Mark Mourer, a super Frog fan who wears his devotion to TCU purple the way a NASCAR team does its sponsors — head to toe, bumper to fender — was headed to Phoenix for the highly anticipated Fiesta Bowl by way of a gift from his mother, who gladly conferred on her son unused points to travel with Dallas-based Southwest Airlines.
“Woke up this morning to a text saying they were canceled,” Mourer said on Tuesday by text message.
Mourer is not alone in finding himself in a real-life “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.” For many Horned Frogs fans, the trip to Arizona for No. 3 TCU’s national semifinal game against No. 2 Michigan has turned into anxiety not even the Hypnotoad can alleviate.
A crisis at Southwest, the operator of choice for many headed out west for the game, has put travel arrangements in jeopardy. On Monday, the airline canceled 70% of its flights, and more than 60% on Tuesday. On Monday night, the airline told passengers at Houston's Hobby Airport that those stranded would not be able to rebook on Southwest until Saturday or after, according to WFAA/Ch. 8. The company also said it expects more cancellations in the coming days.
Fort Worth-based American Airlines, United, Delta and JetBlue sustained cancellation rates of between none and 2% by Tuesday, according to The Associated Press. Southwest obviously is suffering a disproportionate disruption. Of the 2,890 flight cancellations in the U.S. early Tuesday, 2,522 were called off by Southwest.
The situation did not improve on Wednesday with thousands more Southwest flights canceled.
There are competing narratives about the reasons for the cancellations. The company placed the blame primarily on the Arctic storm last week.
Employees and travel advisers say while weather was a contributing factor, the root cause was an antiquated operations crew scheduling system that went down over the weekend. Without it, Southwest has no automated way to schedule crews, instead having to call each.
“Can you imagine the craziness involved with that?” one travel agent said.
In the end, many, like Mark Mourer, are trying to figure out a way to get to Phoenix.
Mourer is packing up the family of four and making the 15-hour drive to the desert, hitting every Allsup’s he can find for excellent and excess West Texas-style provisions.
“Everyone is still doing their best to find a way to get to the game no matter what,” said TCU grad Austin Patry. “They are looking for people who are driving; like they are all just considering road-tripping from here to Arizona.”
So, too, is Alexis Crowley, a 2015 communications graduate.
Crowley and her fiancé are slated to leave from Austin on Friday. However, a drive from San Antonio — where they live — starting on Friday would be an option.
“I’ve asked about carpooling to see if anybody in the area would want to link up for the ride but haven’t heard anything yet,” Crowley said.
Crowley said she would be able to cancel her Airbnb and rental car up to the end of the day on Friday.
“We would be out $450 because of the [game] tickets,” she said, “but that’s not too bad."
In terms of watching it somewhere else, Crowley said it’s either near their home in San Antonio, or possibly driving up here to link up with friends for a New Year’s Eve game-watching party.
Like Mourer, Khang Do, now residing in Modesto, California, is confident he's going to the game one way or another.
"I'm supposed to fly out of Sacramento around 7 a.m. Friday," Do said. "I hope they'll let us know the night before. At least that way I'll make preparations for the drive versus getting canceled while at the airport, then have to decide to make the drive."
Do drives an electric vehicle, so he'll likely need three charges. Rain is also in the forecast for his would-be alternate route.
Other fans are looking at an Amtrak ride, though one TCU fan had a capital idea: Uber has a charter bus partnership with US Coachways. One found coach buses leaving Thursday from TCU at prices between $12,238-$13,218. This particular trip leaves Scottsdale at noon Sunday.
That doesn’t sound so exorbitant if one can find, say 55 others. Then you’re looking at $250 a person.
That dog will hunt.
Safe travels.
