Southwest Airlines cancellations leave BG woman stranded 10 hrs in LA airport

No word if airline will refund expenses

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Southwest Airlines has canceled roughly 60 percent of its flights these last few days, and many of you responded to our News 40 Facebook post with your experiences stranded without a flight home from Christmas. 

When AmyLynn McCracken paid Southwest Airlines $800 for her round-trip flight to visit her parents for Christmas, she never imagined she’d be stuck on the other side of the continent.

AmyLynn was supposed to fly back from Los Angeles to Bowling Green Tuesday morning at 7:30 am.

“I go to the airport at 5 a.m., and at 7:30 when the flight was first delayed, they said, ‘We don’t have a crew,'” AmyLynn recalled. “They said, ‘We have one pilot, but we’re trying to get flight attendants.’ Then at 11:30 a.m. They just went ahead and canceled it.

Just like that, AmyLynn’s plane became one of roughly 16,000 flights that Southwest Airlines canceled since December 22nd.

“I went straight to get in the line to rebook my flight. They made an announcement after I stood in line three hours then they weren’t booking any flights until New Years’ Eve.”

But her frustrating experience continued on at baggage claim. It took 30 minutes to find her suitcase.

“It was just this sea of baggage. Thousands of bags, and they were not organized at all. It was pretty much, ‘Just hope for the best and good luck finding it.’”

With the prospect of missing 4 workdays, AmyLynn, like many others, paid Delta $800 for a same-night flight back to Nashville.

“At this point, I’m out around $1700 for four days here.”

Though Amy Lynn enjoyed visiting family for the holidays, she admitted, “I’m ready to be home.”

AmyLynn has applied for a refund for her unused Southwest flight but has heard no word back from their airline.