Southwest cancelled our flight with less than 12 hours. 😡

[matt and beth]

We flew Delta and they dropped us like a bad habit at the airport on our return flight. Told us we might be able to get you a flight in 2 or 3 days but no guarantees. It’s not just SW. They said system wide they overbooked by 25%

 

[rangerxenos]

We flew Delta and they dropped us like a bad habit at the airport on our return flight. Told us we might be able to get you a flight in 2 or 3 days but no guarantees. It’s not just SW. They said system wide they overbooked by 25%

Most, if not all airlines no longer offer many flights that used to exist, and now pretty much all flights that are left are pretty much always full. If anything more than a minor glitch happens (weather, technical issues, etc.) the entire house of cards starts to collapse, and it can take them days to recover. And if poor weather continues, it gets even worse.

Keeping my fingers crossed that there are no weather issues for my flight at the end of the month.

 

[bastraker]

We fly to Orlando tomorrow. Fingers crossed - hopefully we don't have any cancelations.

 

[Disturbia]

Something needs to change where AT LEAST a notice is given for those who have later flights; no one flew even at 10 am when there were clear skies, so airlines knew they were not flying out when we started from AOA at 2:40 pm (MEARS was scheduled to pickup at 1:55 pm for a 5:25 pm flight)). The airport lines were ridiculous and people kept pouring in.

We got a cancellation notice around 4:30 pm for our 6:25 pm flight while we were standing in the bag drop line. We reached the airport at 3:15pm (MEARS pickup was based on original flight); lines were long but there were no announcements and our flight was still showing on time and we printed boarding passes and luggage tags. Someone else yelled out that our flight was cancelled when we neared the end of the bag drop off line (we had stood in it for almost an hour). People were still printing boarding passes and luggage tags as we exited. We tried to warn other people behind us who were flying as well (some elderly). No one in the bag drop off line (which was over an hour) was being warned to go and start looking for alternatives. There were 3 counters open, moving extremely slowly. At the end of which people were being told to go stand in the long cancellation line (which was about 2 hours long). Someone behind us said she was just going to drive the 14 hours so we gathered the courage to drive 17 hours and headed to the AVIS line immediately (was slow moving but only 2.5 hours at that point).

Given that we are required to be at the airport at least 2 hours ahead of time, and Mears picks up 3.5 hours before, airlines should be required to give a 4 hour notice as to not crowd the airports unless it’s an absolute emergency.

BTW we saw at least 4 sunshine seasons flyers before our Mears bus showed up 45 mins late (we were the first drop off at AOA and last pickup).

DO NOT DROP OFF BAGS IF YOUR FLIGHT IS DELAYED (CONFIRM THAT FLIGHTS ARE FLYING OUT FIRST)

 

[LittleStinkerbelle]

My heart goes out to everyone dealing with flight issues. We are flying over Easter weekend (not to MCO) and I’ve already started watching the flight tracker for the route - I guess I enjoy stressing myself out . Our flight has been cancelled two out of the past three days .

 

[Frwinkley]

We flew SW roundtrip beginning on Sunday and returning today. We flew PIT to Ft. Myers and had no troubles at all (except the flight change that happened about 6 weeks ago). We were still able to fly non-stop.

All of these flight problems make me even more convinced not to ever check bags. Regardless of where we travel and for how long, our priority is always to find a place (hotel, VRBO) midway during our trip to do laundry.

I really hope this gets straightened out soon. Flying is stressful enough for many; this only makes it much worse.

 

[CookieandOatmeal]

My heart goes out to everyone dealing with flight issues. We are flying over Easter weekend (not to MCO) and I’ve already started watching the flight tracker for the route - I guess I enjoy stressing myself out . Our flight has been cancelled two out of the past three days .

We are flying out to MCO the Monday after Easter and the same flight is canceled tomorrow. Another thing to stress about until we get in the air that day! I feel your pain.

 

[zillayen]

My heart goes out to everyone dealing with flight issues. We are flying over Easter weekend (not to MCO) and I’ve already started watching the flight tracker for the route - I guess I enjoy stressing myself out . Our flight has been cancelled two out of the past three days .

