My Spirit Airlines flight was canceled at 2 a.m. I paid $800 extra to get my mom and me home.

• Jessica Stanton had round-trip tickets from Myrtle Beach to Boston for her undergraduate graduation.

• After his Spirit flight was canceled, he stayed up all night trying to find another direct flight.

• He found a one-way flight with American Airlines for $399 per ticket.

This article as told is based on a conversation with Jessica Stanton. Edited for length and clarity.

At 2:28 a.m. Saturday morning, I received an email. Spirit Airlines It informed me that my flight back to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina had been cancelled.

I had booked roundtrip tickets for my mother and I from Myrtle Beach to Boston with Spirit Airlines in February. college graduation.

I had booked with Spirit because they were the only airline that offered the direct flight we needed that day. On: Myrtle Beach’s airportSpirit Airlines became the largest airline with the most direct flights to Boston.

Each ticket cost me $215

My mother and I arrived in Boston without any problems. I graduated on Friday, May 1, and had a wonderful celebration with my friends afterwards.

When we returned to the hotel that evening, my mother received a text from my stepfather asking if we were stranded.

“What are you talking about?” he asked her. We had heard nothing about any changes to our flight, which was booked at noon on Saturday. I checked my email and messages – nothing. The Spirit Airlines app showed that my flight arrived on time.

While my mother was asleep, I decided to stay awake for a while to see if my stepfather’s worries had yielded any results. I started researching other flight options back to Myrtle Beach, just in case.

At 2:28 a.m. I received an email informing me that all Spirit Airlines flights were canceled and the fare would be automatically refunded.

I started looking for other flights

Because my mother is older and mobility problemsHaving a direct flight was a priority.

Frontier was advertising discounted tickets For those stranded by Spirit cancellations, however, they only had flights to Orlando. Southwest had a flight but it wasn’t direct. Delta didn’t have a good option.

I called American Airlines After seeing online that they had direct flights from Boston to Myrtle Beach for $399 on Saturday afternoon, Spirit asked if they would offer a discounted fare for their customers. They told me they couldn’t do it.

Since I had no other option, I had to gather my courage and buy the tickets. I couldn’t believe I had already paid for the tickets and had to spend an extra $800 to get home.

Although I considered looking for other tickets, I knew it would be even more difficult and expensive to get tickets once everyone started waking up (it was still early in the morning on Saturday).

I calculated that if I couldn’t get tickets for Saturday, it would probably be cheaper to just buy tickets rather than pay for one more night at the hotel plus extra food.

We arrived at an empty airport

When my mother woke up, I told her what happened but assured her that I had solved this problem and found a solution.

We arrived back in Myrtle Beach to an empty airport because most of the gates were Spirit Airlines gates. As I walked through the airport I thought about all the jobs lost. It feels like every six months thousands of workers at these big companies are losing their jobs. It’s really sad.

After I got home and got some sleep, I noticed that flight prices had increased and the number of available flights had decreased. I hope I get the refund I was promised but I haven’t heard anything yet.

I’m so glad I booked when I did and I’m truly grateful to have brought myself and my mother home.

[Editor’s note: American Airlines’ website says they are “doing everything we can to support Spirit Airlines customers” and that they have put in place rescue fares on non-stop routes that overlapped with Spirit Airlines.]

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