I was in that Southwest mess in Baltimore/Washington airport on Friday when it all fell apart. The airport was shoulder to shoulder people standing in long lines waiting for an employee behind a desk to find another flight after theirs was cancelled. No seating left; people were setting up camp on the floors. It was hard to move through the crowds. I camped on the floor and used the phone; called reservations at Southwest and got a person immediately, but no seat could be found. Called Customer Service at Southwest immediately afterwards and got a person also; couldn't find a seat. Well, actually both of those calls did find a seat for me on something that day or the next, but while filling out the form the seat disappeared. I kept giving up, then calling back. Seats would appear, we would try to book, and they would disappear. So my hopes kept going up and down, roller coastering. Eventually I got a seat on a later flight that day - hooray! It was supposed to leave at 7:30. The plane was sitting there, but it got delayed because they couldn't get enough crew members (1 pilot short, 2 flight attendants short) to legally fly. At 10 they cancelled it. I sat on the floor calling again. This time I was told no flights would be available until Dec 28. Then this person offered to book me on another airline, and I took that for Sunday evening. I was late for Christmas.
I could write more words about my lost luggage, but won't. I did get it; it showed up at my destination just fine, but that night I spent a long time in a line in Baltimore to talk to a human behind a counter to find out where it was. They didn't know, but assumed it would reach the destination before me.
I now have more stored $$ in credits for Southwest. They did not give me a refund, only credits.
I'm booked on Southwest for Taos. Winter storms happen. Not sure what to do about that reservation. I need a backup.
