Southwest Airways was the main focus of nationwide information reviews about journey nightmares in the course of the holidays that simply ended for apparent causes: the airline canceled most flights, stranded most passengers for the time period longer and acquired repeated punishments from officers in President Joe Biden’s administration. .
However the story of what went flawed at services throughout the nation, together with Denver Worldwide Airport, whose issues persist (about 300 flights had been canceled on January 2, with not less than one other 24 sunk by midday yesterday, January three) — was extra difficult than that, as my household and I discovered by way of private expertise.
Our Christmas festivities had been disrupted due to a sequence of issues with a special airline, and my return to Colorado on Southwest really went forward as deliberate, although not earlier than numerous glitches and errors prompted plans to shift and alter. and they’re going to change once more. And when the flight lastly took off, it was, wryly alert, nearly half empty.
That is what occurred:
Months in the past my clan (spouse Deb, son Nick, companion Justin, daughter Ellie, companion Nick N., and daughter Lora) hosted a gathering in Southern California for Christmas, however our departure dates diversified. Ellie and Nick N. left days early to make stops in Phoenix and San Diego, whereas Nick and Justin scheduled a Dec. 23 flight to Los Angeles on Delta. Within the meantime, Deb, Lora, and I had been booked on a direct Delta flight to Los Angeles Worldwide Airport on December 24th. However the entire staff was supposed to fulfill at an Airbnb on Christmas Eve in Fullerton, California, not removed from Disneyland, the place we had passes for December 26 and 27, so we may spend the subsequent day collectively.
Or not less than that is what we expect.
As a result of Ellie and Nick N. had their very own automobile, they arrived in Fullerton on schedule. As for Nick and Justin, their departure from Delta was moved as much as December 22, the day an epic chilly snap hit Denver, however they nonetheless made it out of the town, albeit after a two-hour delay. However Deb, Lora and I had been knowledgeable that our Christmas Eve flight was cancelled.
That is when the mock combat started. We discovered an alternate route on United that departed from Yampa Valley Regional Airport in Routt County, which serves Steamboat Springs, and had been able to drive the three hours to the location. Nevertheless, Delta refused to pay for the rebooking on one other airline as a result of the delay was supposedly climate associated, regardless that the dangerous circumstances had been within the east at that time and never near the place we wished to go. The one different possibility was a Delta flight from Colorado Springs to Salt Lake Metropolis on Christmas Day, adopted by a brief wait earlier than one other aircraft to Orange County, and we booked it.
That night time, nonetheless, the leg from Salt Lake to Orange County was additionally cancelled, and the subsequent flight to the realm, Lengthy Seaside, particularly, did not go away till late Christmas night time, requiring a layover of round seven hours. So we modified our reservations once more and ended up spending many of the day on the Salt Lake airport. However not less than we had a form of spiritual expertise: an airline worker primarily commandeered a bus that was taking us to the terminal to inform us about his rebirth expertise.
It was fascinating.
We arrived in Lengthy Seaside late that night time and had been capable of spend a couple of minutes with our household earlier than saying goodbye, and the subsequent few days went effectively. However regardless that the vacations appeared to be again to regular, a shadow hung over our enjoyable: Deb and I had been presupposed to return to DIA at Southwest late on Friday, December 30 (Lora returned earlier) and the airline stored turning down flights. days after different carriers had kind of returned to regular operations.
Then, on Thursday morning, our worst fears got here true: Deb checked the Southwest web site and noticed that our flight had been cancelled. In response, we organized to maintain our rental automobile for yet another day so we may drive again to Colorado: an eighteen-hour hike alongside outdated Route 66 necessitated by a serious storm over the mountains. The automobile rental firm, Nationwide, scammed us out of an additional $300 for a single day, and if we did not get again to Denver by 5 pm Saturday, that quantity would double, and that is to not point out the price of paying for a lodge room in Gallup, New Mexico, about midway by way of our journey. However we had been hopeful that Southwest would pay for these bills.
Then got here one other twist. That night time, we noticed a report on the information that Southwest had lastly gotten its act collectively and could be up and operating once more on Friday, and when Deb checked the airline’s web site once more, our flight was again on observe. He known as the airline to verify, and after about forty minutes on maintain, an operator mentioned the flight was positively scheduled; she assumed the cancellation discover was a mistake of some sort.
Early Friday, Southwest’s web site was nonetheless displaying the flight, and we spent the day hoping it could really take off as promised, and it did. However when 40 p.c of its seats had been vacant, we could not assist however marvel if others had incorrectly discovered that it had been canceled and gone dwelling utilizing different strategies with out discovering out the reality.
If that is the case, will Southwest reimburse their further prices? Or will the airline refuse to do it as a result of the flight really occurred? We might by no means know, however we hope these individuals expertise a belated Christmas miracle.