I Missed My Connecting Flight in Texas and Almost Didn't Get Home That Night
It's gonna be a long time before I travel with American Airlines again.
Remember when I got stranded in Europe for THREE days, and Delta had to fly me home? My original airline carrier was American Airlines. I have yet to get the money back for the Airbnb I booked while stuck for an extra night in Spain. Capital One blames American Airlines, who blames British Airways, who never answers the phone.
I give up.
I should have never booked with them a second time.
The flight to Atlanta was fine. I even landed early in the Peach State.
However, on the way back to California, my flight got delayed as soon as I got in the Uber. By the time I got to the airport, it had been delayed by another half hour. As I walked up to the desk, I got a notification telling me to pick another flight.
“Oh, it does that automatically when a flight is this late,” the agent told me. “You should be fine.”
I went to my gate and spent the extra time looking for something to eat. I’m glad I did because it was the only meal I got. While I ate, another half an hour got tacked on. I went to the gate agent, who assured me I would make the connecting flight as long as the flight wasn’t further delayed.
By the time I sat down, another five minutes had been added. Once aboard the plane, we learned that something was wrong with it. We sat on the plane for another 40 minutes while the maintenance crew tried to fix it.
While in the air, I considered my options.
What would I do if I landed in Dallas and I didn’t make that connecting flight? Would I have to spend the night? Would they pay for a hotel? What time would I finally get in? Would I miss work? What would I tell my manager?
I had already been off for a week and a half in a role I just started!
We landed in Dallas early, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I turned the phone on and saw that I had 10 minutes to make it to my gate—but also that my connecting flight had left early.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. Not only did they not wait for us, but they packed up and left before they even needed to.
Seriously??
The app told me that I would have to take another flight to Phoenix.
I would then have to get up ridiculously early the next morning for yet another flight to Palm Springs. There was no mention of them paying for a hotel, though a gate agent later told me they would have.
I checked the available flights out of Dallas on the app. There was one for San Diego that left in 45 minutes. When I got off the plane, I looked at the departures screen and saw that it was at a terminal so far away I had to take the train.
Instead of going to my assigned gate, I decided to try my luck with the San Diego flight.
When I arrived, the agent at the gate empathized with my troubles and told me she’d let me on the plane if I could get the ticket rebooked. But first, I had to run to another gate to have it reissued by her manager. I took off running and returned just as group 7 started boarding.
When I landed in San Diego, I had just enough time to open up Booking.com and choose the first affordable rental car I could find on such short notice. Then, I hopped in, rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, and drove three hours in the pitch-black night across the desert.
I was determined to get home safely to my cat.
I pulled in behind my FJ Cruiser at 1:30 AM and barely made it in bed by 2 AM. Shadow cried and wailed incessantly because he hadn’t seen me in two weeks. And now, I wanted to sleep instead of play with him.
How dare I!
I was up four hours later for work and somehow managed not to plunge headfirst into my keyboard during the 8-hour shift.
Looking back at this situation, there are a few things I wish I had done differently. And I don’t just mean flying with Delta instead—although, really, I should have.
What would you do if the last flight home got canceled and you had a kiddo (four-legged or otherwise!) waiting up for you? I’ll share my tips with paid subscribers next week.