signature wins in Week 13.”
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Rittenberg was impressed by Florida’s continuing to bend but not break on defense and the performance of true freshman quarterback DJ Lagway. This all culminated in what could have spoiled Ole Miss’ playoff ambitions.
“Napier, whose Florida team had outclassed LSU the week before in The Swamp, likely eliminated Ole Miss from CFP contention with an excellent second half. A Gators defense that struggled early allowed only three points in the final 39 minutes and intercepted Jaxson Dart twice in the closing minutes, and Florida got impressive play from its own young quarterback, DJ Lagway.”
Napier was also given credit for having shown “real signs of promise before Week 13.”
Florida took No. 8 Tennessee to overtime, losing 23-17. But more impressively took Georgia down to the wire despite Lagway being carted off with a hamstring injury. While the final score was 34-20, those who watched know that it was a one-score game until about four minutes to go. That gave Florida props, but now he’s beaten ranked opponents.
Now, Florida has a shot to finish with its first winning record since 2020 and win its first bowl game since 2019.
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Rittenberg concluded his takes by saying Napier, along with Vernables and Freeze, has given “tangible evidence to cite that better days might be ahead.”
Western Carolina Catamounts (2-2) at Florida State Seminoles (6-1)
Tallahassee, Florida; Tuesday, 7 p.m. EST
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BOTTOM LINE: Western Carolina plays Florida State after Cord Stansberry scored 20 points in Western Carolina’s 82-69 loss to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
The Seminoles are 3-1 on their home court. Florida State is 5-1 when it wins the turnover battle and averages 12.4 turnovers per game.
Western Carolina finished 11-8 in SoCon action and 10-6 on the road a season ago. The Catamounts averaged 11.3 assists per game on 28.2 made field goals last season.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
It’s been a good couple weeks for the Florida Gators.
First, they take down No. 22 LSU, 27-16, with a bend but don’t break approach. Then, they follow that up by upsetting No. 9 Ole Miss, 24-17. With that latter win, heads really began to turn. It was one thing to put up fights against Tennessee and Georgia, but now, they’re beginning to take down these formidable opponents.
The analysts are starting to talk them up. ESPN’s College Gameday analyst Kirk Herbstreit is ready to hand head coach Billy Napier the award for coach of the year. He made sure to include that he thinks quarterback DJ Lagway is going to be something special.
“Can a guy with a team that will finish 7-5 win the coach of the year award? He should!!” Herbstreit said in a tweet. “Billy Napier and [the Florida Gators, after being 4-5 and losing two straight, have beaten LSU and Ole Miss. So impressive to see this fight from the Gators and their fans after having a tough year. And, oh yeah, DJ Lagway is the REAL DEAL!”
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Big Cat from Barstool Sports jumped on X (formerly Twitter) and said, “The Florida Gators may need a playoff berth.”
Now, that can be written off as two guys getting excited, but key writers are noticing too. Florida received votes in the latest AP Poll.
Brian Brian Fonesca of the NJ.com/Star-Ledger and Ian Kress of WLNS-TV (a CBS affiliate in Lansing, Michigan) ranked them No. 25. David Paschall of the Chattanooga Times Free Press ranked them No. 24. It’s only four points, but they’re the only five-loss team to receive votes.
Unofficially, they’re ranked No. 33 in the country. If they had beaten Tennessee or Georgia to have that slightly better 7-4 record, could very well be in the top 25 right now. It’s hard to vote for a 6-5 team, that’s totally fair, but the willingness to do so by a handful of writers is a good starting point. If they win out, including a quality bowl win, to finish 8-5, finishing ranked is realistic.
Those who are signing on now are seeing what could be on the horizon in 2025. This is how they are playing now. This team might have won eight or nine games had this been yearlong. Wait until they play the portal some more this summer to bring in more talent, Napier gets that offensive coordinator and Lagway comes in with nearly a year of play under his belt.
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The Florida Gators have put the country on notice. They gave Napier the time to rebuild after Dan Mullen’s collapse, and that time is beginning to pay off.
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