MEA Weekend Travel Faces Fewer Options At MSP

As the price of jet fuel soars, there will be fewer flights taking off from Minnesota's biggest airport this fall. And that could put a squeeze on your MEA weekend plans, one of the biggest travel weekends of the year.

When it comes to getting in one last family trip or vacation, many Minnesotans make plans to head out of Dodge over the MEA Weekend. By the way, that phrase is so unique to Minnesota that it took me a while to figure out what it meant when I first moved here.

It is, of course, short for the Minnesota Education Association-- the state's teacher union, which is actually now known as Education Minnesota-- and the two-day break built into the school calendar during the second week of October that coincides with the Minnesota Educator Academy conference.

Fewer MSP Flights Could Affect MEA Weekend Travel

However, booking that family vacation to somewhere warm for MEA Weekend might be a little tougher this year, thanks to a reduction in available flights taking off from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP).

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Usually, MEA Weekend is one of the busiest times of the year at MSP. The airport handles roughly 300,000 to over 310,000 screened passengers during the peak MEA travel stretch, with about 488,000 departing seats scheduled for the broader October break period, MSP said.

Sun Country Cuts Flights From Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport

But this year, thanks to continued cuts by Sun Country Airlines, MEA travelers will be seeing a 20 percent reduction in available flights leaving the Land of 10,000 Lakes, the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal reported. I wrote a story last month about that concerning trend Sun Country started earlier this summer. It's caused by what a Sun Country internal memo called 'higher-than-expected front-line crew attrition combined with increased cargo flying.'

Sun Country made news back in January when it announced it was merging with Allegiant Air out of Las Vegas. I also wrote a story then that said that Allegiant and Sun Country intend to keep a strong presence here in Minnesota. It also said that while the two airlines will initially continue to operate separately, down the road, it's possible that the Sun Country brand will cease to exist at all.

Will MSP Flight Cuts Continue Into the Holiday Travel Season?

That merger closed back in May, and since then, Sun Country has been cutting flights from MSP. In fact, according to travel site Deep Arrival, Sun Country cut around 348 departures from MSP in September, roughly a third of its flights leaving Bold North.

Initially, it was thought that those cuts would be limited to September. But, of course, they've now been extended into October. Will the holiday travel period in November and December also be affected? Hopefully not, but we'll have to wait and see.