Marooned Skybus Airlines passengers continued to wend their way back to the Chicago region Monday, hustling to buy tickets on other airlines and wondering if they will get their Skybus fares refunded.

Monday morning, Kurt Gillins said he was set with three tickets for $512 on U.S. Airways from Raleigh, N.C., to O'Hare International.

"I didn't have a clue," Gillins said of Skybus' looming bankruptcy and cessation of all flights as of Saturday.

Gillins, his father and a brother had flown out Friday from Gary/Chicago International Airport to Greensboro, N.C., to spend two days with another brother, who lives 10 minutes from the airport.

U.S. Airways also flies direct from Greensboro to O'Hare International. But a check of ticket prices Monday showed the fare for that flight would set a passenger back $912.

Stranded Skybus passengers have been told via e-mail that they can apply for fare refunds. After their experience with Skybus, they are wondering if that's a ruse.

Whether Skybus ticket holders get refunds will depend on the stipulations and policies of their individual credit card provider, according to Dan McGinnity, a spokesman for AIG Travel Guard.

AIG Travel Guard provided the trip insurance Skybus sold at its Web site for 5 percent of the traveler's ticket price or a minimum of $9.

All trip insurance sold via the Skybus Web site after March 5 covered trip cancellation or interruption that were the fault of the airline, according to McGinnity. But the policy did not cover the same events in the case of the airline defaulting, which is what happened over the weekend.

Skybus became the third airline to declare bankruptcy last week, with Aloha Airlines and ATA Airlines also going belly up in the face of skyrocketing fuel prices.