Carlton family on unexpected road trip home from Florida after canceled flight

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) – As Southwest Airlines says their operations are returning to regular, one Carlton family is driving all the way in which home from Florida.

“Keeping a positive mind on everything is probably what’s keeping us going,” Lisa Chapman mentioned.

The Chapmans had their winter break deliberate out – they’d go on a 10-day cruise and fly out of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. to be again in Oregon for the beginning of the varsity 12 months Tuesday.

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Then mass cancellations from Southwest Airlines modified their plans.

“Two days before we got back into port, I received a text message that my flight had been canceled by Southwest,” Chapman mentioned. “I was devastated.”

So, they rebooked two flights. On Saturday, Chapman hoped her husband Craig might fly to PDX and he or she’d fly out the following day with their son Hunter. But once they figured these flights could be canceled as properly, they took issues into their very own fingers.

“We decided that we would cancel and get our refund someday through Southwest and then we rented a car and now we’re now in the middle of traveling from Fort Lauderdale to our hometown of Carlton, Oregon,” she mentioned. “So, it’s a mess.”

The Chapmans are actually on day two of a cross-country road trip they by no means anticipated to take, a minimum of not like this. Luckily, she mentioned they’ll make it home on Monday.

“We have always wanted to do a cross country trip, you know? We actually have a trailer and we wanted to see monuments and different things that are cool in our country because I’ve never been able to see parts of history,” Chapman mentioned. “We just passed the St. Louis arch and I’d love to see that. We’re pointing it out like, ‘there’s the arch! there’s the arch!’ But we just saw it in passing.”

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This week, Southwest’s chief business officer launched a video assertion saying they’d present refunds and permit clients to submit receipts for another journey preparations they needed to make. Chapman mentioned she’s retaining observe of each expense she will be able to.

“I’m keeping all of my receipts for food, hotel, rental car and that’s pretty much it and that’s money we can’t afford to spend,” Chapman mentioned.

Saturday the Southwest CEO put out an announcement saying they know they need to work to revive clients’ confidence in them.

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