<p>My daughter’s flight tonight from Boston to Minneapolis was cancelled because of weather, and there are no seats available until Dec. 24. And there is no place for her to stay Sat. or Sun. nights, because the dorms will be closed. Any advice? Do I just suck it up and try to find a nearby hotel?</p>
<p>Your options are trying to get on the train to Chicago, renting a car and driving (terrible option, obviously), a hotel, or seeing if she can find friends to stay with near Boston. Does she have any dormmates who are locals? Parents are likely to be very accommodating to a stranded kid at this time of year.</p>
<p>Don’t forget the option of contacting the college to see whether they can make any arrangements for students from the Midwest who are stranded in Boston because of the weather.</p>
<p>But in the meantime, make that hotel reservation, and if she’s under 21, explain the situation to the hotel and see whether they will allow her to rent a room. Some won’t, even if you’re paying for it on your credit card. You don’t want her to get to the hotel on Saturday night and find out that they won’t let her stay in the room you’ve reserved because she’s underage. (Remember that she’s going to have to show her ID to check in, so she can’t conceal her age.)</p>
<p>Keep checking back with the airlines for cancellations. Is she flying a direct flight? I was asking because maybe she could fly stand-by and get on a flight if there are no-shows. Call the airlines to be sure. I also agree to check with the college and let them know the problem because she can’t be the only one with this situation.</p>
<p>edited - saw it’s Southwest… </p>
<p>Work with the airline to see if they can get her another departure airport that she can get to by Amtrak:
- Newark Airport has an Amtrak stop that has a monorail to the terminals.<br>
- Philadelphia Airport has a commuter train connection from the Amtrak station.<br>
- Baltimore - bus to terminal from Amtrak stop </p>
<p>She could also try to a connecting flight that at least gets her a bit closer to home, such as Chicago. (check to see if SW flies Chicago to MSP…I’m sure they do, but out of Midway)</p>
<p>Unfortunately there aren’t many large airports near MSP that she could use as a reasonable alternate destination. </p>
<p>When do the dorms close? she should camp out at the airport and try to fly stand-by. Often people have double booked and don’t show (or miss their flight as someone’s son did this morning). Unfortunately with the bad storm, I think many people are going to be getting home later than they planned this year.</p>
<p>I think the problem is that her flight was to Minneapolis via Chicago, and there is a storm headed there (maybe already there?). Southwest says it will cost extra to fly her out of any airport except Boston or Manchester NH (which has a flight on Sun). The person I talked to wouldn’t tell me if it would be worthwhile to try to fly stand by – she really didn’t know. The dorms close on Sat., so she can’t stay there Sat. night or Sun. night, but will try to contact the college (Brandeis) I guess, and see if there is an option to stay there somewhere.</p>
<p>Keep pushing the airline. Not having a seat for 4 days is not acceptable. I would call back and find a sympathetic agent. Portray your daughter as helpless and inexperienced traveler that just wants to get to MSP. As I noted in the other travel thread, they can work with you if they want. Maybe they can route her through Baltimore or Philly. </p>
<p>looking at the Southwest travel map below, they have plenty of other cities away from this storm that have service to both MSP & Boston, the trick will be finding seats on 2 flights without a horrific layover. You might even want to look at places like Tulsa or St Louis. </p>
<p>[Travel</a> Guide - Southwest Airlines](<a href=“Flight Deals and Offers | Southwest Airlines”>Flight Deals and Offers | Southwest Airlines)</p>
<p>Been there done that. Yup, keep trying for better agent. See if they will put her in any seat. Otherwise weather related leaves you stranded. If she needs a hotel some will take under 21 with your credit card, etc. Helps if you are a member of any hotel loyalty program.</p>
<p>I just saw on the news that Southwest has suspended all flights to Chicago and Milwaukee. If it were me, at this time of year, I’d pay whatever extra was necessary to get my D home for the holidays.</p>
<p>Keep looking at other airlines availability and ask if they will honor the ticket. Many will.</p>
<p>Unfortunately I don’t think the other airlines will honor a Southwest ticket. Given all the airline industry mergers I don’t know if cross-honoring happens much these days. </p>
<p>A long time ago, my challenge was to take a flight not on my scheduled itinerary and I gave myself more points if I was on a different airlines. When I traveled through Chicago I would just walk up to the desk of the next flight to Newark and see if they would accept my ticket no matter the carrier.</p>
<p>This sounds weird but try complaining to their twitter account, @SouthwestAir. American at least can resolve problems that way, and it looks like Southwest might also.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. Will try calling again in a little while. The problem is, there really are no seats available, as far as I can tell right now, from anywhere, even at a higher price. My daughter had called earlier to check on availability out of New York. They have no contingency plans for cancelled flights during the busy holidays, according to the Southwest agent I spoke to. And they do not offer to reimburse for hotel or anything if it is due to the weather. The lady did find the Sunday flight from Manchester, which would get her here a day earlier, if she can figure out how to get to Manchester. Might be better to stay in Boston, though, since she is familiar with Boston.</p>
<p>I’m from Manchester and there are reasonable hotels close to the airport and they all have shuttles. The airport is small so there are rarely lines at security and if there’s a space they’ll honor on Sunday I would get her up there. There’s a bus (it leaves from the main bus terminal) that leaves hourly to Manchester though she’d then need a cab to the hotel, or there are airport shuttles that cost a bunch more-I don’t use those. Good luck-I hope she makes it home! I was once on the last flight allowed in during a winter where it snowed there for almost 2 weeks solid.</p>
<p>I would try to get her a flight to any airport that is not in the way of the storm, as soon as you can, because the more flights that get cancelled, the more competition for precious seats. If she has to go to Manchester, I believe the bus is <$15. Agree, keep calling until you get a helpful agent that can get your D on a flight and be aware that you’ll have to be flexible and there may be more stops than you necessarily want.</p>
<p>Have been there and done that with both of my kids. While stressful (for ME!) at the time, they both managed to create some fun memories while being stranded… Good luck to you!</p>
<p>Megabus has 26 dollar bus rides from boston to New york on friday - are there any flights from new york?</p>
<p>I think the problem is not weather in Boston (or Manchester or anywhere else on the East Coast). The problem is the winter storm in Chicago. Southwest does not fly direct from Boston to Minneapolis. I always try to avoid changing planes in Chicago.</p>
<p>When I heard today that Southwest was canceling all departures as of 4PM today, I knew it was going to get bad. They do have some flights still coming in, but have no departures leaving Midway until tomorrow. Midway usually does not get as backed up during storms as O’Hare does, so this is unusual that Southwest is taking this stance, especially since the further north one goes, the more snow we’re supposed to get and O’Hare is north of Midway.</p>
<p>Seriously… what about Amtrak? I’ve taken it between Syracuse and Chicago - it’s not bad.</p>
<p>She should go on-line to southwest.com to find all of the possible flights tonight and tomorrow, even if they are currently listed as “sold out” (there is an evening one-stop from BOS->MSP, but it is currently “sold out”). That way, she knows what to ask for if she is talking to an agent. If she is at the airport, she can try to stand by on a “sold out” flight and hope there are no-shows.</p>
<p>While on-line, she can also search other airlines for flights; if any appear, she can try to get Southwest to rebook her onto the other airline flight, or just buy the ticket.</p>
<p>However, do not be too optimistic, since the airline flights on all airlines are likely to be more full than usual, so there just is not much extra capacity to handle a planeload of passengers from a cancelled flight.</p>
<p>See if you can get her to detroit or st. louis (which is west of the storm), and then get back to MSP from there? </p>
<p>Just a thought.</p>
<p>Good luck to you and your kiddo!</p>