Weary holiday travelers were left to sleep on airport floors, take long bus rides or abandon trips altogether as the meltdown spurred by the cancellation of thousands of Southwest Airlines flights stretched into yet another day.
Many families were looking for a way back home after visiting relatives for Christmas after Southwest canceled nearly two-thirds of its flights on Tuesday. Isabella Carvajal had never been able to reach her family.
Ms. Carvajal slept in the terminal for the last two nights after learning that her connecting flight to New York was not going to happen.
She stated that she spent her entire vacation at the airport. I get a few minutes of sleep here and there, but not a lot.
Ms. Carvajal was unable to return to her hometown after giving up on seeing her family. She was told by Southwest that she couldn't book another flight to Miami until January 2nd because they only reimbursed half of her ticket price. She is going to take a bus from Chicago to Florida.
She saidSouthwest let a lot of people down.
Southwest canceled more than 70 percent of flights on Monday and at least 63 percent on Tuesday due to passenger issues. At least 62 percent of the company's flights were canceled by Tuesday.
Travelers were horror stories about ruined vacations, missing luggage, and tense customer service lines. Many passengers were stuck in connecting airports for hours when they took initial flights.
The SurendranPillai's had planned to take their daughter on a tour of Florida from Disney World to Miami, but they ended up stuck in Las Vegas after flying from Oakland to Las Vegas.
Mr. SurendranPillai resigned to the fact that his family would have to delay their trip. The family's bags were put on a flight without their Christmas gifts.
Mr. SurendranPillai hid a pair of earrings under his daughter's pillow for her to wake up to on Christmas day, one of the few gifts he had kept in his carry-on.
Southwest customer service agents rebooked Mr. SurendranPillai and his family onto a number of flights on Sunday, all of which were canceled, until they were able to get the last seats on a plane back to the San Francisco Bay Area.
Mr. SurendranPillai said all they did was stand in lines.
Mr. SurendranPillai said that his daughter had tears in her eyes when she realized that she had not gotten what she wanted.
Mr. SurendranPillai said that the woman asked for red sneakers. I told her they were in our luggage because Santa didn't get them.
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