Southwest cancelled our flight with less than 12 hours. 😡

[EACarlson]

Thanks! We usually just use MKE's Saver Lot which is $8 per day and they pick you up and drop you off right at your car. It's also a tiny bit cheaper (less than $10 total) for our dates. We are going to fly out of MKE instead. I'm not a huge fan of Sprint, but the fares are very good and they're nonstop. I can suck up anything for a few hours and I always bring my own water on a flight anyway.

I've had it both ways. I had a trip last year that it was $3 more a day for Saver Parking than it was for the lot. I will use the Saver lot myself if it's just me, I'm also 6'3" 210lbs. I wouldn't let my wife do that for a trip of hers so we started using FastPark. I sat for 15 minutes for a shuttle the first time I used Saver.

 

[Aela]

Ours got canceled over Spring Break at 3:30am, for an 8am flight. We saw it when we got up at 4:30am to leave for the airport. We ended up driving too.

 

[kwhite1022]

Add me to the list who had the joy of dealing with not 1 but 3 cancelled flights!

A week out Allegiant cancelled, had to book with Spirit which I knew was probably a mistake but limited options at the time. We were supposed to fly out on Saturday afternoon, so we get all packed the night before, I get up in morning, only to find out it was cancelled around 1 am. So I frantically book a flight with Delta (I'm pretty much hemorrhaging money at this point) for the next day. So we finally make it to MCO, and its BUG house with people and bags everywhere. These poor people had been stuck there for days trying to get flights home, or car rentals. At that point my spidey sense is tingling, and I decide to reserve a car for the day we fly out in case everything goes to crap. Im mostly booking thinking that being proactive means I wont need it. Ha! So we have a great time at Disney, get to our day to fly out.....and 1 hour before take off they cancel. So, down to the rental car we go, and drive home 1200 miles, and 20+ hours back to Michigan. Needless to say, we will never fly with Spirit again. Of course they are also the worst at trying to get my refund. At least with Allegiant, if you dont call to have them rebook you, they automatically refund you in 72 hrs. Had it not been for the fact that my 16 yo was already in Orlando and we had to meet up with her, I would have cancelled in a heartbeat. I am not a crier, but I gotta say, when I got her text Saturday morning "So excited to see you guys, what time does your plane land!" I ugly cried!

So my message to those of you who are soon to embark on the joy that is flying right now......be prepared. Book rental cars incase you might need to drive back (oh and you have to have a CC, if its a one-way trip, they will not use a debit) may you all be blessed with better trips then some of us experienced last week.

 

[fla4fun]

I was channel surfing yesterday and came across a news channel listing their upcoming stories, and one of them was something about airlines listing more flights than they have crew to fly. I didn’t go back to hear the whole story, since I have no plans to fly anywhere, but now I wonder if some of the very late cancellations, or the delays that keep pushing back an hour or so at a time, are due to this. Now I wish I’d gone back to hear the whole story . . .

 

[Avery&Todd]

I feel I'm being a little obsessive compulsive but we fly RDU to LAS next month and I've been checking the flight we booked daily just to make sure its flying out ok..

apparently the flight we have, RDU-AUS-LAS is a current flight now through the end of May so every morning I check to see if it left RDU on time, did it leave AUS on time and did it arrive in Vegas on time.. I mean, that doesn't sounds SOOO crazy does it??

so far, it's been looking pretty good. We fly out on a Sunday and that flight last Sunday wasn't late at all... fingers crossed they can keep it together for the next month!

 

[robinb]

Needless to say, we will never fly with Spirit again. Of course they are also the worst at trying to get my refund. At least with Allegiant, if you dont call to have them rebook you, they automatically refund you in 72 hrs.

When Sun County cancelled my flights (the cancelled the whole route MSN<->MCO) they sent me an email with a BIG BUTTON to push with fine print saying that I was accepting a voucher. Nopers. I'm not taking a voucher. I had to call for a refund and it took them hours to get back to me.

