Cape family among those stranded by Southwest

Bradley and Leslie Phillips — along with their two kids — were planning on a simple flight home from their Christmas vacation in California to see relatives. They ended up spending thousands on additional travel expenses to make it home three days later than they originally planned.

The family was among the hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded after Southwest Airlines mass-canceled flights during one of the busiest travel times of the year.

"It's a crappy way to end the holiday season for sure," Leslie Phillips said.

The family was expecting to leave the San Diego area Monday, Dec. 26. Up until they were through security at the airport, everything about their return to Missouri seemed in order and on time. Then the family got word of the first delay.

"It's delayed by 15 minutes, no big deal," Leslie said she thought at first.

They would spend the entire day in the airport. Their flight was never canceled but was continually delayed.

The airliner — via statements from high-level staff — has given numerous reasons for the droves of delayed and canceled flights, including weather, an outdated computer system and staffing issues. Southwest announced the company would be resuming normal operations Friday, Dec. 30.

After the family had been waiting for hours at the airport, Southwest employees finally took to the PA system to give some direction to the stranded passengers.

"They came on the loudspeaker and said that, basically, the flights are going to be delayed or canceled, but it's not showing canceled because our system is down," Phillips said Southwest told passengers in San Diego. "So, we recommend you actually just get out of here or book with another airline. There's nothing we can do for you," the airline added.

People were also told to leave the airport if possible, because it was reaching an unsafe capacity, she said.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation's "passenger bill of rights," passengers are entitled to a full refund only if the flight has been officially canceled.

Phillips said she believes not announcing cancellations was a ploy by the airliner to prevent from paying hefty refunds to stranded travelers.

The announcement urging people to explore other options created a mad dash for available flights at the airport. Phillips and her husband were unable to find anything out of San Diego. The couple began looking at flights out of Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Phone wait times for Southwest were upward of seven hours, she said.

The couple eventually decided to rent a car and drive with their children to Ontario, California's airport about two hours away. Phillips was able to book a flight through American Airlines for Wednesday morning, Dec. 28. The family decided to stay in a hotel.

The delays were not over for them as their initial departure was pushed back three hours first thing Wednesday morning. They then drove to the airport for their delayed departure time. The flight was delayed again.

At the airport, the couple split up and stood in lines for Southwest and American to try and get some answers and possibly compensation. Phillips said she was told by those at the Southwest counter that she wasn't entitled to any vouchers for their expenses because the family had decided to book a flight with another airline, after Southwest told them to do that in San Diego.

"We felt so helpless that they just kept canceling flights, not telling us why," Phillips said.

They just wanted to get back some control, she said. So, Phillips and her husband considered renting a car to make the day-plus drive to their vehicle at the St. Louis airport.

Eventually they were able to secure seats on a flight to Dallas on Wednesday night and connected to Columbia, Missouri, from there, touching down around early Thursday morning, Dec. 29. The family stayed with friends in Columbia before renting a car and driving to St. Louis to get in their car and drive home to Cape Girardeau.

Phillips estimated they spent an additional $3,000 trying to get home on top of the initial $3,000 tickets they haven't received a refund for yet.

Southwest has set up a form for people to list their expenses caused by the cancellations. The airline has said it will reimburse "reasonable requests" from travelers.

Phillips said they plan to submit their receipts through the form but she doesn't know whether their expenses — which consisted of various rental cars, hotel rooms, and enough airport food to feed a family of four that has a teenage boy — would be deemed reasonable.

"How reasonable does Southwest need it to be? Can I tell them I'm out of work, that I lost wages for my job for three days because I wasn't able to go back to work?" Phillips said.

Even through all the hardships, Phillips said she considers her family lucky. They didn't check bags, had a credit card that allowed them to cover the extra travel expenses, and were able to eventually find a flight.

"What about those people that are still stranded and need to get a refund for their tickets before they can afford to buy new tickets?" Phillips said.

Phillips said the family liked to use Southwest because of their direct flight from St. Louis to San Diego.

"We'll never fly with Southwest again," Phillips said.

Now, she said she hopes they don't receive their refund in the form of flight vouchers, because they won't use them.