4 bags, 4 vouchers: Love Field passenger gets unexpected gift from Southwest

DALLAS — As Southwest Airlines passengers impacted by the company’s late-December cancellation debacle continue to wait and see if they will be reimbursed, one North Texan received a late Christmas present on her doorstep Friday.

From Dec. 21 to Dec. 31, Southwest Airlines canceled more than 16,700 flights due to operation disruptions, stranding thousands of travelers nationwide for days.

In a Form 8-K filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday, the Dallas-based airline said it expects a net loss of $725 million to $825 million in the fourth quarter of 2022 as a result of the late-December cancellation debacle.

One of the travelers who already got some compensation for her flight issues is Dallasite Jaclyn Sung. Along with her husband, two young kids and dog, Sung recently traveled to Breckenridge, Colo. to see family.

The plan was to fly back from a Denver airport to Love Field the night of Christmas Day. Three hours before the flight, though, Sung’s flight was canceled.

“I spent the night in Denver Airport,” Sung said. “I’m very familiar with the airport now.”

Sung and her husband tried for days to find a flight to Dallas with no success.

“We waited in line for six hours,” Sung said. “We got re-booked to two different flights.”

Those two flights, though, were also canceled. One of them was supposed to go through a San Antonio airport. So once Sung and her family decided to find another flight to Lubbock and rent a car to drive back to Dallas, they had no idea where their four bags were.

Neither did Southwest Airlines.

“I had essentially been expecting either to never see our bags again or it be like two months before we saw them,” Sung said.

However, earlier this week, Sung said she received a phone call from Southwest saying the airline staff had in fact found their bags in San Antonio. Southwest also told her the company would send the four bags directly to her Dallas home.

Friday morning, that promise became a reality for Sung.

“This morning, a FedEx guy showed up at our home,” Sung said with a smile. “He had our four bags with him. And it was like Christmas morning again.”

Southwest also gave Sung four $200 vouchers along with the returned bags.

“I was jumping for joy when the FedEx guy was bringing the bags over,” Sung said. “Honestly, I would say Southwest exceeded my expectations. I really was expecting to see them in like February or March.”