Have you ever heard of a bride missing her own wedding? This one will surely blow your mind as a canceled flight cost this woman her destination wedding, thousands of dollars, and the worst? She spent New Year's day all by herself and her kids, unable to share the joy with her friends, fiance, and extended family.
Keep reading for the details.
The bride, Katie Demko, 46, a resident of St. Louis, confirmed that she and her fiance, Michael, had planned a beautiful destination wedding in Belize on December 30, and he had gone ahead of her as she prepared to join him with the kids.
Demko revealed she's a regular Southwest customer who takes it almost weekly for work trips. Well, surprise is a dish best served cold as the airline's captain announced that the trip had been canceled as flight attendants were insufficient to make the trip.
The bride-to-be could not book another flight for her and her children to Belize despite her efforts with various traveling agents. She even considered a flight to Cancun, allowing her to get to Belize via a bus.
"I had about seven travel agents, and my whole family sat for 18 hours searching for a way to get us there. We even looked at flying to Cancún and getting a bus to drive us to Belize. There was nothing."
She also tried swapping tickets with friends planning to leave on Friday, but the airline couldn't successfully make the switch, leaving her distraught all morning on December 30.
The airline refunded her ticket money, and she could push some of the services she had booked for her wedding forward, like decorations and photography, but it wasn't complete, which means she'll have to get married in Belize eventually to save what's left of her now butchered budget.
Unfortunately, Demko couldn't get a refund from the resort where she had planned to stay with her guests. Victoria House operates a no-refund policy and doesn't postpone reservations, causing her to lose about $70k on that alone.
This bride's situation is just one of the thousands we don't even know whose tickets were canceled around New Year's and Christmas weekends owing to the ongoing storm and Southwest airline's "operational meltdown," in Bob Jordan's words.
More than half of canceled flights in the country belonged to Southwest airlines, especially those slated to fly on Monday, December 26.
