After Southwest canceled their flight, K-State fans road trip to Sugar Bowl
Scott Miller and his wife bought their flights and tickets to the Sugar Bowl before they knew for sure if K-State would be playing.
On Tuesday morning, Miller learned along with thousands of other travelers around the country that his Southwest flight was canceled. He couldn’t reschedule the flight from Wichita to New Orleans until Sunday, a day after K-State takes on Alabama.
Tickets ahead of the game from other airlines like Delta would’ve cost Miller and his wife around $4,000 round trip. They’re hoping to eventually get a refund for the approximately $1200 they spent on their original Southwest tickets.
Instead, they and other fans are hitting the road to watch the Wildcats play in their first major bowl game since 2013.
“This is kind of a bucket list game,” Miller said. ”Who knows how many times K-State will ever play in the Sugar Bowl, and then they’re playing against Alabama, so you never know if they’ll play a team like that again.”
Because of a mix of technical and operational issues compounded by challenges from the winter storm that swept across the country last week, Southwest has struggled to bounce back. In Wichita, the airline has canceled 80% of its flights both Wednesday and Thursday, according to data from Flight Aware.
Kansas City travelers are facing similar issues. Southwest canceled 84 flights Tuesday, 82 flights Wednesday and 80 flights Thursday going into or out of Kansas City International Airport.
In a statement released Monday, Southwest apologized for challenges impacting customers and employees. The airline said it is working to fix the issue by repositioning crew members and fleets.
“We were fully staffed and prepared for the approaching holiday weekend when the severe weather swept across the continent, where Southwest is the largest carrier in 23 of the top 25 travel markets in the U.S.,” the airline wrote. “These operational conditions forced daily changes to our flight schedule at a volume and magnitude that still has the tools our teams use to recover the airline operating at capacity.”
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Monday night that it would investigate the cancellations and whether or not Southwest acted in line with its customer service policy.
To make time for the 14-hour road trip, Miller said the couple likely won’t get to explore New Orleans as much as they’d hoped.
They’ll leave Hutchison when his wife gets off work Wednesday, drive as far as they can and finish the trip Thursday, with enough time to see the Sugar Bowl parade, tailgate and take in the pre-game festivities with other fans. After the game, they’ll wake up early on New Year’s Day and head home.
Miller and his wife aren’t the only fans making the long drive after their flights were canceled. Some of his friends and a coworkers’ family will also be making the drive out, he said, and others in a K-State fan Facebook group said they’d find a way to New Orleans after flight cancellations.
While the trip there will be much longer than expected, Miller said it’s worth it to finish out a whirlwind season for K-State in the stands.
“We’ve had success, but this is one of the premiere bowls,” he said, “and so we just decided this was one we weren’t going to miss even though it’s not how we wanted to do it.”
This story was originally published December 28, 2022 at 4:35 PM.
