KANSAS CITY, Mo — Over the past couple of days, Southwest Airlines has cancelled thousands of flights and passengers are now looking at alternate ways to get to their destinations.
One of those passengers is Stephanie Cole, who spent the holidays in Kansas City and was headed back to Baltimore due to personal matters. Cole said her flight kept on getting delayed by the airline and she had to resort to waiting hours at KCI to talk to a Southwest employee in person after repeated calls to the airline's customer service line failed to go through.
"I think it was just mismanagement of just the whole situation and it wasn't just us here in Kansas City. I know it was other areas like Baltimore, Atlanta, but it just was poor management," Cole said.
Cole decided to make the drive to Baltimore after booking a car through Avis, a rental company. She says long lines were also at the corporate rental office by the airport, and even though the 16-hour long commute will put her out of hundreds of dollars, it's not so much the money she's concerned about.
"It was frustrating spending four hours at the airport and we don't know when we'll be back in Kansas City, so that took away that kind of precious time that I have with my parents, and my husband's family and the rest of my family, so that that was really frustrating," she reflected.
Bleu Car KC, is a locally-owned car rental service in Kansas City. Owner Gia Bleu says business phones have been ringing off the hook with customers eager to find ways to get home. Bleu says as of Tuesday, 80% of her inventory had already been reserved with the majority of people making those reservations impacted by flight cancellations.
"We've been booked to capacity within the last week," Bleu said. " I mean, it's not uncommon for us to hit those marks this time of the year, but I definitely expect us to continue to increase in calls and bookings."
Bleu said despite the uptick in demand, she still is offering a flat-rate per day for a car, isn't charging per mile and won't increase prices.
Travelers who are resorting to car rentals may come across a lack of inventory, according to Bleu, since the holiday season is a busy time for companies nationwide. Her advice is for customers to authenticate their reservation through different avenues to ensure availability.
"Double check and confirm your bookings and calling the location ahead wherever your booked with right to just confirm that you're actually gonna have a vehicle available," Bleu said.
