Thanks, Southwest: Family Drives From Phoenix To Boston For NHL Winter Classic After Canceled Flight

Holiday travel is brutal, and this year flight cancelations have been sweeping across the nation.

Well, not so much the nation as much as Southwest Airlines.

Tim Maher and his family have plans to attend the 2023 NHL Winter Classic at Fenway Park. This year the Boston Bruins will host the Pittsburgh Penguins in one of the league's marquee events. The Maher's live in Phoneix but decided to make the trip to the game as a gift for their 17-year-old son.

"He said, 'The one gift I want is I want to go back to Boston for the Classic,'" Maher said.

So, the Mahers made the appropriate arrangements and it looked like smooth sailing. Then the delays began, and finally the cancelation.

"We would be there to this day, them saying, 'Standby, standby, standby,'" Maher told Boston's WCVB.

These are hockey fans, and hockey fans don't give up that easily.

The Mahers had a contingency plan.

When the Maher family arrives in Boston they'll be treated by this picturesque view at Fenway Park. (Photo by Brian Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)

Southwest Be Damned, The Mahers Are Roadtripping it

So the Mahers have gotten their hands on a rental car and are driving to Boston.

The trek from Phoenix Sky Harbor International airport to Fenway Park is a mind-numbing 39-hour drive.

They need to be in Beantown by Jan. 2 so they've got the time to take it easy. It doesn't need to be a "use the empty Gatorade bottle that's been rolling under the passenger seat " kind of trip if you... catch my drift.

Maher said his family did have some time to run home and catch a bit of shut-eye before they skipped town. After that, they packed up the ol' rental vehicle and started their Clark Griswold-like journey to hockey's annual outdoor game.

This will be the second time the NHL has held the Winter Classic at Fenway Park. The first was in 2010 when the Bs hosted the Philadelphia Flyers.

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