NJ Church Group Stuck in Bolivia, Says Airline Ditched Them

While violent protests break out around them, a church group from New Jersey has been left stranded in Bolivia — and they’re blaming American Airlines for ditching them at the airport.

Seventeen teens and seven chaperones from the Arcola United Methodist Church in Paramus left last Monday for the service trip and should have returned last night, but the group is fractured and frightened.

A group of six made it out to Miami, but others remain stranded in South America spread between Colombia and Bolivia. A mother of one of the boys who made it to Miami says the group was not allowed to go beyond the check-in counter after getting to the airport at 6:25 a.m. for their 7 a.m. flight. The flight pulled away from the gate at 6:49 a.m. according to an American Airlines spokesman, with 150 other passengers who boarded on time.

The church has been going down to Bolivia to help the local community for a decade. This year, they had spent a week running a camp for more than 100 kids from a nearby rural village.

After trying to plead their case with American Airlines, the group called New Jersey Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi for help, who has taken up their cause.

The spokesman for American Airlines said the company is aware of the civil unrest going on in the country, and added that because of the “special circumstances” the company will re-examine the change fees and other charges the families have incurred — amounting to thousands of dollars.

The mother of one of the teens on the trip said American Airlines offered $300 vouchers for use on the same route — New York to Bolivia — within the next 12 months, saying she doesn’t expect anyone on the current trip to take them up on that offer.

The group in Miami is expected back in New Jersey Thursday night, but the Bogota flight is still delayed. The pastor and those still in Bolivia are hoping and praying that they will be home by the end of the week.

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