How to (maybe) get to your destination with the thousands of canceled flights
My experience is only on Southwest, but I spent over a total 7 hours on hold and 8+ hours waiting in lines during 3 separate visits at the airport to speak with agents. If I can help one person, then this is all worth it.
Phone call to Southwest: Your call will NOT go through, after hours. 1, 2 or 3. Someone might answer, but you will be disconnected. This happened to me after 3 hours so I went to the airport to stand in line for 2.5 hours to talk to someone. A woman on my flight was on hold for 4 hours and finally hung up. Others I spoke with in the lines at he airport concurred.
If your flight says “We have rebooked you on another flight” contact us. They have NOT rebooked you.
GET IN LINE at the airport and speak with someone.
Booking another flight: There is a huge chance that a new flight will be cancelled or delayed, however this is what I learned in 14 hours:
Booking is live, like eBay. Hit refresh a lot and possibly, just possibly you will be able to find an opening. This happened after trying for 2 hours and we were able to book a flight from STL to Houston. More on that later.
If you are a companion. Your flights cannot be canceled online and remember, you cannot call. You MUST go to a ticket agent.
Be prepared to rent a car if you cannot make it to your destination. Book your car online as no one is taking walk-ins, at least in our experience.
To summarize: An agent can book you on another flight. You can also look for better flights on your own. You have to speak with someone in person to cancel (if your flight includes a companion). I do not have experience with a single ticket flight; you might be able to cancel online.
Download Flight Aware and be on top of your flight(s). Southwest is not telling people their flights are delayed or canceled. Do your homework yourself!
As for luggage. I have no idea; I don’t have a clue where mine is and not sure when I should call. The Southwest number for luggage is different than their regular customer service number. I’m enjoying a cocktail instead of starting that.
Personal experience:
12/24: Flight to Houston was canceled. The screens indicated the flight was on time and the plane had been on the ground since noon. We only found out it was canceled when we got to the gate.
Online it said our flight was “rebooked”. Lies.
12/25: Called at 4am. On hold for 3 hours, someone answered and it disconnected. Went to the airport. Spoke with an agent and booked an evening flight to OK City to drive to Houston. Hubs determined we would die on the road.
Got home. Hit refresh a million times on my computer to finally find 2 available tickets to Houston via Dallas. Score! Purchased quickly. Bought two new tickets to CDMX since you know, Viva Aerobus’ system was down and when it finally came up, I was outside the 4 hour window to cancel my flight (wtf).
Headed back to the airport to see if I could move my luggage from the OKC flight to Houston flight. 2.5 hours in line, it was a no.
Went home to cancel my flight. OMG, I can’t cancel it. Back to the airport to stand in line for 3.5 hours to cancel my flight to OKC (yes, my points are worth it). Went down to the luggage office to see if I could get my bag. Line had over 100 people. Nope.
12/26: Flight to Houston cancelled, flight to Dallas, not. On plane!
Rented car online while in St. Louis. Landed, shuttle arrived, but driver told us that unless our reservations were made over 24 hours ago, they were not honoring any reservations. 🙄 Went to the other rental companies and they were only taking online reservations, Walked to our original rental company, Budget, and sure enough, they had our reservation and our car.
$300 in a car rental fee, we are in Houston and our flight to CDMX is on time.
Bought a lottery ticket, because why not with luck like this!
Best to all of you traveling out there! Whatever it is, it's an adventure! 🙃
My experience is only on Southwest, but I spent over a total 7 hours on hold and 8+ hours waiting in lines during 3 separate visits at the airport to speak with agents. If I can help one person, then this is all worth it.
Phone call to Southwest: Your call will NOT go through, after hours. 1, 2 or 3. Someone might answer, but you will be disconnected. This happened to me after 3 hours so I went to the airport to stand in line for 2.5 hours to talk to someone. A woman on my flight was on hold for 4 hours and finally hung up. Others I spoke with in the lines at he airport concurred.
If your flight says “We have rebooked you on another flight” contact us. They have NOT rebooked you.
GET IN LINE at the airport and speak with someone.
Booking another flight: There is a huge chance that a new flight will be cancelled or delayed, however this is what I learned in 14 hours:
Booking is live, like eBay. Hit refresh a lot and possibly, just possibly you will be able to find an opening. This happened after trying for 2 hours and we were able to book a flight from STL to Houston. More on that later.
If you are a companion. Your flights cannot be canceled online and remember, you cannot call. You MUST go to a ticket agent.
Be prepared to rent a car if you cannot make it to your destination. Book your car online as no one is taking walk-ins, at least in our experience.
To summarize: An agent can book you on another flight. You can also look for better flights on your own. You have to speak with someone in person to cancel (if your flight includes a companion). I do not have experience with a single ticket flight; you might be able to cancel online.
Download Flight Aware and be on top of your flight(s). Southwest is not telling people their flights are delayed or canceled. Do your homework yourself!
As for luggage. I have no idea; I don’t have a clue where mine is and not sure when I should call. The Southwest number for luggage is different than their regular customer service number. I’m enjoying a cocktail instead of starting that.
Personal experience:
12/24: Flight to Houston was canceled. The screens indicated the flight was on time and the plane had been on the ground since noon. We only found out it was canceled when we got to the gate.
Online it said our flight was “rebooked”. Lies.
12/25: Called at 4am. On hold for 3 hours, someone answered and it disconnected. Went to the airport. Spoke with an agent and booked an evening flight to OK City to drive to Houston. Hubs determined we would die on the road.
Got home. Hit refresh a million times on my computer to finally find 2 available tickets to Houston via Dallas. Score! Purchased quickly. Bought two new tickets to CDMX since you know, Viva Aerobus’ system was down and when it finally came up, I was outside the 4 hour window to cancel my flight (wtf).
Headed back to the airport to see if I could move my luggage from the OKC flight to Houston flight. 2.5 hours in line, it was a no.
Went home to cancel my flight. OMG, I can’t cancel it. Back to the airport to stand in line for 3.5 hours to cancel my flight to OKC (yes, my points are worth it). Went down to the luggage office to see if I could get my bag. Line had over 100 people. Nope.
12/26: Flight to Houston cancelled, flight to Dallas, not. On plane!
Rented car online while in St. Louis. Landed, shuttle arrived, but driver told us that unless our reservations were made over 24 hours ago, they were not honoring any reservations. 🙄 Went to the other rental companies and they were only taking online reservations, Walked to our original rental company, Budget, and sure enough, they had our reservation and our car.
$300 in a car rental fee, we are in Houston and our flight to CDMX is on time.
Bought a lottery ticket, because why not with luck like this!
Best to all of you traveling out there! Whatever it is, it's an adventure! 🙃