TYLER, Texas — Southwest Airlines does not fly into East Texas, leaving many East Texans unable to come home because of major flight cancelations across the nation.
Former CBS19 reporter and anchor Anthony Austin grew up in the city of Whitehouse. He now works at First Coast News NBC12/ABC25 in Jacksonville, Florida.
Austin said the chaos with Southwest Airlines caused him to miss Christmas with his family.
"I was going to fly into Dallas and then I was going to drive to Tyler," Austin said. "I'm at the airport, I'm sitting down and I just happened to open up the app and I see that my flight is canceled."
It was Christmas Eve and Austin did not receive any email or notification about the cancellation.
"I was going to try to reschedule for the following day for Christmas Day, and I was like surely I can make it to Texas on Sunday," Austin said.
He tried rebooking three more times, but every single rebooked flight was also canceled making Austin completely miss the holiday.
Over at Tyler Pounds Regional Airport Connie Myers, a Lake Fork resident, had a rough trip back from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
"We flew into Chicago and it was a mess, a real mess," Myers said. "Then we had a little problem getting into Houston last night. So it's been a couple of days of a lot of fighting, but hey they did the best they could."
Myers said she's had smooth travels around the holiday season before.
But now Myers said she wishes everyone would calm down, especially after watching some altercations at other airports.
"They're doing the best they can," Myers said. "Some of this is mechanical and can't be helped. We need to start getting along a little better."
Myers made it home safely, but Austin is still waiting for a full refund from Southwest Airlines.
"I tried to speak with someone but the phone line was busy," Austin said. "That's right over and over again. I couldn't get through at all and I know people who actually did get through, but then they were on hold for at least three or four hours. Some of them never spoke to anyone."
Some good news that came out of Austin's situation is that the car rental company Hertz gave him a full refund since he prepaid for a vehicle.
He now hopes to come see his family sometime in February.