Anyone flown Sun Country airlines?

I am curious if anyone here has flown Sun Country airlines? They are a budget carrier like Frontier, and now have service from Burlington, VT where my DD goes to school. I am considering flying them home to WA after dropping her off in VT in late August. Delta and United are about $500 one way for my preferred time and day, Sun Country would be about $200 even with paying for a carryon suitcase.

I am pretty sure I did…in college to Mexico. It was fine, just all economy seats and redeye flight time.

1 Like

We’ve flown them a lot (they’re based out of MSP - our home airport) - they usually have the best direct flights to MCO :slight_smile: but we’ve also taken them to the west coast.

I wouldn’t put them in the same class as Frontier, its better service than that.

2 Likes

Thanks. They actually have really good flight times for my journey, I was pleasantly surprised.

Thank you! This flight has a layover in MSP. I just haven’t really heard of them here in eastern WA, but they now fly to my home airport a few days a week. I’ve never flown Frontier either, but glad you think Sun Country have good service. Not sure if I am willing to risk it, they only fly from BTV to MSP twice a week so if the flight gets cancelled I would likely be stuck for an extra 4 days.

I think the low number of flights would give me more pause than Sun Country itself…if that makes sense :slight_smile:

1 Like

Yes, that is my concern. If the Sunday flight were not to happen, the next flight that gets me home is Friday. I would miss 2 work days and my wedding anniversary so that seems like a bad idea.

I took a class trip to Orlando Fl. to visit electronic companies. The Sun Country flight there was uneventful. The trip back however was a nightmare. As the plane’s nose just came off the runway a piece of cowling came off the engine and went into the turbine. The engine caught on fire. The fast thinking pilot immediately slammed the nose back down on the runway and braked to a stop. We were brought back to the terminal at MCO and deboarded. Our whole class of about 100 students sat in the airport for about 12 hours until finally Sun Country could get a plane out of Los Angelas to come to Orlando Fl to pick us up and bring us back to Mpls. Now this can happen to any airline but as I remember, we got no compansation whatso ever for this incident. I have not and will not ever fly Sun Country again.

Thanks for your thoughts!

This was about 25 years ago and I believe they are owned by a different major airline. They are a charter company.

1 Like

Currently, they are privately owned (not by another airline).

Now that’s a name I hadn’t heard in a long time. We maybe flew with them 25-35 years ago. I don’t know much about them nowadays, but looking at their route map you can tell they are focused on moving northerners to warmer, vacation destinations like Florida and Vegas. Like Allegient, they have routes that don’t have daily flights, so if you miss a flight you may have to wait a few days - or change airlines. Buyer beware. If you are lucky enough to be flying a route that does have daily - and better yet, multiple daily - flights, then it’s certainly worth looking into.

1 Like

Thank you. I decided it wasn’t worth the risk, too many days between flights.

1 Like

They used to be a charter airline owned by Northwest Airlines which in turn was owned by KLM. Northwest went bankrupt and I am unsure if KLM still exists

KLM is still very much in existence, flying to 150+ destinations, but is now merged with Air France as subsidiaries of Air France-KLM holding company. KLM had owned only 25% of Northwest, not all of it. After Northwest declared bankruptcy in 2005, it merged with Delta in 2008.

1 Like

We flew them a number of times prepandemic, never with any significant issues.

They used to fly MSP to Houston so were a really good price for our annual Christmas pilgrimage to Minnesota. Then they dropped their Houston route, but it was often still enough of a savings that we’d drive 4 hours to Dallas and catch them from there, even if that added a hotel night or two in Dallas, it was still a substantial savings on 6 tickets. (And we often got free Dallas hotel parking/shuttle.)

We had flights delayed at times, but never delayed overnight or cancelled. Since they have so few flights/routes, I think they are actually a lot less likely to cancel a flight than just delay it. They need to get the plane where it’s supposed to be.

2 Likes

Living near MSP Sun Country is the “hometown airline” but I’ll probably never fly on them again. The local news and social media has many stories of canceled flights and passengers stranded. A couple years back they left flights of people in Mexico and didn’t bother to help get them home.

Like most budget airlines they have a small fleet so bad weather or a technical issue has a domino effect of delays and cancellations.

Hey there! I have flown Sun Country Airlines before and I have to say, they are a great budget carrier option. I’ve flown with them in the past on both economy and business class flights and have been impressed with their service and amenities. I also appreciate that they offer a variety of destinations, including Burlington, VT. I can definitely understand your interest in considering them for your trip home to WA after dropping off your DD at school. I know that Delta and United can be quite pricey, so finding a more affordable option like Sun Country can be a great way to save some money. I hope you have a great flight!

1 Like