Several travelers got their flights canceled Saturday after Southwest Airlines experienced air traffic control and weather issues, officials confirmed.
Locally, the issues impacted flights that were scheduled to arrive in the Bay Area; 11 cancelled and 17 delayed flights at Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport and 11 cancelled flights at Oakland International Airport.
"I'm trying to get home to my grandad's funeral," said Maggie Lahatte from Baltimore who was stranded for hours at San Jose's International Airport.
The Hall family, from Nashville, was rebooked and delayed and is now spending an extra night they didn't plan to in San Jose.
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"Now we are re-booked for tomorrow morning going through Houston going back to Nashville," said Chrissy Hall, "we have vouchers for hotel room tonight."
Aviation expert Mike McCarron said even though they're ready to fly again, airlines aren't yet fully staffed back up and delays should be expected.
"They're probably not going to have the service back until they're convinced that this level of demand from passengers will be sustained," he said.
FlightAware, a website that provides real-time flight insights stated 1,390 Southwest Airlines flights were affected; 625 were cancelled and 765 delayed.
According to Southwest Airlines, air traffic control and disruptive weather issues "resulted in a high volume of cancellations throughout the weekend as we work to recover our operation."
An East Bay man, who tried to get home from Chicago through Southwest Saturday evening told NBC Bay Area’s Thom Jensen that he eventually had to book a flight on another airline and arrived later Saturday night at SFO.
The customer told Thom Jensen that flight cost him $600, an unexpected expense that he plans to take up with Southwest once he gets rest after a very long day of traveling.
Local
Southwest Airlines asked customers affected by the recent issues to use self-service rebooking on southwest.com.
