A family drove 2,500 miles from Miami to Salt Lake City in a rental car after Southwest transferred them onto different flights 3 times, then canceled them
Grace Dean
- A family's Christmas plans were ruined by flight delays and cancellations by Southwest.
- In the end, they had Christmas dinner in a restaurant before driving 2,500 miles from Miami to Utah.
- The whole experience was a "nightmare," Sara Toro told Insider.
A family's holiday travel descended into chaos when Southwest Airlines repeatedly transferred them onto different flights, only to then cancel those flights, leading them to drive over 2,500 miles home.
Sara Toro, her husband, and their two children aged 13 and 15 had been set to fly from Miami International Airport to Salt Lake City in the early hours of Christmas Day, with a layover in Denver. They'd been on vacation in Florida and were heading home to see family on Christmas Day.
But in the end, rather than flying back to Utah, the family had to drive, passing through around half a dozen states, and crossing most of the US, on the way.
Toro told Insider that the family saw their initial flight was canceled when they woke up on Christmas Day. They headed to the airport to speak to staff and rebook onto another flight, she said.
"The airport was just chaos," Toro said. People were sleeping "all over," she said.
The bitter winter storm that ripped through the US over the holidays caused major disruptions to air travel, but Southwest was by far the worst impact airline.
The carrier took much longer to resume normal operations than other airlines. This stemmed largely from issues with its scheduling tools, including problems getting crew to where they needed to be to operate flights.
Southwest canceled 71% of its schedule, or nearly 3,000 flights, on December 26, according to data from flight-tracking service FlightAware.
"Over the recent holiday travel week, we disrupted many of our customers' travel and holiday plans, and for that, we are truly sorry," a Southwest representative told Insider.
The representative said the airline was working on several "high priority" tasks including processing refunds, reimbursing customers for additional expenses, and reuniting customers with their baggage. They added that Southwest's flight volume had since "recovered to normal levels."
Toro told Insider that Southwest staff booked the family onto another flight, which was then canceled. This happened again. And then a third time.
Insider viewed text messages sent by Southwest to Toro that shows her flights were rebooked at least three times over the course of December 25 and 26. In some cases, the flights were pushed back before then being canceled, Toro said.
"It was just madness," she told Insider.
Toro said that after speaking to multiple members of Southwest staff and a lot of "back and forth," her family was able to get hotel vouchers for the night of December 25. Southwest staff told her that it wasn't possible to give out meal vouchers in Miami, Toro said.
Rather than celebrating with relatives in Utah as planned, the family ate their Christmas dinner at a Cuban restaurant close to the airport and had an early night in preparation for their flights the next morning, Toro said.
But after their flights on December 26 were canceled, Toro and her family decided to make alternate arrangements. They hired a Hertz rental car and drove around 2,500 miles from Miami to Lehi, their hometown on the outskirts of Salt Lake City, stocking up on blankets and pillows from Target for the journey.
"Luckily gas prices were cheaper," Toro told Insider. Despite this, they still spent at least $250 on gas, alongside more than $550 on the rental car, receipts viewed by Insider show.
Toro said that she had looked into flying with another carrier, but that they were largely booked up and she couldn't find any with four seats on the same flight.
Toro and her husband took it in turns behind the wheel, and together they drove through the night of December 26. The next night they stayed in a hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a copy of their receipt viewed by Insider shows. The family arrived at their home at around 10:30 p.m. on December 28 after passing through states including Louisiana, Texas, and Arizona, Toro said – around 54 hours after they'd set off.
Southwest passengers who experienced cancellations or significant delays between December 24 and January 2 can request a refund of their unused ticket. The airline says it will also honor "reasonable requests" for reimbursement for meals, hotel, and alternate transportation, including rental cars or tickets on other airlines.
Toro told Insider that her family had applied for a refund of their travel expenses. So far, all they have received is 25,000 frequent flier points per passenger, Toro said Thursday.
The whole experience was a "nightmare," she said.