'Pandemonium' at airports as Wow Air abruptly shuts down

Nothing ruins a trip quite like a canceled flight, but how about a canceled airline? Wow Air, the iconic purple-pink Icelandic carrier known for eye-poppingly cheap flights to and around Europe, folded on Thursday, leaving ticket-holding customers stranded at their gates without refunds or, well, flights.

"Just found out about this news," tweeted one such passenger-to-be, who was stuck at Newark Liberty Airport. "They didn't even notify any of us directly, had to find out from Twitter and Reddit."

At the top of the Wow Air website on Thursday, users could find a banner announcing "WOW AIR has ceased operation. All WOW AIR flights have been canceled." Stranded passengers were advised to look for flights on other airlines: "Some airlines may offer flights at a reduced rate, so-called rescue fares, in light of the circumstances," Wow went on.

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But at the gates, passengers described scenes of chaos and confusion. One traveler looking to hop from Toronto to Reykjavik on Wow Air told CNN Business, "This really scared everyone, at that point we were finally given back our bags and no money as of now has been issued back to me." Accommodations and refunds were not offered.

Wow first took off in 2012, and hosted some 3.5 million passengers in 2018. Some 1,100 people were directly employed by the company, which struggled in recent months with financial woes and unsuccessful attempts at a sale.