A couple say they drove for 18 hours on Christmas Eve to catch an alternative flight after their Southwest flight was canceled

A couple drove for 18 hours on Christmas Eve to get a last-minute flight after their Southwest flight was canceled.

Alex Kain and his girlfriend were going to fly from Denver to Seattle but the flight was canceled at 2 a.m.

Kain said there wasn't enough money to make them fly Southwest again.

Kain estimated that the last-minute change of plan cost the couple up to three thousand dollars. They told CNBC that they would ask for reimbursement for hotels, rental car, gas, and replacement flight.

The winter storm that hit the US last week caused major disruptions to air travel, stranding some passengers over Christmas. Southwest took a long time to get back to normal operations. Problems with its scheduling tools have been the main reason for this.

Christina House/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

A majority of the airline's schedule was canceled on Monday. The airline said it would operate about one-third of its regular schedule.

Southwest cut almost all of its flights on Thursday, compared with Frontier, the US airline with the second-most flights canceled that day.

Southwest plans to operate normally from Friday. 6:30 a.m. Only 39 flights are going to be cut, which is less than 1% of the schedule.

The airline said in a statement that they are encouraged by the progress they have made. Corporate employees have been asked to volunteer for eight-hour shifts to help with crew scheduling.

The airline was blamed by a union for the chaos because of outdated scheduling software that made it difficult for flight attendants to find a place to stay.

Southwest said Thursday that they have a lot of work ahead of them.

Southwest said passengers who experienced delays between December 24 and January 2 can fill in a form to request a refunds of their unused tickets. Reimbursement for meals, hotel, and alternate transportation will be honored by the airline. If passengers email their receipts, this includes rental cars.

Customers booked on flights through January 2 can rebook the same route on new dates at no extra cost.

Southwest did not respond immediately to Insider's request for comment.

Did you experience travel disruptions? Are you employed at an airport or an airline that is overwhelmed by the chaos? This reporter can be contacted at gdean@ Insider.com.