My Flight from Hell on American and Delta!
 

Last Wednesday I had a 5:30 am flight from PDX-DFW with a connecting flight to GUA so I would get home about 7 pm. Arrived on time at DFW and went to the waiting area for my 11:20 flight. It was delayed, and delayed, and delayed (by weather...no planes were landing at DFW). Then we were told that the next flight to leave would be ours to GUA! Nope! Delayed. Finally at 7 pm, the flight was canceled and we were told to get in line to reschedule for the next day. By that time there were HUNDREDS of people in line trying to get rebooked. I had met an indigenous Mayan woman in the terminal at PDX who was traveling with two small children and she spoke no English! So we were a party of four! Finally asked an AA rep to at least get us a hotel reservation (the hotels in DFW were already full) and she did. Then I rebooked our flights on the phone for the next day on Delta. Off we went to the hotel about 11:30 that night. The four of us in one room. Back to the airport at 8:30 to get my checked bag from American so I could check it with Delta (the AA agent told me Delta would not allow me to board if I still had a checked bag with American!).....was told it could take up to 3 hours for them to pull it. After TWO hours of sitting and waiting, the person at that counter said to just go ahead and check in with Delta and American would send my bag to Guatemala when it showed up. Went to Delta to check in with our record locator numbers and was told we had to go back to American to get something from them saying they would pay Delta for our flights. Did that...Back to American, then back to Delta to check in to go to Atlanta, then connect to Guatemala. In the waiting area at Delta our flight kept getting delayed until it was certain that we would not get to Atlanta in time to catch the flight to Guatemala, so they rebooked us from Atlanta to Miami on Friday night. That flight kept getting delayed because of mechanical problems and we were constantly told that Delta HAD to put us up in a hotel since it was mechanical not weather issues. Well we got to Miami just before midnight and as we stepped off the plane, the flight attendant said "go right over to that desk and they will get you a hotel room." We went over to that desk only to be told "we don't give hotel rooms". I was so exhausted by then, I just wanted to get some rest. Another woman who had been on the same flights from DFW was so irate and screaming her head off that we all felt a little calmer just listening to her scream at the very calm agent. Finally, since I need wheelchair assistance, the young man took us through security, on the train to the terminal that our flight to Guatemala would probably leave from on Saturday. He took us to a quiet corner, rounded up a couple of blankets and there we were for the night. However, it was so cold we were all shivering and when CNN started at 3 am, I gave up trying to sleep and just sat and rested. Our flight to Guatemala was on time! And my bag was delivered on Sunday mid-day. Can't really say "all's well that ends well"....I am still trying to figure out what day it is!

The nicest, most helpful people all along with way were the wheelchair attendants who pushed me around from place to place and they actually KNEW what they were doing and where to go! they got me and my three new friends (as one party) through security each time with a minimum of fuss.

Oh God that sounds like a nightmare. At least some people were helpful. I suppose if you travel enough you will encounter an experience like this. I've been there. You have my sympathies.

Wow, what an ordeal!

>>The nicest, most helpful people all along with way were the wheelchair attendants who pushed me around from place to place and they actually KNEW what they were doing and where to go!<<

I've found that to be true too.

How crazy that makes a case for trip insurance! I'm actually kind of suprised that American agreed to pay for the Delta flight. Is that normal?

I think it is wonderfully sweet how you hooked up with and helped out the mom and her kids thru all this. I hope things go smoothly for you in Guatemala.

American could have rebooked just me for the following day, but my new friend said I could not leave her to fend for herself! And in all good conscience, I could not do that to a woman with two little kids, so I said NO, we had to fly together and asked if they could book us on another airline. Which turned out to be Delta. There were people from all over the US who had tickets from DFW to GUA that ended up like us in Miami.

And at this point in my life, I want good karma around me!

The Delta flight from MIA to GUA was overbooked by eight and they started offering vouchers in the form of credit cards to AmEx, Amazon, and a couple more. It started at $400, then $600, then $800. I was tempted to ask if they would include a hotel, but decided to just get on that plane and get home!