(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Maybe the flight attendant on Sarah Fordyce’s delayed flight from Long Beach, Ca., to Chicago’s Midway Airport was hinting at the mess to come.
“She’s like, ‘I don’t know, I wasn’t even supposed to work this flight. I’ve been crying,’” Fordyce recalled.
Upon arrival in Chicago, Fordyce learned that the connecting flight, which was supposed to bring her and her 8-year-old daughter Naomi to Albany, N.Y., had been canceled. Her luggage was also lost.
“I got in a line, and there were only just giant, long lines, and stood in it for two hours and made it about 10 feet,” Fordyce said.
The pair spent a few days in Michigan with family of Fordyce's boyfriend — whom she started dating two months prior. They ended up driving Fordyce and Naomi to Michigan City, Ind., after the rental car agency gave away their car. In Michigan City, though, they discovered the South Shore Line wasn’t operating.
“‘This part of the track is closed’ — I cannot make this up — ‘This part is closed, you’re going to get on a bus and take the bus to the other station,’” Fordyce recalled.
One bright spot, though, was staying at a friend’s condo near Millennium Park before flying out of O’Hare Airport.
“We had the funnest day in Chicago. It was like, in the Hallmark movie, it was the montage where everybody’s having the best time ever,” Fordyce said.
They ultimately made it to see family in Albany on another airline and were reunited with their bags two days before returning home to California.
“We finally got back, and I’m like: ‘Oh, that was horrible,’” she said. “In the moment, we did a great job of reframing, and we had this wonderful, special trip to Chicago that never would have happened.”
Fordyce said she still never got through to Southwest’s customer service, despite repeated attempts.
“I mean, I would hold for 30 minutes, an hour, and then have to just hang up because — life,” Fordyce said.
It will take some time before she’s ready to trust the airline again — even to use the $400 voucher they gave her when she was reunited with her bags.
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