Rows of unclaimed luggage sat in the corner of Dallas Love Field Airport’s baggage claim on Wednesday as dozens of Dallas residents lined up at the Baggage Service Office hoping to recover lost Christmas gifts and everyday necessities.
After Dallas-based Southwest Airlines canceled thousands of flights since last week’s weather disrupted holiday travel, those impacted have returned home to Dallas only to realize their luggage is stuck elsewhere.
Kelli Domijan is mourning the loss of her husband’s new cowboy boots, which are stuck in St. Louis along with the rest of their bags. She knew better than to pack valuable goods in their checked luggage, but losing Christmas gifts still stings.
“I don’t have faith that my bag is in St. Louis either,” Domijan said. “I don’t have faith, but we’ll see.”
Domijan and her husband went to St. Louis to spend the holidays with family, but their flight was canceled. The pair ended up driving 10 hours home on Monday in a borrowed car.
She tried to call Southwest on Tuesday to locate her bags, but only heard silence, she said. That’s when Domijan decided to make time on Wednesday to go to Love Field in-person.
“My biggest disappointment is that Southwest didn’t take control of the luggage situation earlier,” she said.
Sara Diressa suffered through a four-hour delay to fly home to Dallas from Baltimore, where she spent the holidays. After arriving home at 2 a.m. early Wednesday morning, she discovered her luggage was still in Baltimore.
“This one had all my shoes,” she said. “So I had my favorite pair of heel, boots – I had my whole makeup bag in there, my whole life. Makeup’s expensive, so I better get it back.”
Diressa was told to call Southwest, but also only heard silence.
“Since I couldn’t get a hold of anybody, I figured I’ll just pull up to ask about my bag in-person,” she said. “Online, it didn’t give me that much information either. So at that point, I might as well ask them in-person.”
“It’s embarrassing on their part for not handling it like they should,” Diressa said. “Huge airline corporations like this should always have a backup plan.”
Matt Araiza and Jarrod Nicholson were planning on spending the holidays with Araiza’s family in Harlingen, but instead, when their flight was canceled on Christmas Eve, had a “supermarket sweep” 10 minutes before stores closed, desperately trying to gather enough food for Christmas Day.
The two were looking forward to participating in their family cookie swap and seeing Araiza’s grandparents
“First time I would have seen my grandparents in like 10 years,” Araiza said. “It was supposed to be a nice family reunion.”
After their flight was canceled, Araiza and Nicholson were told to come back to Love Field the next day to pick up their bags. When they came back to the airport they were told to send an email, and three days later they still haven’t heard back from Southwest prompting them to come in person.
“We just found out that our bags will probably be in Harlingen, which is where we were supposed to go, but we never went,” Araiza said. “They never booked us anywhere, so why are our bags there?”
Araiza said the whole situation has been a big headache, and he now just wants it over with.
“Southwest is on the naughty list this year,” Araiza said. “Hopefully they can make it right soon.”
Dallas Morning News’ phone calls and emails to Southwest Airlines were not immediately returned.