 

[LittleStinkerbelle]

I feel I'm being a little obsessive compulsive but we fly RDU to LAS next month and I've been checking the flight we booked daily just to make sure its flying out ok..

apparently the flight we have, RDU-AUS-LAS is a current flight now through the end of May so every morning I check to see if it left RDU on time, did it leave AUS on time and did it arrive in Vegas on time.. I mean, that doesn't sounds SOOO crazy does it??

so far, it's been looking pretty good. We fly out on a Sunday and that flight last Sunday wasn't late at all... fingers crossed they can keep it together for the next month!

I set up an alert for our flight number through flightaware. I’m mainly interested to see how far ahead they would cancel if it comes to that (I know every situation is different but just like to see any possible pattern). We are prepared to drive if we must but it sure would be great to know from home instead of when we get to the airport at 4 am.

 

[McCrae]

I wonder if Covid is behind a lot of these issues, with staff calling in sick. That would explain the short notice cancellations.

 

[Sandiz08]

Our July flight with United has been changed but only by a few minutes. I didn’t receive an alert, I went online to check yesterday. I’m going to be a nervous wreck until we take off that morning.

 

[JLemaire7]

I wonder if Covid is behind a lot of these issues, with staff calling in sick. That would explain the short notice cancellations.

I think the effects of the pandemic are to blame. Airlines are short staffed, there is larger demand for travel sooner than they expected and they can’t hire and onboard enough people quickly enough. Plus a lot of positions such as pilots are highly skilled and so it takes longer to hire those positions. Combine all of this together and you’ve got a big mess.

All of the airlines have had issues at one point or another and they seem to happen at the worst times ie: Spring Break and Christmas. The low cost carriers do seem to have a harder time bouncing back from issues than the legacies and that’s largely due to their operating model.

 

[Disney_lost_it]

I’m currently 4 hours into a phone call after Southwest cancelled our 11:25am flight at 11:15pm. I was just closing my eyes after getting everything packed when I got a text. Immediately got online to see if I could rebook. Nothing. We have 5 different reservations (6 people). Ours is the only flight out of Baltimore cancelled.

So we are currently on the road. 15 hour road trip in two cars. We tried every airport in Florida and all DC airports. I’m so sad.
4 hours and still on hold. Do we have any recourse? Most of us were on points. We will get those back right? Do I have yo stay on this phone to get this fixed. What about our early bird

App doesn’t even work anymore. Don’t know what is up.

Please pray we get there safe.

Spirit did that to us pre-pandemic. 3 hrs before we were to leave for the airport. We spent maybe an hour tying to find any other flight. Gave up, drove to the airport, rented a car and drove, we were already flying Jet Blue home. ~10hr drive from Richmond.

That was also when Disney offered the Magic Bus. Between the elimination of the Magic Bus, the horrific service and pricing for air travel, the elimination of fast passes, Disney is no longer a consideration. Sadly we went from season ticket holders to no longer seeing any value it what is not offered. It is simply amazing what 1 new CEO can do to such a large company. And so quickly.

 

[Usty]

Our July flight with United has been changed but only by a few minutes. I didn’t receive an alert, I went online to check yesterday. I’m going to be a nervous wreck until we take off that morning.

Check to make sure they didn't change the plane type on you - our United flight home from from HNL to EWR for our Aulani trip was pushed back 5 minutes and I was like - oh no big deal. But then I saw they went from a 767 to 777 and moved our entire parties seats around.

 

[Disturbia]

I can’t even express in words how bad this southwest experience was.

We were supposed to fly out at 1:05 PM on Saturday the 2nd. I checked the flight before we left and everything was running on time.

We arrived at 11:20 am, checked our 2 suitcases, went through security, checked the app again and we were delayed an hour and a half.
Was annoyed but no big deal. It happens.

Every 20 minutes I refreshed the app and it kept getting delayed even more.
At 4:45 p.m. it got cancelled.
Not 1 announcement from Southwest about the any of the delays or the cancellation.
Everyone in the boarding area found out from each other.

The lines to rebook were 4+ hours long to speak to anyone. We were so flustered and didn’t know what to do that we went up to the Hyatt and tried to get a room for the night and they were 100% booked.
Sat in their lobby had a very large glass of wine and sat on hold with southwest for 3 hours and the soonest they could get us on a flight was Wednesday morning!!

