Baggage claim at Dallas Love Field looks like a luggage store. Unclaimed bags sit in rows, like the passengers they belong to sat on planes, thinking their bags were along for the ride.
"It's like, dark green," said Joe McKirahan as he walked the rows of bags looking for his. "I think it's kind of ridiculous."
"I looked through this maybe 8 times, and then I finally figured it wasn't actually in the pile," said McKirahan who landed in Dallas two days ago. "Yes, this is the exact same thing I was wearing. I only have one pair of clothes."
Many passengers told NBC 5 they understand weather was bad, but were frustrated to find such a bad situation with baggage claim.
"I was told in Houston that my bag had been flown to Dallas. When I got to Dallas, I was told my bags were still in Houston," said Richard Harris of Allen. "Nobody knew what was going on."
"When we got off the plane, there was luggage everywhere. It looked like a maze," said Loleeta Maye, who landed Wednesday night. "They act like it's the first time it's ever rained or they've ever had a storm like this and it's just ridiculous!"
Southwest said the timing of the storm was unfortunate with holiday flights fully booked. At the peak, the airline had more than 1,600 unclaimed bags. On Friday, Southwest said that number was down to 400. Southwest hoped to get bags to their owners by Saturday.
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At DFW airport, an American Airlines spokesperson said the airline had 85 diverted flights and was working to get passengers and baggage where they needed to be.
"It's the holidays," said passenger Rachel Hagen. "More people are traveling than normal, and with all the storms and flights being cancelled, I think this is probably the best they can do at the moment."
