Southwest Airlines passengers still stranded across the country

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Flight delays are wreaking havoc for travelers across the country as well as right here in the Bay Area. Southwest Airlines says it's canceled a majority of its flights due to technical difficulties with its operating systems, leaving thousands stranded at the airport. 

On Monday night, there were still dozens of people here trying to see if they can get a flight out, get booked on another airline or get their money back for the canceled flight. 

"I don’t think I’m going to get anything here other than my money back or maybe a voucher and see if they can get me anything flight wise," said Chelsie Marsh, from Los Angeles.

Hundreds of frustrated passengers stood in line in Terminal B at Southwest Airlines, trying to get a flight out of San Jose the day after Christmas.

"I got to go to work the first thing tomorrow morning. I took a risk by visiting my family out here in the Bay. I got a 50-minute flight to So Cal, and I’m going to miss it. I have to go to work all week, so we’ll see how this goes," said Marsh.  

Dozens of flights arriving and departing from San Jose have been canceled, some delayed and just a few flights were actually boarding passengers Monday night.

Though deadly snow storm Elliot caused flight interruptions on the East Coast this week, passengers say Southwest Airlines blamed technical issues with their operating for the cancelations. 

"Ten minutes before I pulled up to the airport, I got a notification my flight was canceled, so I was like, so what’s going to happen from here?" said Devon Armstrong, from Nashville. 

Passengers were not the only people stranded in the airports. The union representing Southwest Airlines flight attendants says its members were also negatively impacted over the last few days.  

"Being left without hotels, being left without transportation, being unable to just contact somebody to tell you what to do, and to help you is deplorable," said Lyn Montgomery, TWU Local 556 President.  

Southwest Airlines had this response to customer inquiries and flight crew complaints. 

"Obviously facing some operational challenges this evening with Winter Storm Elliott that has kind of moved on to include some challenges with our flight crews being stuck in locations, not where they need to be along with the aircraft. You know, at this point, we're working to accommodate our customers as best we can and offer the most options that we can to get folks back home or to their vacation spots or holiday celebration spot that at this point," said Jay McVay, spokesperson for Southwest Airlines. 

Marsh says she was told she couldn’t get a flight out of San Jose until Saturday. 

She said all the buses to Southern California were sold out, and KTVU was informed that rental car shops are also sold out for now.