As the Austin City Limits Music Festival wraps up for 2021, festivalgoers will be headed back to the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA) but could face some travel delays if flying with Southwest Airlines. Dozens of flights were canceled this weekend leaving many people with nowhere to go.
Hundreds of Southwest Airlines customers were left stranded due to widespread cancellations across the country, including in Austin. Brothers Brian and Andy Shilts were in Austin visiting family.
“We woke up this morning to see that our flight had been canceled and so we’ve been here for the last few hours trying to figure out how to get home,” Brian Shilts said.
In a statement to CBS Austin, Southwest Airlines said:
We experienced weather challenges in our Florida airports at the beginning of the weekend, challenges that were compounded by unexpected air traffic control issues in the same region triggering delays and prompting significant cancellations for us beginning Friday evening. We’ve continued diligent work throughout the weekend to reset our operation with a focus on getting aircraft and Crews repositioned to take care of our customers. We’re working diligently to accommodate our Customers as quickly as possible, and we are grateful for their patience. We’re offering Customers added flexibility to explore self-service rebooking options on Southwest.com, where they can get updates on the status of their travel. We know the frustration flight cancellations are creating for our Customers and Employees and we apologize, and we again thank everyone for patience as we work first to be safe, and second to be as quick as possible in solving disrupted plans.
“It’s super disappointing. It’s very frustrating, but in the end, of all the people in all of the world to be traveling with my brother and to be stranded in Austin, Texas the home of glorious barbeque and wonderful music, we’ll be OK," Brian said.
“You can either complain and let it wreck your day or try to make the best of it. So, we’re going to go with option two,” Andy said.
ABIA spokesperson Bryce Dubee said 80 out of 139 arrivals and departures were canceled on Saturday. He expects to see a ripple effect over the next few days as ACL Fest and other events in the area wrap up. ABIA is providing information across all channels reminding passengers that these disruptions are occurring.
"For the travelers who are going to be coming through post-festival that's definitely important. If you're going to be heading to the airport tomorrow, we are anticipating it will still be busy regardless of any of these issues at the moment," Dubee said.
ABIA is anticipating 29,500 passengers on Monday which would crack the airport's top 15 busiest days in airport history. ABIA urges travelers to keep an eye on flight status updates.
"While Southwest is our largest carrier here at AUS, we are seeing a lot of flights still going through. It is still very busy at the airport. Friday was our fourth busiest day in airport history. We had just over 30,000 passengers go through and that shows what we're seeing overall this time of year," Dubee said.
For the Shilts brothers, the countdown begins until they can fly back home.
“It seems like 23 hours is how long it’s going to be,” Brian said.
TRENDING:Missing Fort Hood soldier found safe
Customers tell CBS Austin they are having problems rebooking on Southwest Airlines' website. Customers are getting messages that say "your flight is in progress" when trying to rebook. CBS Austin did reach out to Southwest Airlines to see what the problem is and we’re still waiting to hear back.