Stranded passengers still stuck after Southwest Airlines cancels thousands of flights again
HOUSTON - Stranded Southwest Airlines passengers are still trying to catch flights out of Houston, but the airline is once again canceling thousands of flights. Many of those frustrated travelers have been at Houston Hobby Airport for days now.
Southwest Airlines has canceled more than 2,600 flights across the country on Tuesday. 154 of those airplanes were supposed to take off from Hobby Airport.
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"It’s like this is not real. This can not be happening," says stranded passenger Mario Casasola.
Consecutive days of canceled Southwest Airlines flights isn’t only an inconvenience, but has brought heartbreak to many who planned to spend the holidays with loved ones, and not stranded in an airport with promises of a refund.
"We’re talking about my elderly mother coming in to see her grandkids for the first time. It’s going to be a once kind of thing to happen every so often with the age that she’s at, and the distance that she’s at. So this has been painful," explains Louis Berei who’s at the airport trying to get his mom’s ticket changed, because he couldn’t reach Southwest by phone.
"There are situations that not even money can buy," adds Casasola who traveled to the U.S. from Costa Rica to surprise his daughters in Indiana on Christmas Day. However, he's still stuck in Houston after arriving Sunday for what was supposed to be a brief layover.
"We don’t know what to do, and we’re not receiving help. So this is very frustrating. This is crazy. I mean why the government is not taking over and making something happen here?" Casasola asks.
President Biden tweeted, "Thousands of flights nationwide have been canceled around the holidays. Our administration is working to ensure airlines are held accountable."
The U.S. Department of Transportation says its "...concerned by Southwest’s unacceptable rate of cancelations…and lack of prompt customer service."
"I didn’t even sleep. I was waiting on the phone for like four hours trying to speak with someone with Southwest. We couldn’t ever reach them," says Hadija Hollin, whose son is in the military and trying to get back to work. He was ticketed to fly December 26 and after a host of flight cancelations. He’s now told he likely won’t make it back to North Carolina until January 2, 2023.
Stacey Rufe gave up on trying to re-book her family's flight after she, her husband, and two daughters made it to the gate.
"And then they said they need flight attendants. They were waiting for two flight attendants, and they said it was going to be delayed, and then they just canceled it. We’re going to rent a car and drive back to Virginia, a 20-hour drive."
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Southwest released a statement blaming bad weather and apologizing to customers and staff.
"The weather was true for the first week, but now this is not a weather issue. They’re just incompetent," says Casasola.
"Somewhere Southwest messed up really bad. This is not how you do business," adds Berei.
The cancelations made things so chaotic at Hobby Airport Monday that the city of Houston brought in METRO buses and gave 260 stranded passengers a free ride to area hotels.