Planes, Trains and Automobiles

I was in Orlando Friday and Saturday attending the SHOT Show and I was scheduled to fly back Saturday night. That was until I got a text message at 10:30 AM on Saturday from American Airlines saying my flight had been cancelled.

Dallas/Fort Worth has been in the middle of a winter storm that includes freezing rain and American felt it necessary to cancel all flights from Orlando to Dallas on Saturday. After being on hold for about 30 minutes with American I finally got to speak to an agent who informed me that they could get me back to Dallas on Tuesday. I think my exact response was "TUESDAY?"

She then checked flights out of Tampa which is 80 miles from Orlando and the answer was the same. I then asked if she could move me to another airline. She checked and found that Continental had a flight going out but she didn't know if it had been cancelled or not but she would check. After waiting for another 10 minutes she came back with a flight from Continental to Houston and then from Houston to Dallas. I quickly called a cab and headed to the airport.

At the airport, I waited in line for 40 minutes and then spent another 40 minutes working with the Continental agent. During this time, the flight from Houston to Dallas got cancelled, I was put on a 9 am flight the next day from Houston to Dallas, I then got bumped from that flight and put on a 7:15 pm flight Friday night to Dallas. Whew! I was already exhausted at this point and my journey was just beginning.

I spent the next 7 hours hiking through airports, waiting, sitting and just wishing to be home. I knew I could get to Houston without a problem but I didn't have much confidence that the Houston to Dallas flight would go out. But, I had already decided I would rent a car as a last resort and drive from Houston to Dallas.

Well, the flight did go out on schedule and I was finally in my bed by 9:30 pm. After all of this I have a greater appreciation for Steve Martin's character Neal Page in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles who all he wanted to do was get home for Thanksgiving and be with his family.