An Oregon family opted to take a multi-day road trip from Florida and spent over $4,000 after Southwest canceled their flight during the holidays

• An Oregon family was forced to take a cross-country road trip from Florida to Oregon.
• Lisa Chapman and her family learned about the Southwest cancellations while on a 10-day cruise.

An Oregon family was forced to spend thousands to take an arduous, multi-day road trip home from Florida after Southwest Airlines canceled their flight during the holidays.

Lisa Chapman took a 10-day cruise with her husband, Craig, and her son, Hunter, for a highly anticipated winter vacation. But their getaway was disrupted when the airline informed them that their flights departing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, were canceled. The family's original plan was to stay in the city overnight and catch their plane the next morning.

"We've never done a trip at Christmas time, and this was the first kind of thing, and it was huge for us," Chapman told Insider.

At first, Chapman and her husband — loyal Southwest Airlines customers — did not believe their flights were axed until they learned that other passengers on the cruise ship had received the same notice.

"The line was just horrendous because they were trying to rebook on the ship, but we didn't book our flight through the cruise line," she said. "We booked it ourselves, and so they couldn't help us."

Due to a lack of connection and Internet service, the family decided to wait until they got to the port to call the airline. When they docked in Florida on December 28th, Chapman said they were on hold for an hour before they were connected to an agent. The representative initially offered the family a flight days later, on January 4th.

However, Lisa works at a school in Oregon and could not take extra time off.

"[The agent] said she had a seat open on the first and then two seats on the second. And my husband's like, "Well, let's just book these." And I was like, "Okay, let's do that," said Chapman."Because of my anxiety, we originally booked them, and then I started to have an attack."

Southwest Airlines cancellations resulted in travel pandemonium across the country

December's large-scale cancellations by Southwest Airlines resulted in a domino effect of chaos at airports nationwide. Travelers were left stranded at airports and waited online for hours to rebook their flights. Others opted to rent a car — resulting in shortages — leading some people to decide to ride with strangers in order to get to their destinations.

Southwest expects to take a roughly $825 million hit in lost revenue, passenger reimbursements, and other costs from the chaos.

When Chapman arrived at her hotel, she saw the chaos unfolding on local news, including the bulk of unclaimed luggage that piled up at different airports. Due to her concern that the flights were going to get canceled anyway, the family decided to hit the road.

"I just started to have a panic attack, and we were sitting there in a rental car...and my husband's like, 'You know what? Let's just cancel these, and we'll just drive," Chapman explained, adding that the family departed from Florida on December 29th in their rented Hyundai Sante Fe.

"Each day, as we moved along through different states, we looked for hotels along the way and just booked those hotels along the way," Chapman said. "I just finished a spreadsheet with all of our expenses, and I was astounded at how much it cost."

Other expenses included high gas prices, food, and the proper clothes for the weather because the family only packed shorts and flip-flops for the Caribbean. They had to purchase jackets, long pants, and sweatshirts to stay warm. Chapman said that in total they spent more than $4,000 on their road trip.

A spokesperson for Southwest previously told Insider that customers whose flights were canceled " are eligible for a refund and are encouraged to submit requests for reasonable reimbursements for incidental expenses."

During their travels, Chapman said road closures in Wyoming added an additional two days to their journey. However, they made it back to Carlton, Oregon safely on January 4th.

Their experience sparked the inspiration for another trip under different circumstances.

"Eventually, we want to take our very own cross-country trip. But it's going to be planned. It's going to be different," she said. "We'll take our time, and we'll do things that we want to do."