Airport disaster continues as families and passengers rely on last resort to get home
Trains, planes, automobiles and U-Hauls! Southwest Airlines passengers who have been stranded for days are now turning to other modes of transportation.
Some are expensive and time-consuming, but these travelers say it's a better option than waiting for flights that may not happen.
"We are on five standbys on five different airlines trying to get home," Bridgett Wilson said.
After multiple cancelations from Southwest Airlines, she's trying to buy a $2,000 flight home to Los Angeles.
"We fly Southwest 'cause we're not billionaires and now it's cutting into our personal means and it sucks," Wilson said.
Other flyers are turning to rental cars, trains, or buses to get to their destinations.
"Everyone from my gate came here to take the bus back and only half of us made it," said Lindsey Gross, while rolling a suitcase through Denver's Union Station.
She took a bus to Gunnison, Colorado after her fight from Denver was canceled.
"No cars, no planes, and we checked everywhere," Julie Gardner said.
CBS News Colorado met Julie with her husband and granddaughter in line at the Southwest ticket counter on Christmas eve.
The family had already been stuck in Denver for one night and were hoping for a miracle.
"It was just like we were being held, prisoner. No matter what we tried to do or where we went there was no recourse whatsoever for us," said Julie's husband, Mel.
That miracle didn't happen, but as Julie gazed out the window of their hotel that night, a stroke of genius did.
"I was like oh my gosh how are we gonna get this little girl home? So, we saw a U-Haul and said let's just try that," she said.
The family called a local store and received the last U-Haul available, which was a 2-seater box truck.
"So we built up our suitcases and came up with a way that the 3 of us could sit in the front in a very secure and safe way and started our journey," Julie said.
The Gardners started driving on Christmas morning, finally making it into San Antonio on Tuesday night, nearly five days later than originally planned.
"I don't want to say it's Christmas until I'm home with my family, and we were like it's Christmas! We had dinner, we opened presents, that was really fun," said Julie's granddaughter Dahlia Alverson.
The Gardners paid $1100 for the U-Haul, plus gas, mileage and multiple nights in hotels.
Southwest has said it will reimburse "reasonable" cancellation-related costs.
Passengers can submit receipts on their website, but don't expect that process to be a quick one.
