After getting out of the taxi, Angélica Martínez and her family went to the Southwest airline counter, but to their surprise they were told that their flight had been cancelled… and that they could find a seat elsewhere later 5 days.
“Yeah, well, very frustrated because we came and they tell us they sold the planes more tickets and seats than they had. We already had tickets before we got here and they won’t give us our seats, it’s not fair, it’s not fair”, Martinez said.
Like them, thousands of people have been stranded at US airports.
According to the Flightaware page, more than 4,600 flights were canceled on Tuesday and more than 11,000 were delayed across the country. Much of these cancellations and delays are attributed to SouthWest airline with 2,544 canceled flights.
“We came for five days on vacation and right now we had a delay, it’s not even a delay, it’s a 6 day cancellation, we have to wait until January 2, a total disaster. At this moment we will see if there are any hotels, many people stay and the cost of hotels here in New York is not cheap,” said Fabiola Ramón, another interested passenger.
Other major airlines including American, Delta and JetBlue had cancellation rates ranging from zero to 2%. However, SouthWest’s cancellations were up 83% this Tuesday at LaGuardia Airport, according to Flightaware.
For his part, an airline spokesman said cancellations have increased as winter storms have moved across the country, leaving flight crews and planes stranded, all, they say, for the safety of passengers and of the crew. They also indicated that they will reimburse passengers for expenses and apologised. However, this is cold consolation for those affected.
Jim Martinez and his family decided to rent a car and drive thousands of miles in order not to lose their job.
“I didn’t want to drive because I came on vacation. Now I have to drive 2,000 miles back to Texas. That’s three days of traffic and more expense,” Martínez said.
The Department of Transportation said on Twitter that it was concerned about the airline’s unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays and would be investigating Southwest regarding the cancellations and lack of customer service.
