It was supposed to be an epic Spring Break adventure for some Broward high school seniors, cruising the Mediterranean Sea and touring the Greek islands.
But this dream trip to Greece turned into an expensive disaster for 28 students at Coral Springs Charter School, after a fire at Heathrow Airport in London grounded them last week in Miami. Students camped out on the floor of the Miami International Airport, while their parents said they struggled at the time to get answers from a tour company that organized the trip.
“These seniors deserve better. They did everything right — excelled in academics, upheld their commitments, and paid for a trip that never happened,” said Allyson Dudich, whose son, Carson, was supposed to go to Greece.
Parent Dina Newland, whose daughter Alexis was also excited about the trip, said it was heartbreaking for “this trip to be so close but have it ripped from you at the gates, literally.”
Half the 57 students who signed up for the trip did make it to Greece, but not all went well for them either. A safety scare on a cruise ship cut their voyage short before the first scheduled stop. No one was injured, the travel company, EF Educational Tours, reported.
For those students who never left Florida, their families may be out more than $4,500 unless they can get a new trip scheduled. Although most said they bought trip insurance, EF Educational Tours is only offering credits for future travel, not refunds.
EF told the South Florida Sun Sentinel in a statement that partial refunds are allowed only up to 45 days prior to departure, “after which no refund is available, because the entire tour has been fully paid for on our end.”
“The safety and well-being of our travelers is always our top priority,” the statement said. “We deeply regret that the Heathrow fire and closures affected the travelers’ scheduled flights, causing them to miss their tour. We are working to support the group by providing a variety of flexible rebooking and voucher options.”
Those options aren’t acceptable to parents like Ed Reed, whose daughter Madison was supposed to be on the Greece trip. He said he wants a refund.
“I wanted to be able to give my daughter something that would be special for her. That turned into a nightmare,” Reed said. “Now she’s at home. She cries all the time. She’s upset. This is not how she wanted to spend her Spring Break.”
Madison recently had back surgery due to a serious figure skating injury, and sleeping on the floor in Miami exacerbated it, her parents said.
About 57 students and several chaperones from the school were scheduled to go on the trip, which was only open to students who take classes through the academically rigorous Cambridge program, which is affiliated with Cambridge University in England.
But instead of the entire group flying together on one plane to Athens, Greece, the travel company booked them on two separate flights with two different airlines. A British Airways flight traveling through Heathrow was scheduled to take off at 11:05 p.m. Thursday, March 20, while a Turkish Airlines flight that went through Istanbul was slated to leave about a half-hour later, family members said.
The Turkish Airlines flight, with 29 Coral Springs students on board, had no issues. But while the 28 students seated on the British Airways plane awaited takeoff, they learned about a fire that shut down Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, Friday. More than 1,300 flights and more than 200,000 passengers had their travels disrupted, The Associated Press reported.
“The captain first said there were some delays and they were trying to find a different route,” said Matthew Hernandez, a student on the flight. “Then another 20 minutes go by and people start seeing there was a fire at Heathrow and they didn’t have power. Then probably about 12:40 a.m., the pilot came on and said there was no way to be rerouted, so they were canceling the flight.”
Hernandez said the chaperones told them they needed to wait at the airport until they got an update from EF or British Airways, so as not to risk losing the chance to be rerouted. So after getting their luggage at the baggage claim, they camped out at the airport.
“Each person got maybe an hour of sleep. A lot of us were going crazy,” he said. “We took walks around the airport.”
Students from Coral Springs Charter School slept on the floor at Miami International Airport Friday morning, March 21, 2025, after their flight to Athens, Greece, was canceled due to fires at Heathrow International Airport in London, where they were to have a layover. (Allyson Dudich / Courtesy)
Hernandez said it wasn’t until after 1 p.m. that the students got word that there was no way to rebook the flight in time for students to make the Mediterranean cruise, which was to leave on Monday. The school provided a charter bus to bring students back to Coral Springs.
“We were all very disappointed when the emergency at Heathrow Airport caused so many cancellations for some of our students. As you know, this trip was handled through EF Travel Agency — independent of our school,” said Colleen Reynolds, a spokeswoman for Charter Schools USA, which manages the city-owned Coral Springs Charter School.
“We are just as frustrated as our school’s parents and students, but the only thing we can do at this point is refer them back to the travel agency who we hope will remedy the situation,” Reynolds said. “EF Travel is not associated with the school in any way, so we have no ability to require specific accommodations.”
The parents say the school has been willing to excuse the students from class if the trip can be rescheduled. But the students have Cambridge course exams coming up, and those dates are inflexible and vary by course, so it’s difficult to find a week where everyone is available, the families say.
One proposed date for a rescheduled trip was in late May, immediately after graduation. But some students are starting college right away and others have family members visiting that week, the families said.
The 29 students on the Turkish Airlines flight made it to Greece and are still there. Early Monday morning, a chaperone posted a picture of the group in front of a Gemini cruise ship. “Everyone is healthy and headed on the cruise!”
Students from Coral Springs Charter School slept on the floor at Miami International Airport Friday morning, March 21, 2025, after their flight to Athens, Greece, was canceled due to fires at Heathrow International Airport in London, where they were to have a layover. (Allyson Dudich / Courtesy)
But within a few hours after takeoff, EF sent a note to parents about a safety issue.
“We were notified by our Tour Directors on the cruise that emergency alarms were raised due to a smoke/fire issue,” the email said. “Guests were instructed to proceed to their designated emergency meeting points (muster stations) while wearing their life jackets. The boat was temporarily stopped in the ocean while this situation was being addressed.”
The email said the issue was resolved and the ship was headed to its first stop in Mykonos. But on Monday night, EF sent an email to parents saying plans had changed, and the ship would return to Athens, and an alternative land-based itinerary and accommodations would be provided to the students.
“We are grateful everyone is safe and accounted for,” EF said in a statement to the Sun Sentinel. ” “We have adjusted the group’s itinerary so that they are exploring Greece via bus for the duration of their tour, visiting places like the Argolida and Olympia. We will address this tour disruption with families after the tour concludes.”
Originally Published: March 26, 2025 at 3:43 PM EDT