Sun Country scrambles to get passengers out of Aruba and Costa Rica after borders closed

Sun Country Airlines is ferrying flights to extract passengers from Aruba and Costa Rica after both nations said they will close their borders to foreign travelers to slow coronavirus.

The Minnesota-based airline is urging passengers to respond to their emails, to tweet them or to send them Facebook messages if they are still in either country.

Sun Country is sending an empty plane to Aruba on Saturday in hopes of retrieving any remaining customers. It has four flights scheduled out of Costa Rica in the coming week.

"Our primary focus right now is getting in touch directly with customers who had return flights scheduled later than March 21 for Aruba and later than March 23 for Costa Rica," Kirsten Wenker, a Sun Country spokeswoman, said in an email. "We ask any passenger currently in Aruba or Costa Rica that has a flight back after those dates to please get in touch with us so we can rebook them on an earlier flight."

Sun Country, like most U.S. airlines, is experiencing heavy call volumes as passengers are canceling or rescheduling bookings. The airline promises not to leave anyone behind, but is urging its customers still in Aruba and Costa Rica to respond to their email or send them a message on social media for quicker assistance.

"They can also call us, but note we are experiencing an unusually high call volume, and hold times will be long," Wenker said.

The last Sun Country flight out of Aruba will be Saturday, March 22, and the last four flights from Liberia, Costa Rica are scheduled for March 18, 21, 22 and 23.

The airline is canceling outbound flights from MSP to Aruba through March, and from MSP to Costa Rica through mid-April, as a result and is offering travel credit for affected passengers.

Kristen Leigh Painter • 612-673-4767