Flight cancellations disrupt traveling plans over the holiday break

People wait in line and hear about their multiple canceled flights.

Roughly 12,000 flights in the United States were canceled due to severe winter storms that struck this winter.

Every year during February and spring break, many people decide to spend their week traveling with their friends and family. With California’s unprecedented flooding in late December and early January, however, storms have also hit all around the country. As a result, flights are being canceled and many have had to change their travel plans.

According to CNBC roughly 12,000 flights, or 14 percent of all U.S. airlines’ flights, were canceled between Dec. 14 and Dec. 17. This means that for every seven people who booked a flight to their destination, one of them had their flight canceled.

One teacher who was affected by this mass cancellation was Spanish teacher Stephany Marks. Marks and her daughter had a flight to Denver booked two months in advance of their flight date on Dec. 23, but, due to the poor weather, it was canceled early on the day of the intended flight.

When Marks found out her first flight got canceled, the first thing she did was to check if there were any other flights that she could board. She had to follow the same process again after she was redirected to an airport hours away in Sacramento.

“So in the middle of the night, we found an Uber ride, in which we paid close to $300 to get to Sacramento. Then, when we rode to Sacramento, they canceled our flight there too,” Marks said.

After the mess, Southwest did make an effort to make it up to their customers. Marks was reimbursed for the $300 Uber trip to Sacramento, as well as given free miles for the disruption in travel.

Thankfully, Marks was able to find two open spots for her and her daughter to ride in, but the experience was still trying.

“I was with my daughter so I wanted her to have fun and was trying to think of a way to make sure she was going to be happy over Christmas,” Marks said.