Household Going to Tokyo Disney ‘Devastated’ Southwest Cancelled Flight

• Jade Rodriguez stated her household had a “surreal” journey to Japan deliberate for her son’s twenty first birthday.
• However after Southwest cancelled their flight from Tuscon to LAX, they missed their flight to Tokyo.
• “Had we simply been notified sooner, we’d’ve pushed and made it,” Rodriguez informed Insider.

A household from Arizona was “in shock” and “devastated” after a last-minute Southwest flight cancellation triggered them to overlook their journey to Japan and left them out 1000’s of {dollars}.

Jade Rodriguez informed Insider she, her husband, and their two kids deliberate a “surreal” journey to Tokyo, Japan, as a result of her 20-year-old stated that was the place he needed to go to rejoice his twenty first birthday on January 2. They had been going to go to Tokyo Disney and the Pokemon Cafe in Tokyo, take a practice to Kyoto and go sightseeing at historic temples.

They deliberate to take off from Tucson on Christmas Day for Los Angeles, the place they’d catch their flight throughout the Pacific. They are saying they had been notified their flight was barely delayed however had no indication it was in severe jeopardy of not taking off in any respect, and had been unaware of the ongoing disruptions Southwest was already experiencing.

However once they arrived on the airport in Tucson, they had been met with confusion and miscommunication from the airline.

Southwest staff stated had been nonetheless engaged on assembling a crew, however informed passengers they need to verify of their baggage anyway. “It was simply a variety of miscommunication. One attendant was saying, ‘We’re not attending to LAX,’ one other was saying to verify in our baggage,” Rodriguez stated. “It was utter confusion.”

After all of the conflicting info the flight was lastly canceled altogether about seven hours earlier than their American Airways flight from Los Angeles to Tokyo was scheduled to take off. The drive from Tucson to Los Angeles was about seven and a half hours.

“Had we simply been notified sooner, we’d’ve pushed and made it,” Rodriguez stated, including they tried every part they may to get on one other flight however couldn’t make it work.

Their flight might solely be rebooked on Wednesday on the earliest, however it might be 20 hours of journey and would come with protecting the distinction in flight price. It could additionally solely go away them about 5 days in Japan, upending their 8-day journey plan.

“We had been simply devastated. We’re simply in shock,” Rodriguez stated, including that as of Friday that they had but to unpack all of their baggage as a result of they had been nonetheless struggling to course of the scenario.

Now they’re making an attempt to get as a lot of the journey refunded as they’ll, together with from Southwest, American Airways, the resort in Japan, and Tokyo Disney, the place that they had already bought tickets, amongst different bills.

Rodriguez stated they’ve obtained conflicting info from Southwest, with one e-mail saying they’d be getting a full refund and one other saying they’d solely be getting flight credit for use sooner or later.

They did buy journey insurance coverage for the American Airways flight to Japan and are hoping meaning the complete worth can be coated. However Tokyo Disney, which isn’t owned by The Walt Disney Firm, typically doesn’t challenge refunds.

Altogether, Rodriguez stated they’re out round $7,000.

They’re nonetheless hoping to reschedule a visit for subsequent yr, relying on how a lot they’ll get refunded or rescheduled, however are not sure when they may be capable of make a visit work for the entire household.

Rodriguez is a trainer, so she had this time without work work, however would possible need to attempt to get work off within the spring as a result of her break doesn’t align along with her son’s. Her husband, who’s a retired member of the army however nonetheless teaches lessons on the bottom, took off work for this journey and must attempt to take action once more if the holiday is rescheduled.

Rodriguez stated her older son is a university scholar who’s “devoted” to ROTC, a program that trains college college students for army service, so he has restricted time during which he can make a journey. He’s additionally a giant fan of Disney and Pokemon, which might’ve been the massive highlights of the journey for him, so once they supplied to take him some other place on the final minute, he simply stated “no.”

Rodriguez stated that sooner or later she could take into account getting journey insurance coverage for your entire journey, relatively than simply the massive worldwide flights, although they have already got journey medical insurance coverage by means of the army. She additionally stated she knew some others could have had much more difficult experiences with the chaotic flight cancelations.

“I am grateful we lived shut and had been with household,” she stated. “But it surely was devastating actually.”

The household was amongst 1000’s of People who experienced flight cancellations this week after Southwest had an operational meltdown. The airline canceled greater than 2,900 flights on Monday, accounting for round half of all canceled flights internationally that day. The disruptions rippled through the travel industry, resulting in rental-car shortages and better flight costs.

When reached for remark, a spokesperson for Southwest stated: “We apologize to all of our Clients who had been affected by this disruption. Clients whose flights had been canceled are eligible for a refund and are inspired to submit requests for cheap reimbursements for incidental bills. These can be processed on a case-by-case foundation.”

The spokesperson additionally stated impacted passengers can get help by means of a travel-disruptions portal on their site.

Tokyo Disney, which is owned by The Oriental Land Firm, couldn’t instantly be reached for remark. The Walt Disney Firm, which licenses mental property to Tokyo Disney, didn’t instantly reply to Insider’s request for remark.

Have a information tip or a journey story to share? Contact this reporter at kvlamis@insider.com.