SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – “It’s definitely a solidifying feeling knowing that we are not the only ones going through this,” said CSU San Marcos student Jasline Rodriguez.
What Rodriguez and Michelle Mazo are talking about is the mess that Southwest Airlines travelers have been dealing with during this holiday season.
“At first, our flight was delayed, and then there was like that whole big mess in Denver, and then we ended up stranded in Las Vegas,” Mazo, a UCSD student, said. “And it just doesn’t really seem like it will end because she also ended up getting COVID from this trip, too.”
For these two local students, they had a flight from Minneapolis back to San Diego which was initially delayed on Dec. 23. They had a connection in Denver, which also had a delay after they had landed.
Then, en route to San Diego, they were told their flight was being diverted to Las Vegas due to weather in America’s Finest City.
Mazo and Rodriguez said once they landed, flight attendants said the flight wouldn’t continue to San Diego and were told to talk to customer service. They said they waited for quite awhile on the phone after waiting in line to get assistance as well.
The two eventually caught an eight-hour bus ride from Las Vegas to San Diego and arrived late Christmas Eve night.
“They had automatically rebooked us for a flight on the 25th. They didn’t give us any accommodations or like vouchers or anything. They just told us we had to wait for the flight and that was it,” Mazo said.
ABC 10News reached out to travel expert Jeannette Ceja about what rights travelers have during this travel mess.
She told ABC 10News that would have to fall in line with the individual airline’s policy is when it comes to controllable and uncontrollable cancelations and delays.
“But usually, in control is if it’s theirs; like for example if the delay’s due to something with the aircraft or a crew or something of that matter,” Ceja said. “For example, weather may be considered not in control.”
Ceja does recommend traveler’s insurance in the event it can cover for some of those uncontrollable factors.
To add insult to injury, Rodriguez’s bag from their initial travel — like countless others — is still missing since they looked for at San Diego International Airport on Christmas Day.
“There’s just a whole bunch of people trying to find their suitcases as well. They could not give us a sure answer as to where my luggage could be,” Rodriguez said. “So, we just had to file a claim and wait and see if they could find it at all.”
