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Northwest Airlines has been canceling thousands of flights lately. They say that these cancellations are due to poor weather conditions or pilot absenteeism.

Melodie Thostenson and her co worker Tina Raisanen were just two of the thousands of passengers stranded by Northwest Airlines when it canceled hundreds of flights this week nationwide.

The two women ended up running into a Minnesota man in the same boat, except he decided to rent a minivan and drive cross-country back to Minnesota. After weighing the pros and cons, the two women decided to ride with the man back to Minnesota. All three arrived safe and sound a full 24 hours before their rescheduled flight was due to arrive in the Twin Cities.

Northwest's cancellation rate had risen to between 10 to 15 percent as of Thursday, according to figures compiled by Portland, Ore.-based FlightStats, a Web site that tracks how carriers perform. The national average for the past week was about 2 percent, FlightStats said.

Pilots have denied any organized sickout, but have said increased flying times have contributed to fatigue and stress. Northwest Airlines Corp. restructured contracts with all its unions before emerging from bankruptcy last month.

The sudden increase in cancellations seems a bit sketchy to many travelers but northwest hopes to have all of these problems worked out very soon.

My friend and I are supposed to fly on Northwest Airlines to Florida to visit my dad in Mid-August. If something happens to our flight, I'll be really sad. Dang...