Arizona family’s Christmas trip among thousands affected by flight cancellations
Dec 29, 2022, 4:35 AM | Updated: 7:36 am
Trisha Guerrero’s two kids slept on the floor while she and her husband, Jorge, took turns waiting in line at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport to rebook their flight after it was canceled multiple times. (Courtesy Photos/Trish Guerrero)
(Courtesy Photos/Trish Guerrero)
PHOENIX — A Mesa family’s Christmas trip was one of thousands ruined by the recent flight cancellations following a massing winter storm.
“Our plans were to go over to Nashville to visit my mom and my sister and my niece and nephews,” Trisha Guerrero told KTAR News 92.3 FM. “It had been about seven years since we last had a holiday together, so we were super excited for this one.”
But after their Southwest Airlines flight was canceled multiple times, they had to spend Christmas Eve at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.
The first cancellation came Friday right after they checked in their luggage. The next one came Christmas Eve just before boarding.
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After waiting in line for more than four hours, they were able to rebook their flight.
“The whole time my kids just slept on the floor,” Guerrero said. “My husband and I would switch in and out every hour to give each other some relief from standing in line so long.”
The earliest flight Southwest offered the family was five days away, so they rebooked the trip for March.
Getting their luggage back was another ordeal. It ended up being flown to Nashville, and the family is not expected to get it back until Friday.
Guerrero said the airline staff gave very little information about why so many flights were canceled.
“A lot of people were left clueless,” she said. “I think that was the most frustrating part.”
Southwest Airlines is responsible for most of the thousands of flight cancellations that started just days before Christmas. The airline is blaming its operational meltdown on a massive holiday storm that stretched from the Midwest down to the South and up the East Coast.
Southwest’s CEO Bob Jordan apologized for the cancellations on Tuesday and said the airline is doing everything it can to “return to a normal operation.”
Guerrero said it’s “definitely a relief” to see the airline taking some responsibility “because at least we get some sort of acknowledgment.”
She added her 7-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter were most affected by the trip cancellation. To make it up, she and her husband decided to surprise them with a trip to Universal Studios in California this week.
They chose to drive there instead of flying.
“We felt like they got gypped from their Christmas vacation and they were so sad,” she said. “So we thought we had to think of something to make it up to them.”