We’re popping down to Orlando (just my husband and I) the weekend after Easter and I’ve convinced myself that we should just drive. To fly would take 4-5 hours at least door to door (assuming everything goes well) or to drive will be 9 hours. At least if we drive I know we’ll make it!

 

[LittleStinkerbelle]

We are flying out to MCO the Monday after Easter and the same flight is canceled tomorrow. Another thing to stress about until we get in the air that day! I feel your pain.

I hope it works out for all of us! The flight we’re taking next week was cancelled again today

We’re popping down to Orlando (just my husband and I) the weekend after Easter and I’ve convinced myself that we should just drive. To fly would take 4-5 hours at least door to door (assuming everything goes well) or to drive will be 9 hours. At least if we drive I know we’ll make it!

I get that! I’m seriously thinking we should drive but I’m torn because it’s a short trip and a 12+ drive. My fear is sitting at the airport and getting cancelled last minute when we could’ve used that time on the road.

 

[Maggie The Cat]

Is this happening across all of the airlines? I don't see a lot of cancellations for United.

 

[zillayen]

I get that! I’m seriously thinking we should drive but I’m torn because it’s a short trip and a 12+ drive. My fear is sitting at the airport and getting cancelled last minute when we could’ve used that time on the road.

I know, it's hard! Our only options for a direct flight are Frontier or Silver which have delays/cancellations a LOT so that made the decision easier. 12 hours is a long day in the car, I would probably fly too!

 

[Lsdolphin]

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.

I had same experience last week! Travel safe and have a wonderful time when you get to Disney....when I arrived and checked in 2 days late guest services was well aware of SWA issues and worked with me to rearrange my reservation they were wonderful!

 

[LittleStinkerbelle]

I know, it's hard! Our only options for a direct flight are Frontier or Silver which have delays/cancellations a LOT so that made the decision easier. 12 hours is a long day in the car, I would probably fly too!

Thanks! DH and I just talked and we're going to see how this flight looks over the coming days and assess what we want to do. If we do have to drive, it'd be better to plan for it (have the option of heading down a day earlier to account for the drive) than to be taken by surprise at the airport. We are booked on JetBlue, which we usually have had good luck with to MCO, but this is a different route for us and there seem to be a ton of cancellations lately.

 

[robinb]

Ugh. I just got notice that Sun Country is no longer flying from Madison to Orlando and my flights that I booked last week have been cancelled. At least I have 5 weeks to figure things out, but what a PITB! Airfares out of Madison are steep so I will now have to look for what's available in Chicago or Milwaukee but they we'd have to pay for a bus there or for parking. It's a mess. We're also now thinking about driving. It's about a 20 hour drive and we would stay overnight somewhere, but that would eat another day of vacation for my DH. I think it would save us a bunch of money and our car is super comfortable for long trips. We've driven from Madison to CT a few times since Covid and it's an easy drive and it's only 3 hours shorter. *sigh* I'll need to make the choice soon or airfares are going to go up even more.

 

[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.

 

[LittleStinkerbelle]

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.

Oh my goodness, so sorry for your experience. I can't believe they would not give you your luggage. Holding it for five days is outrageous!

 

[RamblingMad]

Hang in there. You can't pay me to fly Southwest.

 

[Redart59]

Oh my goodness, so sorry for your experience. I can't believe they would not give you your luggage. Holding it for five days is outrageous!

The only plus side was that both suitcases were waiting for us when we finally arrived at our home airport yesterday.
I was convinced that they wouldn’t be there and it would be weeks before they showed up.

 

[EACarlson]

Airfares out of Madison are steep so I will now have to look for what's available in Chicago or Milwaukee but they we'd have to pay for a bus there or for parking. It's a mess.

If you decide to go out of MKE I use a great parking lot across the street from the airport that has very reasonable rates. Shuttle is very quick and even when I've landed after midnight never waited more than 5 minutes for the shuttle. It's called Fast Park & Relax. I've been using them for most of my business trips out of MKE for the last few years.

 

[robinb]

If you decide to go out of MKE I use a great parking lot across the street from the airport that has very reasonable rates. Shuttle is very quick and even when I've landed after midnight never waited more than 5 minutes for the shuttle. It's called Fast Park & Relax. I've been using them for most of my business trips out of MKE for the last few years.

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.