Watch our AM report on airline cancellations filed Wednesday morning:
MILWAUKEE — Bob Mayer, Jeni Summers, and Alex Tick all spent Christmas day in different places. But on Monday, the three Wisconsinites and Tick's wife all ended up in a car together driving from St. Louis to Milwaukee.
It all started on Friday. Mayer was making his way back to Wisconsin after a Christmas-themed cruise that launched from Galveston, Texas. He was in line to board his Southwest plane at the airport in Houston when his flight was canceled. He was supposed to fly through Denver, before getting on a plane there to Milwaukee.
"I was supposed to get to Milwaukee right around 10 o'clock, 9:30 so I could spend Christmas at home," Mayer said.
At the time, he had no idea it was just one of thousands of Southwest flights that would be canceled over the Christmas weekend and the in days to follow.
He was originally rebooked for the next day, Christmas Eve. So he took an Uber to a hotel and stayed the night in Houston.
"[On Saturday] I was just about ready to leave for the airport and I got another text message saying that (the) flight was rescheduled for Sunday. Christmas Day," Mayer said.
After more rebooking, he eventually got on a flight late on Christmas Day that took him to New Orleans. From New Orleans, he flew to St. Louis. That flight was delayed and he didn't make it to the airport in St. Louis until about 2 a.m. the day after Christmas (Monday).
As he looked at the flight boards at the St. Louis airport, he began to worry.
"I looked at the monitor and all these flights were being canceled. My flight was delayed at least," Mayer said.
As he sat at an airport restaurant with other frustrated Southwest customers, he watched as more and more people had their flights canceled.
That's when he called his neighbor Jeni Summers back in Horicon, Wisconsin. Summers was watching Mayer's cat while he was away so they had been in communication just about daily anyway.
"I found out that he was in St. Louis and he called me. He said, 'I don't know, I have a flight for 11 o'clock but I don't think it's going to happen,'" Jeni recalled. "I said, 'well I told you if you need me to, I'll come get you."
So, when she got off work on Dec. 26, she jumped in her car and began the 6-hour drive from Horicon to the St. Louis airport. She was a few hours into her drive when the flight was officially canceled.
On her way to St. Louis, Summers said she told Mayer: "I've been hearing on the news that there's a lot of people stranded. So, if you find anybody else that wants to come along that's coming to Milwaukee, we might as well grab as many people we can fit in the car."
That's where Tick and his wife come in. They were hanging out at the same airport restaurant as Mayer and were supposed to be on the same flight as him as well.
"That's when Bob approached me from the other side of the bar," Tick said. "He had seen my Packer hat. Nice Wisconsin guy, assumed I was going to Milwaukee."
Tick and his wife took Mayers up on his offer despite being complete strangers.
Jeni arrived at the St. Louis airport around midnight as Monday turned into Tuesday. Tick, who said he likes to drive, offer to take the wheel for the trip home.
"We found out that we had a decent amount in common, so it was fun. Made a couple of new friends we didn't expect to make," Tick said.
When asked why Summers decided to not only jump in the car but invite total strangers along for the ride, she said, "It's just the right thing to do. I can't just leave people stranded down there."
But despite the holiday good that came out of the Southwest flight cancellation chaos, they say they are still waiting to hear from the airline about exactly what happened and how the company will make it right.
"What I'm looking for out of Southwest is just to treat these people decently and maybe do something for them. Because it was terrible. The crowds, the lines, the baggage," Mayer said.
Mayers said he was also disappointed in the lack of respect travelers showed toward Southwest staff at the airports.
"They were understaffed at the counters and it wasn't their fault. Whenever I did get a chance to talk to them, I told them I appreciated what they were doing and gave them a compliment. They acknowledged that because I don't think many people did that. They were just trying to do their job, which they had no more answers than we did," Mayer said.
