Penelope Meyer and her dad Greg endured a two-day travel ordeal that ruined their Christmas.
Greg Meyer
A 14-year-old Southwest passenger was stranded in Baltimore airport for 19 hours on Christmas Eve.
Penelope Meyer was left alone in the airport as Southwest repeatedly rebooked her flight to Florida.
The family spent about $2,000 all up, and missed Christmas Day with Greg’s wider family.
A teenager got stranded in an airport for 19 hours on Christmas Eve by the Southwest chaos, forcing her parents to travel for hours themselves to rescue her.
Penelope Meyer, 14, had been flying from Long Island in New York to Fort Myers, Florida to spend Christmas with her dad Greg.
But she got caught up during her layover at Baltimore-Washington International Airport as Southwest canceled thousands of flights amid a scheduling nightmare exacerbated by winter storms. The holiday meltdown is expected to cost the company about $825 million.
Greg told Insider that Penelope was on her own while stuck in Baltimore. He said she was sent to several gates during a series of delays, rebookings, and cancellations to flights and wasn’t offered any food or drink vouchers.
“What was really amazing was the fact that she was stuck there in Baltimore for so long, and had no help from anybody,” Greg told Insider.
Penelope eventually spoke with a Southwest agent, who alerted a manager to the situation, but Greg said the manager never showed up.
As their anxiety increased, Penelope’s mother decided to make the four-hour drive to Baltimore to rescue her daughter and took her to a hotel for the night.
Greg had also decided to fly to Baltimore on December 24, but his Southwest flight suffered lengthy delays and he didn’t arrive until the evening of Christmas Day.
“Otherwise, she was going to be sleeping in an airport alone as a 14-year-old girl,” Greg explained. “It’s like a borderline dangerous situation, because it was pretty unruly in Baltimore.”
The three spent Christmas night in a Baltimore hotel, rather than with Greg’s family as he’d planned. It also turned out to be the last Christmas for Greg’s grandfather, who died last week at the age of 104.
“This sort of thing just shouldn’t happen. It’s crazy, you know – it just shouldn’t happen in that way,” Greg said.
On December 26 Greg and Penelope took an Uber costing $100 to Washington Dulles International Airport for a Delta flight to Tampa, Florida that cost them $640 and eventually landed at about 10 p.m. Greg said his father had driven to from Naples to Tampa to pick them up.
Insider has viewed screenshots of the Meyers’ bookings for their flights, hotel stay and Uber journeys.
While Greg found the additional expenses of about $2,000 to be an inconvenience, he was more concerned that Penelope had been left alone for so long.
“I don’t necessarily think they even know about these sorts of possibilities. Like it may not have even crossed their mind that there are juveniles stuck by themselves for the holidays.”
A representative for Southwest said the airline was in the process of reimbursing most of the family’s expenses.
“We are disheartened to learn of the family’s experience, as well as all those impacted by our recent operational disruption over the holidays,” the representative said.
“Of course, we know that the refunds and reimbursements do not make up for the massive inconvenience and stress they faced getting Penelope home, and for that we are truly sorry.”