NEW ORLEANS (WGNO)— While thousands of Sugar Bowl fans head to New Orleans, many other travelers are still trying to get out. It is a travel nightmare at Louis Armstrong International Airport.
These travelers faces say it all.
“Terrible, we’ve been stuck here for two days,” Dylan Andrade from Austin, Texas said.
The Bermudez family is just trying to get home to Austin after their Southwest Airlines flight was cancelled.
“We can’t get a flight today, can’t get one tomorrow, the next day, probably not until Saturday,” Andrade said.
“In this day and age with technology, they are failing. We paid our money and here we are on day two and still trying to figure it out,” George Bermudez from Austin, Texas said.
Because Southwest says their systems are having operational issues, this family wants to drive 8-hours back to Texas.
The family is even trying to get a rental car, but they say there aren’t any available rental cars for them to rent at this time.
David Hines is from Virginia and was flying to Los Angeles, but because Southwest Airlines couldn’t get him there, his wife helped him get back to Virginia instead.
“My flight booked me a flight on American Airlines and here I am on the way home,” Hines said.
He went on to say, “I got the best wife in the world. Love you, Dionne. It is a big lesson to be patient and be calm and not overreact.”
But travelers like Angel Prioleaux say their patience is waning.
“I was on the phone with them for 9-hours waiting to speak to someone,” she said.
She went on to say, “Our luggage has not been found. They sent me a tracking number for us to see where it is, but the tracking system is down as well. They told me the bags would be secured in the back and they are not secured.”
After all this travel turmoil, these travelers just want to fly out.
“I love New Orleans. Great food, but I need to get home,” Bermudez said.
“It is definitely in God’s hands, it is not in Southwest’s hands, it doesn’t look like it,” Prioleau said.
Unfortunately Southwest expects even more cancellations in the next few days.