Therese

Every once in a while somebody asks about the feasability of making an unprotected connection, and just about everybody here at Fodor's answers "don't do it." But every once in a while even very experienced travellers end up in this situation, and this thread seeks to elicit those stories, in all their glorious, detailed horror.

For those of you who might not know what the title of this thread actually means, I'm referring to situations in which your itinerary has not been booked all together, such that an earlier delayed flight causes you to miss a later flight, and the airline(s) aren't required to accomodate you (and may charge you an arm and a leg to re-sell you a walk up ticket).

I've got a few doozies to share, but will see if anybody else wants to start.

Patty

I only have non-scary stories but am interested in your doozies. Don't make us wait!

Therese

Heh heh. Since I hadn't gotten any hits on this thread, Patty, I went ahead and re-posted to the Europe forum, as that's where I do most of my travel, and pretty much all of my near misses involve trips to Europe.

You can visit at:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35145085

Feel free to post editorial comments like "yeesh, are you an idiot? why did you do that?" Or pose questions along the lines of "is all of your life this hectic?"

ncounty

Well, it was a cool crisp evening in Amsterdam. I met him at a nightclub called the Milkeweg. He had just finished his master's degree at Northwestern. His shirt was a print with shades of midnight purple and burnt umber and he smelled faintly of Tiffany for men. He murmured to me "your hair is as luxurious as black silk" as he ran his fingers through it.....

coconuthopper

In March 2007, a Sunday, I was returning to my Caribbean home from Pittsburgh. Every detail was a horror. From having to lug the two overweight bags carrying the car parts, household goods and clothes that I'd saved up to buy in the US while home. There was no one to return the car to, so I left the key and began the arduous trek upstairs trying to pull and balance two 75 pound bags. I am not a big woman, and it was all I could do to pull them. I had to have a carryon as well, with my work camera and laptop. When the elevator opened up, I saw long unmarked, unmanned lines which could have gone to any number of airline counters. With my heavy bulky load and no one to navigate or assist, I got into a line...which moved about one foot every hour. I stood in the line all day long, over eight hours and when I got to the counter, my flight had left hours ago. They told me I could not leave for two days. I had prepared to go, and I was ready to go and really had no means to return to my elderly parents' home without having to order another rental car. By this time, my arms were useless and felt like wet aimless rubber. I could barely coax them to the lobby of the airport hotel, which I had to pay for myself. They had to reroute me so I could leave the next morning....
4:30 next morning... still hardly any workers at the counters... i get checked in precariously close to the time the plane is leaving... i give in my bags to the baggage folks, wishing to hell i had known that I would never see them again. I descended to the security line which was OUT THE DOOR,it was so long... I got through, ran to get on the shuttle, ran up the escalator and ran to the gate.... out of breath, I ask the lady at the podium if I could board the plane to Philadelphia. She looked up and said, it just left. THe whole ordeal was one thing after another like this....the most horrible experience I have ever had... I missed the next flight as well, and got on the 3rd plane going to Phila. By the time I got to the Phila airport, and was looking for my gate, i just sat on the handicapped chairs and cried. Philadelphia? Worst airport. I do not know who manages it but I hope they've been replaced. There was a lovely man who put me on a little cart that travelled the hundred or so miles to the international gate... God bless that man. I got there in time to make the plane... but when I went to board, there was someone with my same ticket. I had to go back to the counter. I'm not making this up!! This flight took me to St Martin, and then of course, no bags... I got to my little island from a puddle jumper from SXM.... Never to see my belongings again. Over a year later, I still have not recovered the losses. And who was to pay for my bags? The codeshare end parnter.... and their "cap" is $400 or $1000 eastern caribbean dollars. So I was reimbursed $400 for a claim of over $20,000. Documents, camera and computer accessories, shoes, clothes, bags, batteries, cables, and so much more...cushions for my chairs, frames for pictures....
Lovely tribute to a horrendous experience that has colored the year sad.