A 14-year-old was stranded in an airport for 19 hours on Christmas Eve after Southwest's flight chaos

• A 14-year-old Southwest passenger was stranded in a Baltimore airport for 19 hours on Christmas Eve.
• Southwest staff left Penelope Meyer alone as they repeatedly rebooked her flight to Florida.

Southwest's holiday chaos left a teenager stranded in an airport for 19 hours on Christmas Eve, forcing her parents to travel for hours themselves to rescue her.

Penelope Meyer, 14, had been flying from Long Island, New York, to Fort Myers, Florida, to spend Christmas with her dad, Greg.

She got caught up during her layover at Baltimore-Washington International Airport as Southwest canceled thousands of flights amid a scheduling nightmare that concurrent winter storms only exacerbated. The holiday meltdown is expected to cost the company about $825 million.

Greg told Insider that Penelope was on her own while stuck in Baltimore. He said staff sent her to several gates during a series of delays, rebookings, and cancellations to flights and didn't offer her any food or drink vouchers.

"What was really amazing was the fact that she was stuck there in Baltimore for so long, and had no help from anybody," Greg told Insider.

Penelope eventually spoke with a Southwest agent, who alerted a manager to the situation, but Greg said the manager never showed up.

As the parents' anxiety increased, Penelope's mother decided to make the four-hour drive to Baltimore to rescue her daughter and took her to a hotel for the night.

Greg had also decided to fly to Baltimore on December 24, but his Southwest flight suffered lengthy delays, and he didn't arrive until the evening of Christmas Day.

"Otherwise, she was going to be sleeping in an airport alone as a 14-year-old girl," Greg said. "It's like a borderline-dangerous situation, because it was pretty unruly in Baltimore."

The three spent Christmas night in a Baltimore hotel, rather than with Greg's family, as he'd planned. It also turned out to be the last Christmas for Greg's grandfather, who died last week at the age of 104.

"This sort of thing just shouldn't happen. It's crazy, you know — it just shouldn't happen in that way," Greg said.

On December 26, Greg and Penelope took an Uber that cost $100 to Washington Dulles International Airport for a $640 Delta flight to Tampa, Florida, and eventually landed at about 10 p.m. Greg said his father had driven from Naples, Florida, to Tampa to pick them up.

Insider has viewed screenshots of the Meyers' bookings for their flights, hotel stay, and Uber trips.

While Greg found the additional expenses of about $2,000 to be an inconvenience, he was more concerned that staff had left Penelope alone for so long.

"I don't necessarily think they even know about these sorts of possibilities. Like, it may not have even crossed their minds that there are juveniles stuck by themselves for the holidays," he said.

A representative for Southwest said the airline was in the process of reimbursing most of the family's expenses.

"We are disheartened to learn of the family's experience, as well as all those impacted by our recent operational disruption over the holidays," the representative said.

"Of course, we know that the refunds and reimbursements do not make up for the massive inconvenience and stress they faced getting Penelope home, and for that we are truly sorry."