'Maybe I will cry': Southwest travelers in Pittsburgh frustrated by cancellations, delays

Barbara Gray and her husband, Ken, stood at the back of a long, winding line of frustrated passengers Tuesday morning waiting to get to the Southwest Airlines ticket counter at Pittsburgh International Airport.

Like many others in line, their flight had been canceled — one of at least 35 Southwest flights out of Pittsburgh that had been canceled Tuesday. Another 38 scheduled for Wednesday already were canceled, and it wasn’t even noon.

The Grays live in Bonita Springs, Fla., and had flown to Virginia to spend Christmas with their daughter and other family members. They rented a car to drive Barbara’s 94-year-old mother back to Pittsburgh. They were scheduled to fly home to Florida at 1 p.m. Tuesday.

“Southwest didn’t even notify me,” said Barbara, a 69-year-old Penn Hills native. “Do you know how I found out? Southwest sent a general email out saying, ‘Check your flight number.’ I made these reservations back in July.”

About 4,000 domestic flights were canceled Monday, according to the tracking website FlightAware, and 2,900 of those were Southwest’s. More than 2,800 additional flights already had been canceled by all airlines operating in the U.S. as of 7 a.m. Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. Problems were expected to continue at least into Wednesday.

Southwest spokesman Jay McVay said at a news conference in Houston that cancellations snowballed as storm systems moved across the country over the weekend and early this week, leaving flight crews and planes out of place.

Gray said she and her husband planned to rent another car and drive back to their daughter’s house in Virginia in hopes of catching the next available flight to Florida, which isn’t until Saturday. They tried to book a flight on another airline out of Pittsburgh but couldn’t find one sooner than this weekend.

“All these poor people, I don’t know what they’re going to do,” Gray said, adding she was concerned about the extra expenses they are incurring, including food and paying for another rental car. “Southwest is saying save your receipts and email them to us. Yeah, right.”

Farther ahead in line was David Ulm, 56, of San Diego. He and his mother, Charlotte, were trying to get back to the West Coast after visiting family members in Canonsburg.

They were scheduled to fly from Pittsburgh to Austin, Texas, at 1:05 p.m. and then catch a connecting flight to San Diego, but the flight for the second leg had been canceled. Ulm said they weren’t notified about the cancellation until Monday night, and he was hoping to get some information at the ticket counter.

“We’re trying to figure out what’s going on,” Ulm said. “We’re trying to figure out how to get back. There’s no way to get to the website, and (Southwest) isn’t answering their phones. It’s pretty frustrating.”

Jeff Logsdon, 31, of Austin had flown into Pittsburgh to spend the holidays with his family. He had problems getting here and then had problems getting out. His flight to Pittsburgh last Wednesday missed its connection to Orlando, Fla., and Logsdon had to book another flight through Washington, D.C.

He was scheduled Tuesday to fly back to Austin, but when he arrived at the airport, he learned the flight had been canceled.

He was concerned because he was due to be back at his sales job Wednesday.

“I tried to rebook on the app, but there isn’t another flight available until Jan. 1. So I’m waiting to talk with someone (at the counter) to see what options are available,” Logsdon said. “I just texted my boss, trying to square everything away. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I might try to book a flight on another airline, because it sounds like Southwest is having a bigger problem than just this flight.”

Srivani Telacrolu, 30, of Oakdale and her husband had been trying to fly to Austin for a family gathering since 6:20 a.m. Christmas Day.

“The soonest we could rebook our flight was for Thursday evening, but then we got a message that that flight was canceled as well,” Telacrolu said. “Now we are told nothing is available until Jan. 12. Our bags are still packed, but we don’t know what’s going to happen.

“We’ve had to make so many changes with our son’s day care and with our work and vacation days. It’s costing us so much extra money. I can’t express my frustration or maybe I will cry.”

As she waited in line hoping to book an earlier flight, Telacrolu said the only explanation Southwest offered was the weather.

“But it doesn’t seem like weather conditions now,” she said. “We think it’s due to staffing issues.”