Overall issues at Colorado Springs Airport subsiding, still headaches for Southwest travelers
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The airport madness impacting thousands of travelers across the country appears to be calming down here in Colorado Springs. Still, those flying Southwest are still affected.
Wednesday, Dec. 28, Southwest Airlines canceled 60% of its flights nationwide, with more cancellations expected on Thursday.
In Colorado Springs, Southwest canceled 22 departing and arriving flights as of 4 p.m. However, there were far fewer people here waiting in line to rebook flights than in the past few days.
Airport officials told KRDO they expect fewer travel issues going forward. Passengers traveling to Colorado Springs appear to be getting here with a few if any problems. Travelers trying to get out of the Pikes Peak area, however, they're still dealing with the cancellation mess.
"They don't have any flights back to Miami… I think the next one is on Saturday and even that is not guaranteed," said traveler, Sabrina Arevalo.
Arevalo flew in from Miami to visit her family for the holidays, she was supposed to fly back home Wednesday.
"Originally we were supposed to fly back from Denver to Miami but our flight got canceled through Southwest," said Arevalo.
She had no luck when trying to rebook her flight through the airline. Arevalo is now renting a car and committing to hours of driving to get back home.
"We are just going to drive for 30 hours because we have to get back there by Saturday night because both my dad and I have work on Sunday… In the morning actually," added Arevalo.
However, the situation for people coming into the Peaks Peak region seems to be completely different.
"I came from Oregon and everything worked really well. I didn't have any kind of delays I was able to fly straight into Denver and then I was able to make it to the Springs no problem," said traveler, Korey Hehn.
The Colorado Springs Airport is already preparing for the next possible influx of travelers on New Year's weekend.
"Usually we have busier times but it's been upped in flows, but we have seen our airline partners work really well with everyone that has been affected in some way," said Senior Public Communication Specialist for the Colorado Springs airport, Dana Schield.
Airport officials recommend you double-check your flight status before coming here. They are keeping restaurants and other shops open here later too.
