The headaches continue for Southwest Airlines passengers flying out of Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport.
According to Flight Aware, Southwest has canceled more than 60% of its flights over the next few days. Several of those flights are from Detroit. The airline credits last week's adverse weather and ongoing operational issues.
"We showed up. We checked our things this morning. Everything was on time. Come to the airport, everything says it’s on time," said Paul Dufour, who was set to fly out of DTW. "Go to the gate to check our bags and they tell us that all flights are canceled until Friday."
Dufour says he and his family drove to Detroit from Canada to fly out of DTW. They were heading to Colorado for a family vacation but now they're stuck in Detroit.
"This is a trip that we’ve planned for four months. We were excited to go dog sledding tomorrow but that’s obviously not going to happen. A lot of this stuff is non-refundable as well," said Dufour.
The nationwide cancellations have been impacting thousands of passengers across dozens of airports.
"I’m trying to be as patient as possible. What else can you do?" said Southwest Passenger Stephanie as she waited at the ticket counter Tuesday.
Stephanie said she's been trying to make it back home to New Mexico for several days. She says her daughter who has disabilities is waiting for her.
"She has mental illness and limitations so she needs me there. She was just kind of barely getting through Sunday and now she’s like mom you’ve got to get home," she said.
In a travel advisory, Southwest Airlines says they're working to get the issues resolved. They're now facing an investigation from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Passengers caught in the middle say they're disappointed.
"At the end of the day, we’re just baffled. There’s just nothing we could do. We checked all the other airlines. We checked even driving back to Canada and flying through Canada and everything is sold out so there’s really no options," said Dufour.
Southwest says everyone flying through January 2nd will be able to rebook in their original class of service with no additional charges. The rebook must be to the same city and within 14 days of their original travel date. Passengers say they're still waiting for that to be the case. There are also options to get a refund here.
