‘It was horrible’: Stranded Southwest passengers still waiting to recoup costs from airline meltdown
Only weeks after a Southwest Airlines meltdown led to thousands of canceled flights and stranded passengers, the nation’s air travel system was briefly interrupted Wednesday due to an outage in the computer system used by the Federal Aviation Administration to give pilots vital information before they take off.
While the FAA system was back online within hours and flights were slowly returning to schedule, those passengers whose lives were upended in last month’s Southwest debacle are still feeling the effects of the meltdown and tallying up the financial damage they endured.
Passengers who spoke to The Times said the fiasco cost them between $700 in one instance (for gas costs) and $70,000 in another (for a destination wedding that was ruined).
“I am trying to be patient and give them a chance to make things right,” said one of Southwest’s stranded passengers, actor Deborah Rombaut. “What bothers me is that I don’t have a timeline as far as when I’ll be reimbursed.”
Thousands of holiday travelers like Rombaut were stranded late last month when Southwest Airlines said its computer system that tracked crew scheduling could not keep up with a severe winter storm. The airline canceled flights at a far greater rate than that of any other, according to the Department of Transportation.
The airline has since given each impacted traveler 25,000 loyalty rewards points, which equates to roughly $300, and is issuing refunds and reimbursements.
“I’ve said it before, but I can’t say it enough, how sorry I am for the impact these challenges have had on our employees and our customers,” Southwest chief executive Bob Jordan said in a statement.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg called the rate of cancellations from Southwest “unacceptable.”
On Dec. 28, Southwest canceled 59% of its flights, while other major airlines canceled just 3%, Buttigieg said in a letter to Southwest.
Travelers affected by the cancellations have been asked to submit receipts for additional costs incurred. Many have received refunds for their airfare, but the process of tallying the additional costs is difficult, as would-be passengers scrambled to travel large distances via other modes of transportation during a post-holiday rush.
Victims of the debacle include registered nurse Madeline Luzzo, who estimated she spent an additional $1,000 to get home to Los Angeles from Dallas when her Dec. 26 flight was canceled. Luzzo, her husband and her sister drove 22 hours straight in a rental car, alternating between drivers when the person behind the wheel couldn’t stay awake.
“It was horrible. I don’t recommend it,” Luzzo, 31, said.
The rental car cost $400 and they spent more than $250 for gas. Luzzo said the trio ate nothing but fast food, costing another $100. Then she had to pay for two extra days for the dog sitter who was watching her pet back at home.
“I always loved Southwest, because they’re a major hub and my family is in Texas,” Luzzo said, who works at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. “But on the drive back, my husband kept saying, ‘I will never fly Southwest again. I will pay $200 extra to go with another airline.’ And now I’m kind of 50/50.”
A combination of bad weather, outdated technology and vulnerable flight schedules played into the mess at Southwest Airlines.
Kate Schelter and her daughters, 12-year-old Zoe and 9-year-old Mila, were on their way to Universal Studios Hollywood when their Dec. 26 flight from Oakland was canceled. When it became clear they wouldn’t be able to get another flight, Schelter’s husband drove the family car to the Oakland airport and she and her daughters drove the car south.
Schelter received a refund totaling $720 on Friday for her canceled flight, and additional costs she paid for early-bird check-in.
She also spent about $700 for gas, essentials she had to purchase for the road trip and an Uber trip for her husband to get home from the airport.
While Schelter and her daughters did not leave the Oakland airport on a plane, their luggage flew to Los Angeles without them. She also had to pay for parking at LAX while the trio tried to reclaim their luggage at the Southwest terminal.
“Overall, it was an extremely stressful 24 hours, but we were able to move on after we got our luggage,” Schelter said. “Thankfully, I had flexibility in my schedule to make the six-hour drive home.”
Southwest Airlines, like so many American companies, spent money on dividends and stock buybacks instead of technology and infrastructure.
Rombaut estimates she spent about $1,200 to get to her home in Hollywood from Sacramento, which included the money she spent reserving a rental car that never materialized.
Her Christmas Day flight was canceled and so was her next flight the following day. Southwest did not offer her a hotel, so she stayed at the home of a friend’s relative in Sacramento.
“I was going to spend Christmas with my pets and roommates,” Rombaut said. “I ended up spending Christmas on my friend’s mom’s couch.”
She eventually rented a luxury SUV — one of the last cars she could get at the rental counter. Rombaut met three other women who were also heading south from Sacramento and so they tagged along on the unscheduled road trip.
Since arriving home, Rombaut has submitted her itemized expenses to Southwest. She’s received multiple automated emails assuring her that the airline has received her receipts.
As a member of the airline’s loyalty rewards program, Rombaut also earned a companion pass from Southwest that allows her to take another passenger on a flight for free, plus taxes. Originally, Rombaut had planned to take a trip to Hawaii with her roommate, but now she’s having second thoughts.
“My roommate does not want to be my companion,” she said. “And I don’t trust that they will have all their ducks in a row. I kind of want to see how they do. I’m not really ready to be stranded at an airport again.”
But other passengers lost more than just money and time during the cancellations.
Katie Demko from St. Louis missed her nuptials — a destination wedding in Belize, the bride-to-be told Insider.
Demko’s fiancé flew ahead to Belize and the two were set to be married on Dec. 30. But just as her plane was about to board on Dec. 27, the pilot announced there were not enough flight attendants for the trip.
“I cried all morning on Dec. 30,” Demko told the online magazine.
Southwest refunded Demko for the missed flights and she was able to reschedule some wedding services, such as the photographer and decor, but she wasn’t able to get refunds for everything.
The resort where her wedding guests were going to stay told her they could not provide a refund or postpone her reservations on such short notice.
She estimates that her wedding party lost over $70,000 from the booked rooms.
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