Southwest meltdown cost this couple their honeymoon, bags still missing

After a canceled Southwest Airlines flight and hours on hold with customer service, recently married Marcus and Andrea Grasenick realized they would not be getting on an 11-day honeymoon cruise to the Caribbean.

And that was just the beginning of the couple’s travel nightmare — they were stranded in Nashville without their luggage or a change of clothes. And that was before a water main break forced them to relocate in the middle of the night.

Two weeks after their ordeal and the couple has yet to hear from Southwest or receive a refund for canceled flights. And their bags, with 11 days worth of clothes, remain missing.

“The Southwest CEO has said they are going to make everything right but I missed my honeymoon, I haven’t been refunded and I don’t have any clothes to wear,” Marcus Grasenick said.

Honeymoon turned nightmare

Things started to go awry in Nashville where on Dec. 25 the couple had a connecting flight to Fort Lauderdale. The flight was repeatedly delayed, and eventually canceled due to a crew issue.

“Our flight was supposed to depart at 3 p.m. and it continued to be delayed until 7 p.m. when finally they told us they did not have a complete crew to go through with the flight … it was an awful feeling,” Grasenick said.

“If you looked at the video board, Southwest was the only airline canceling flights … no other airline was having the same problems they were having,” Grasenick said.

The flight cancelation prompted Grasenick to seek out customer service — where he found a line of more than 100 people.

Grasenick described a chaotic scene where travelers and customer service workers were near their breaking point.

“We told someone that we were trying to get to our honeymoon and they started crying for us … workers were trying their hardest to do anything for customers but I think they knew they were just rebooking people on flights that would be canceled.”

The couple was told there were no more flight available to Florida in time for them to make the cruise. They briefly considered renting a car and driving but determined they wouldn’t arrive in time.

No way there, no way back

Stranded in Nashville, the couple gave up on their honeymoon and using Southwest points booked a 6 a.m. flight back to Milwaukee. 

Late in the night the exhausted couple — separated from their luggage — checked into a hotel in hopes of getting some sleep before an early flight back to Milwaukee.

That’s when the water main broke, and they had to move to another hotel for a couple hours rest.

The following morning, they returned to the airport and their misfortune returned.

In a similar situation to their Fort Lauderdale flight, the crew did not have enough members to make the flight work and their flight to Milwaukee was canceled. 

After another long line, the couple rebooked to Chicago — and that flight was canceled as well.

After three canceled flights the couple had understandably lost all confidence that Southwest airlines could get them anywhere, so they bought two United Airlines tickets to Milwaukee.

Still left with no clothes or refund

While the couple was able to get a refund from Royal Caribbean, they still haven’t heard anything from Southwest Airlines about luggage or a refund — this is despite daily calls to the airline.

“We haven’t heard from them on any type of reimbursement for clothing, lost luggage, the hotel, the flights or the airline tickets that we had to purchase on another airline,” said Grasenick.

The couple said their experience during Southwest’s holiday meltdown — where thousands of flights were cancelled and and estimated 1 million passengers plans scuttled — would have been easier to understand if it was affecting all airlines.

In a news release, Southwest CEO Bob Jordan alluded to technology failures and said the company would focus on improving its operating system going forward.

“I know that we have work to do to restore your confidence in Southwest. You have our word that we will commit to the necessary resources to quickly examine and bolster our strategy for continuous improvement in our processes, our systems, and more.”

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