Did I mention that they flat out refused to get our luggage from wherever it was being kept so at the very least we would have clothes and toiletries while we’re stranded in Orlando for five additional days.

We literally “slept” on the airport floor Saturday night because there was not one hotel room within 20 minutes of the airport.

I was able to get a room at the Hyatt across from universal for the rest of the time.

Spent $650 for 3 nights at the Hyatt
$220 at target on toiletries/necessities 1 pair of shorts and one shirt for each of us
$200 at the outlets for 2 more outfits each
$500 on food
$150 Lyft rides

Southwest could care less.
I’m hoping that the insurance that comes with my credit card will cover some of the expenses but I’m not sure if they will. I’m still waiting for all the charges to hit before I called them.

If you take anything away from this post, please remember to pack a couple outfits and necessities in your carryon bag.

We use to do this but stopped years ago because we hated lugging everything around with us.
Never again.

Our flight was originally 5:25 pm the same day (spent a few hours at Epcot) and we also found out it was cancelled by other people while nearing the end of the bag drop line (Spirit airlines). Thankfully our luggage was with us still. We rented a car which was too small for all of us and left the airport to buy car seat/booster/car chargers/groceries. Someone in the Starbucks line said they had dropped bags at 8:30 am and still the airline (Delta?) couldn’t find them (around 6 pm).

Drove 4 hours and all hotels sold out in Georgia. Called for over an hour and got one king bed for 5 of us at 1:30 am. Breakfast took really long to order and pay (hotel unprepared to be sold out). Left around 10:30 am. Spent most of Sunday driving and arrived home at 4 am on Monday.

I had kept one day on either side of the vacation and it still wasn’t enough. Haven’t seen any refunds.

 

[Disturbia]

I don’t believe this is just overbooking or pandemic related. It has to be something bigger to have all flights cancelled.

Even at the peak of COVID last year our flights were delayed by 2-3 hours (weather) or cancelled a day in advance - staffing issues during omicron (not last minute). It has be something unexpected and something they were hoping to resolve in a few hours so they kept printing boarding passes and accepting bags.

 

[keishashadow]

https://apple.news/AL1Ra1eJaShuFqxtwS2NkMw

12,000 flights were cancelled/delayed. Currently driving 17 hours back.

This was Sat. and first flight out was 3-4 days later.

We flew down on Allegiant from PIT on 4/3. On way to airport from parking site, shuttle driver said he was waiting to pick up people to take back. SWA had cancelled their flights as they were at airport!

Then I saw the large number of cancellations. We did leave on time. Had to sit on tarmac and burn off fuel as overweight

Coming home on spirit last Sunday, again no issues despite so many other flights cancelled

Ironic that we were using flight credits from a trip to Myrtle beach cancelled early last August (when rounds massive cancellations first happened). At that time we had less than 24 hours’ notice. We wound up driving down

Flying again on 6/1, really hope they have the staffing issues resolved by then. I don’t buy the other excuses they’ve rolled out for a hot minute

 

[Thumper99]

We flew down on Allegiant from PIT on 4/3. On way to airport from parking site, shuttle driver said he was waiting to pick up people to take back. SWA had cancelled their flights as they were at airport!

Then I saw the large number of cancellations. We did leave on time. Had to sit on tarmac and burn off fuel as overweight

Coming home on spirit last Sunday, again no issues despite so many other flights cancelled

Ironic that we were using flight credits from a trip to Myrtle beach cancelled early last August (when rounds massive cancellations first happened). At that time we had less than 24 hours’ notice. We wound up driving down

Flying again on 6/1, really hope they have the staffing issues resolved by then. I don’t buy the other excuses they’ve rolled out for a hot minute

You sitting on the tarmac was interesting as my nephew who also flew out of BWI (On the same day two flights before us on SWA) didn't have his flight cancelled but sat on the tarmac for over 1.5 hours!! It was getting to be a real problem. But SWA had said that there was a maintenance issue on their entire weight system that night and that the system was not working and was part of the reasons for delays/cancels. In the end my sister who was on our cancelled flight has severe claustrophobia would probably have been arrested insisting to get off that plane on the tarmac. Or we would have had to actually knock her out! LOL. In the end once we heard about all the people being stuck on the planes for long periods of time we were glad to have had to drive.

