There has been a major mess at airports across the country – including at Newark Liberty International Airport – after Spirit Airlines had to cancel hundreds of flights.

The discount airliner started to cancel flights on Sunday. Some customers tell News 12 New Jersey that the cancellations happened at the last minute, leaving them with few options.

One family says that they found out that their early-morning flight to Florida was canceled when they were about to board. They had their boarding passes, luggage checked and the plane was even at the gate.

The family says that they have had to split up – some are heading to the Orlando area Wednesday morning on a JetBlue flight. The others are waiting on confirmation on a flight a few hours after that.

The family says that this means days lost on their first vacation since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

“I cried three times already. I’m exhausted. I want to go to Florida already, and also, we were supposed to arrive at 8 a.m.,” says Hannah Mildner, of Pompton Plains. “It’s a whole day we’re missing. We might miss a whole other day because we don’t know when we will arrive. It’s so frustrating.”

Other travelers say that Spirit Airlines is not providing any answers, compounding their frustrations.

A spokesperson for the airline says that the cancellations were caused by “overlapping operational challenges including weather, system outages and staffing shortages in some areas of the operation. In responding to these challenges, Spirit has implemented some proactive cancellations again today to reset our operations.

“We understand how frustrating it is for our guests when plans change unexpectedly. We're working to provide refunds for cancellations and, when possible, to re-accommodate our guests. We have processed proactive cancellations early to give our guests as much notice as possible, and we ask that they watch for notifications and check their flight status before heading to the airport. These targeted changes are mainly focused in markets where travelers have multiple options for alternative flights,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

But many travelers tell News 12 that this is too little, too late and that they just want help getting to their destinations.