Many Southwest Airlines passengers are still waiting to be reimbursed for costs they incurred during last month's meltdown.
Only weeks after a Southwest Airlines meltdown led to thousands of canceled flights and stranded passengers, the nation’s air travel system was briefly interrupted Wednesday due to an outage in the computer system used by the Federal Aviation Administration to give pilots vital information before they take off.
Thousands of holiday travelers like Rombaut were stranded late last month when Southwest Airlines said its computer system that tracked crew scheduling could not keep up with a severe winter storm. The airlines canceled flights at a far greater rate than that of any other major airline,The airline has since given each impacted traveler 25,000 loyalty rewards points, which equates to roughly $300, and are issuing refunds and reimbursements.
Travelers impacted by the cancellations have been asked to submit their receipts for additional costs incurred. Many have received their refunds for their airfare, but the process of tallying the additional costs is difficult, as would-be passenger scrambled to travel large distances via other modes of transportation during a post-holiday rush.
Kate Schelter and her daughters, 12-year-old Zoe and 9-year-old Mila, were on their way to Universal Studios Hollywood when their Dec. 26 flight from Oakland was canceled. When it became clear they wouldn’t be able to get another flight, Schelter’s husband drove the family car to the Oakland airport and she and her daughters drove the car south.
While Schelter and her daughters did not leave the Oakland airport on a plane, their luggage flew to Los Angeles without them. She also had to pay for parking at LAX while the trio tried to reclaim their luggage at the Southwest terminal. Her Christmas Day flight was canceled and so was her next flight the following day. Southwest did not offer her a hotel, so she stayed at a friend’s relative’s house in Sacramento.
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