Im the OP and one good thing that came out of this entire nightmare is that my husband actually didn't mind the long (14 hours) , but easy drive down. Because of that he says we can get more DVC points!! LOL

 

[keishashadow]

Im the OP and one good thing that came out of this entire nightmare is that my husband actually didn't mind the long (14 hours) , but easy drive down. Because of that he says we can get more DVC points!! LOL

Ooooh! That’s a worthwhile trade off

I didn’t mind our drive down to MB in August. Bit of a novelty as we have been flying for a decade there.

It was the drive back home. Multiple accidents on highway had us sitting & twiddling thumbs. 10 hr drive stretched out nearly double the expected time. I kept thinking we could’ve driven to Disney lol

 

[Thumper99]

Ooooh! That’s a worthwhile trade off

I didn’t mind our drive down to MB in August. Bit of a novelty as we have been flying for a decade there.

It was the drive back home. Multiple accidents on highway had us sitting & twiddling thumbs. 10 hr drive stretched out nearly double the expected time. I kept thinking we could’ve driven to Disney lol

Yes I think its a good trade off!

 

[Redart59]

I can’t even express in words how bad this southwest experience was.

We were supposed to fly out at 1:05 PM on Saturday the 2nd. I checked the flight before we left and everything was running on time.

We arrived at 11:20 am, checked our 2 suitcases, went through security, checked the app again and we were delayed an hour and a half.
Was annoyed but no big deal. It happens.

Every 20 minutes I refreshed the app and it kept getting delayed even more.
At 4:45 p.m. it got cancelled.
Not 1 announcement from Southwest about the any of the delays or the cancellation.
Everyone in the boarding area found out from each other.

The lines to rebook were 4+ hours long to speak to anyone. We were so flustered and didn’t know what to do that we went up to the Hyatt and tried to get a room for the night and they were 100% booked.
Sat in their lobby had a very large glass of wine and sat on hold with southwest for 3 hours and the soonest they could get us on a flight was Wednesday morning!!

Did I mention that they flat out refused to get our luggage from wherever it was being kept so at the very least we would have clothes and toiletries while we’re stranded in Orlando for five additional days.

We literally “slept” on the airport floor Saturday night because there was not one hotel room within 20 minutes of the airport.

I was able to get a room at the Hyatt across from universal for the rest of the time.

Spent $650 for 3 nights at the Hyatt
$220 at target on toiletries/necessities 1 pair of shorts and one shirt for each of us
$200 at the outlets for 2 more outfits each
$500 on food
$150 Lyft rides

Southwest could care less.
I’m hoping that the insurance that comes with my credit card will cover some of the expenses but I’m not sure if they will. I’m still waiting for all the charges to hit before I called them.

If you take anything away from this post, please remember to pack a couple outfits and necessities in your carryon bag.

We use to do this but stopped years ago because we hated lugging everything around with us.
Never again.

I’m replying to my post to give a little update.

After 3 weeks since I sent my complaint email to southwest, I just received a very generic email back from SW apologizing and Claiming that will be sending us a $250 voucher to each of us.
The email claimed we would receive them within 30 days.

This certainly doesn’t make up for what happened but better than nothing I guess.
I’m not even sure we will use them,
I have zero faith in southwest.

 

[McCrae]

I’m replying to my post to give a little update.

After 3 weeks since I sent my complaint email to southwest, I just received a very generic email back from SW apologizing and Claiming that will be sending us a $250 voucher to each of us.
The email claimed we would receive them within 30 days.

This certainly doesn’t make up for what happened but better than nothing I guess.
I’m not even sure we will use them,
I have zero faith in southwest.

We are seeing this all over the world. Covid is almost certainly responsible for this. Not much any airline can do if a number of staff call in sick. Hopefully things will get back to normal soon.