Southwest cancels groom's flight days before New Year's Eve wedding, Texas bride says

AUSTIN, Texas - Southwest officials say they are desperately trying to fix things after thousands of delays and cancelations riddle their flight schedule. 

One UT alumni bride-to-be found herself in the middle of the airline chaos wondering if she will be able to get married after her fiancé's flight was canceled days before their wedding.

The week before the wedding is supposed to be the happiest time of her life.

"I am getting married on Saturday, New Year's Eve here in Houston," said Wendi Reichstein.

However, Wendi says this week has been nothing short of a nightmare.

"As the days to the wedding kept getting closer, the problem just seemed to be getting worse instead of better," she said.

She says the stress falls back on Southwest Airlines.

"Things going wrong related to the wedding I was mentally prepared for. The groom's flight being canceled and, you know, me having to say to him, ‘there's a chance you may need to get in the car right now and drive so that you make it in time to get married’ was not something I had prepared for," she said.

Wendi and her fiancé both currently live in Florida, but decided to have the wedding in Houston where she’s from.

Wendi flew to Houston on Christmas Eve on Southwest with a delay. Her fiancé was supposed to fly in on Wednesday, but his flight was canceled. 

"For all of this to happen, the weekend of my wedding is admittedly very disheartening," said Wendi.

Luckily, Wendi was able to rebook his flight on United. However, he was not the only one dealing with Southwest issues.

"Southwest also canceled his parents' flights, as well as his sister and brother-in-law and his two nieces’ flights. His parents frantically rebooked, I believe, United for tomorrow, Thursday, and his sister and brother-in-law are currently road tripping 16 hours from Fort Lauderdale to Houston to be able to make it in time for our wedding," she said.

Other wedding guests tell Wendi, they do not even know if they can make it.

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"To really just be at the mercy of Southwest, who is just canceling all of these flights and people don't know if their flight is even going to take off or not or when that's going to happen, I think, is the most frustrating piece of all of this," she said.

In the end, Wendi knows this is not just her issue. Thousands of people are being inconvenienced by the Southwest chaos.

All she cares about is getting to Saturday and marrying the love of her life.

"All the stress and the anxiety and, you know, the constantly checking flight statuses and, you know, looking at the tv and crying and pouring out their glass of wine, you know, hopefully one day we can look back on this and laugh," said Wendi.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Wendi told FOX 7 Austin her fiancé landed in Houston. Her wedding on Saturday will go on as planned.