I got stuck in Southwest's holiday meltdown. My 'quick' trip took 41 hours, I never made it to my destination, and I don't know when I'll see my bag again.

An as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with a young man. It has been edited to make it clearer.

All I wanted for Christmas was to visit my mom in Denver. It's only a two-and-a-half hour flight from Los Angeles for me.

I was told that my Southwest Airlines flight was canceled when I showed up at the airport on Christmas. I didn't know that this would be the beginning of a 41-hour journey.

I was really surprised to hear that my flight from LAX was canceled

I hadn't been notified of the cancellation in advance. I could not have left my apartment.

Courtesy of Brady Goodman-Williams

I wanted to see if I could get to Denver in a different way. I was put on a flight out of Burbank Airport and had to pay $50 for a ride to the airport. It was a zoo when I was there. I was starting to worry when I heard people were still waiting to be re booked on their flights.

My new flight was supposed to take off out of Burbank at 9 a.m.

There was a delay. The delay was only 20 minutes. I was told that my flight was canceled.

I was waiting in line to get re booked. I thought I had a good chance of making it to Denver by the time it was noon. I checked my bag before I left, but I thought it would be in Denver when I arrived. Since Las Vegas is a major hub for Southwest, I would be able to figure it out if I made it there.

I got on a rerouted flight to Vegas — but even that couldn't save me

My flight from Vegas to Denver was canceled. I was rebooking for a flight out of Vegas at 8:40 p.m., which would take me to more than 14 hours.

Courtesy of Brady Goodman-Williams

The airport in Las Vegas was terrible. People were not sure what to think. There was no place to sit, people were fighting with each other, and babies were crying. The staff at the airport didn't know what to do with so many people.

It was total chaos — and then it got worse

The flight was canceled at 8:20 pm. The rebooking line at the check-in area was the longest I'd seen that day. It took a long time.

A Southwest worker told us that their system was down and they couldn't rebook people. If we wanted to be considered for a refund, we had to start a new line.

People lost their minds over refunds and were literally shoving each other out of the way

The people threw Elbows and fists. I thought the couple behind me would get a divorce.

The reason for the partial refund was that they got me to Las Vegas, which is on the way to Denver from Los Angeles.

I received a voucher for a ticket. I rented a car and went back to Los Angeles after a night in Vegas.

I wasn't the only person who had the idea to rent a car to get home

Because of holiday traffic, the drive back to Los Angeles took seven hours instead of the usual four.

Courtesy of Brady Goodman-Williams

I went to speak to someone at the airport about my bag, but they didn't have a good answer. They didn't know when my bag would come back to Los Angeles.

I've always flown Southwest, but this made me totally rethink everything

I'm thankful I have enough money to pay for a hotel and car, but I feel bad for people who don't have that option. Southwest says they will be reimbursing reasonable requests.

I missed out on time with my mom during the holidays because of their scheduling issues, and I'm still waiting to see if I'll ever see my bag again.