My 28 hour Southwest adventure home Friday 10/8/21 - MCO to MDW

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

A final update on my sisters situation. Her Southwest flight this morning from Minneapolis to California got cancelled. At this point she has given up on Southwest and booked another airline.

Not sure if she will be getting a Southwest credit or what but she is finally on her way home.

 

[ScubaCat]

A final update on my sisters situation. Her Southwest flight this morning from Minneapolis to California got cancelled. At this point she has given up on Southwest and booked another airline.

Not sure if she will be getting a Southwest credit or what but she is finally on her way home.

Good lord. They probably spent more on her accommodations than had they just bought her ticket on the other airline, too. That's nuts. Nevertheless, I'm glad she's finally getting out of there.

In August DD's and my flight (PWM to MCO) was canceled at the last minute. We checked our bags and by the time we got to security, we'd been canceled. SW provided vouchers for a hotel and booked us on the early morning flight the next day (and sent $100 LUV vouchers about a month later). On that flight I was sitting next to a SW flight attendant who was dead-heading to BWI. We were chatting about staffing and such, and she pretty much said what I bolded above, and that most FAs were just waiting for the "perfect storm" to hit. Apparently that happened this weekend.

DH and I were impacted this weekend. Our 10am fight (PWM to MCO) was canceled and we were booked on the 1:20pm flight, which then was delayed until 2:40, thru MDW rather than BWI- but we didn't have to change planes, so I was pretty relieved. If we'd had to change in Chicago, I bet we'd be there still. There was one huge issue, though. Even though Dollar was tracking our flight changes and I called them to confirm this AND emailed them, of course they didn't have the vehicle we reserved. They had a vehicle for us, though- and it was $450 more than the original reservation. Pretty much stuck on that. SW has sent both DH and me a LUV voucher for $150. Doesn't make up for getting raked over the coals by Dollar, but it's $300 "back" on the $450 we didn't expect to spend.

We flew home today and while flights were full, the airports weren't particularly crowded (not even a line at Chik-fil-A in BWI at lunch time, hahaha). Hopefully this means things are settling out. I do hope it happens soon; we love flying SWA and would hate to see them "fold."

Slight off topic but I strongly suggest avoiding Dollar/Thrifty (same company). They are known for all sorts of shady gimmicks and to keep vehicles much longer than other companies. Last time I rented from Dollar the mid-size SUV had 56K miles on it plus what seemed like a hundred scuffs, scratches, scrapes, dents, etc. on it which I had to carefully note to avoid getting charged (which probably the last 10 renters were each blamed and charge for, which is part of that scam). To top it off, it had a bad wheel bearing so I got to listen to that loud rotational humming noise all week while praying the hub didn't seize up on the highway. They also sometimes slip in the sneaky provision that you have to fill up the gas within X miles of the airport and show the fuel receipt as proof or else you get charged for gas too. The other big name rental companies do not engage in these shady practices and would have honored your original price regardless of the vehicle they had for you. There is a reason Dollar/Thrifty come up a little cheaper; they scam the difference and then some out of you in other ways. I'd actually dispute that upcharge with your credit card company, too. First email Dollar and give them a chance to refund it, and then file a chargeback, providing your original booking confirmation vs what they charged as evidence.

With that said, do note that a rental car reservation is only a price lock-in. They do NOT hold cars for people and often rent more than are on the lot (and will accept walk-ups too even when they have outstanding reservations). It's not like any other business that secures your seat, room, admission, etc. They do have certain thresholds where if they have X reservations, they'll cut off walk-ups at a certain point, but there are times when they simply run out of cars and people are standing there holding "confirmed reservations". It's the nature of that business, so always keep in mind that there is SOME chance you could be waiting a while until someone else returns a car and you're next in line for one.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I heard from my sister this morning. When she checked out of the hotel yesterday the manager told her she was the person stranded there the longest. And that he was thankful she was pleasant to work with - apparently there were a lot of people taking out their anger about being stranded on the hotel.

Southwest refunded both her flight to Minneapolis and her flight home. She said she didn't ask for her flight to Minneapolis to be refunded - they just did it.

And she said she noticed that all flights on Southwest out of Minneapolis are now flying on time.