FORT MYERS, Fla. — Southwest Airlines is still dealing with flight cancellations following a recent winter storm. However, flight attendant unions say it's a systems issue.
Thousands of flights have been canceled, forcing passengers to sleep at the airport, find another flight with a different airline, or get a refund.
"When they [Southwest] chose to take flights into the middle of the storm or not preemptively cancel enough flights, their systems have not been able to keep up with the rescheduling, the cancellations, the notifications to crew members about those cancellations and changes in flights," said Lyn Montgomery, president of the TWU Local 556, who is representing Southwest Airlines flight attendants.
Kristen Ritz's dad has been trying to get to Fort Myers from Cleveland since last Thursday with no luck.
"This is probably his fourth or fifth try getting here," she said. "He literally had booked two or three different tickets knowing that it was going to be a mess."
On Tuesday, he finally made it. However, others haven't been so lucky.
"Saturday morning I was originally supposed to fly out," said Morgan Trau.
She's been trying to fly to Fort Myers since Christmas Eve from Columbus, Ohio.
"I also wanted to surprise one of my best friends, but that can’t happen either," she said.
Her Southwest flight was canceled five times and said the airline has said nothing to her, forcing her to fly with American. She now has to fly into Sarasota to get to Fort Myers at a relatively decent time.
"Why are they waiting so long to cancel flights? It’s just frustrating because so many people are stuck," Trau explained. "You should have plans in place for things like this. Why were they not prepared for this to happen?"
The Department of Transportation said it's looking into whether Southwest could have done anything about all the flight cancellations and if they are following its customer service plan.
Southwest said the recent storm is to blame for the cancellations.
"The biggest challenge that we faced was incredible delays to the point where we had to cancel flights due to snow," said Jay McVay, a Southwest Airlines spokesperson.
Trau says she believes that can only be the case to an extent.
"It’s unbelievably frustrating," Trau said. "You can’t do anything about the storm, but then so confusing why there were so many other delays and cancellations that aren’t storm-related."
While some are waiting for flights, businesses are waiting for the passengers on those flights, like Rob Amos.
"During the winter time it’s always something crazy," Amos said.
He works for Naples Limo and says the travel nightmare has already cost him.
"I lost two jobs already today because of the delays," he said. "I can’t pick up two people at the same time at different places."
Places thousands of people are trying to get to before the holidays are over
"I already missed the holidays with my family. I’m just trying to get there at this point," Trau said.
Kristen Buckshire with Travel Ease says if your flight is canceled, ask the airline if they will transfer your ticket to another airline.
She says you are entitled to a refund for the unused fare portion if the flight is canceled.
Another expert says if you do take a voucher instead, check for blackout dates and other restrictions.
Southwest says you can submit your meal, hotel, and transportation receipts online and it will honor reasonable requests for a refund. You can also submit your refund request for a ticket online, too.
