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A bride has shared her shocking ordeal after Southwest Airlines travel chaos forced her to miss her own wedding.
The travel snafu cost the couple about $70,000 in hotel rooms alone.
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Katie Demko told Insider that she and her fiance Michael are planning a destination wedding in Belize on December 30th.
Michael flew to Belize earlier in the week, and Demko was scheduled to join him on Tuesday.
She was trying to board Southwest Airlines with her children, but the pilot announced the cancellation.
Demko, who lives in St. Louis, told Insider that the flight was three attendants short.
There was no other flight to Belize in time for the wedding.
Demko told the outlet she was “crying all morning” when she was forced to cancel the wedding.
“I had about seven travel agents, and my whole family sat down for 18 hours trying to find a way to get us there,” Demko said.
“We even looked into flying to Cancun and getting a bus to Belize. Nothing happened.”
Demko said that while Southwest refunded her flights, she had to get married in Belize to recoup some of the expenses.
Some providers were unable to issue refunds, but were able to reschedule their services.
However, the hotel you plan to stay at will not issue a refund or extend the group’s stay.
“In total, more than $70,000 was lost in the Victoria House room,” she told Insider.
Southwest blamed thousands of canceled flights on the winter storm that gripped much of the country.
The airline issued a statement saying it was “fully staffed and ready” for air travel and traffic during the holiday week, but said the storm “has forced us to make changes to our daily flight schedule.”
The statement continued: “We realize it was a mistake and we sincerely apologize.
Southwest CEO Bob Jordan told the Wall Street Journal on December 26: “We had a tough day today.
“We’re going to have another tough day tomorrow as far as getting out of here.”
He said the airline’s schedule for December 27 and 28 is only one third.
However, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg wrote in a letter to Jordan that “other airlines that have experienced weather-related cancellations and delays due to winter storms have recovered quickly, unlike Southwest.”
Buttigieg said the Department of Transportation would investigate Southwest’s cancellations.
Demko told Isair that the airline had not contacted her after she appeared on CNN last Thursday.
“Southwest never once tried to contact me to apologize,” she said.
She expressed that she was surprised that the airline did not take into account the fact that she was traveling for work.
“I know you’re dealing with a ton because of the whole mess, but not one person from that company has arrived.”
Demko and her fiancee also spent New Year’s apart due to travel disruptions.
“On New Year’s Eve, I sat at my house and talked to Michael, who was sitting in Belize, and we said Happy New Year,” she said, knowing we weren’t ringing in 2023 as husband and wife as we thought. to do.”
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