So recently I went to Anime Impulse OC and had an amazing time; however, because I went by myself I decided to only go for one day to return home to my wife and spend the rest of the extended holiday weekend with her before going back to work. This required taking two nearly three hour flights that would get me home Sunday evening. At least that was the plan.

It all Started Well

Of my two flights the one from Santa Ana to Dallas went perfectly. I mean absolutely perfectly. Not only was it on time but my row was completely empty and I had a wonderful nap. Then we get to Dallas to wait for a flight to Lexington and that’s where things took a turn for the worse.

Delays Delays and More Delays

When it came time for my flight it was immediately delayed for 30 minutes to wait for crew. Not a problem as this was my last flight and I had an abundance of time on my side. However, then the delay went to three hours because maintenance had to check on the plane. They found there was some issue with the lights and the plane was taken out of commission so now we’re on the hunt for a new plane.

This hunt took us to about eight different gates in Dallas airport and if you’ve been there you’ll know to get anywhere you basically have to take a tram. So I and the rest of the stranded passengers boarded this tram over and over again until we were finally told we had a plane. This is six hours into the delay so we were emotionally exhausted from the constant changes but also the lack of help from the airline itself which to me really made things far worse as nobody had any answers or suggestions on what to do and honestly I felt entirely alone and abandoned during the whole process but at least now we had a way home. Or so we thought.

You Gave Us Hope Then Took it Away

We boarded the plane and were leaving the gate until the pilot made an announcement that there was an issue with the motor which meant we had to go back and deboard. Naturally we were angry and one person even asked if this was some kind of sick joke. Sadly it wasn’t.

We’re Not Going Home Tonight

About an hour later we were informed we weren’t leaving Dallas that evening and we were given hotel vouchers. I bonded with a couple of other travelers who were nice enough to help me not have to deal with this situation alone and we went to the hotel together, but stayed in separate rooms naturally. Our flight was rescheduled to 10am the following morning but none of us could sleep as we just kept worrying about our chances of getting home as our apps continued to notify us of more delays. I was tired, had no change of clothes and none of the stuff I normally have with me to wash up so the next morning I felt even worse than before. By the time we checked out of the hotel the flight was delayed to almost noon, nearly 20 hours after the scheduled departure.

Plan B

By the time we got to the airport my faith in this flight was gone. Since I was being picked up at the airport, I just needed the person to pick me up to know where to go and Knoxville has an airport about the same distance from my house. So I decided to just abandon ship with my flight and take a chance on this new one. So bye bye Lexington and hello Knoxville. I went through security and honestly nearly wept when I found out the plane was on the way and the flight was on time. Five minutes after I arrived at the gate I get a notification that said my original flight was delayed by nine more hours. I had made the right choice.

I’m Not In This Alone

Thirty minutes before boarding my two new friends from the night before and two others I also got to know from our flight arrived. They were just as frustrated at the delays and decided to fly to Knoxville, rent a car and just make the drive to Lexington. It just so happens my hometown is on the way so they offered me a ride. So there we were five strangers with a frustration for American Airlines and Dallas, finally got on a flight that took off. We made it to Knoxville with no issues but also no luggage as somehow our bags made it to Lexington on a fully booked flight that we could not switch to, but luckily we all got our bags back later that day.

Home At Last

We drove and stopped by my hometown where my wife picked me up and I was so happy to see her. We got home and I guess that was where the emotional and physical stress really hit its peak as I just passed out not long after taking a much needed shower. Turns out the combination of being busy at the convention as well as this ordeal was so taxing I lost about five pounds, but at least I made it home.

Now as some of you might be wondering what did American Airlines do to make it right after all of our troubles? Well we did get the free hotel which was nice but after that I got an amazing $50 voucher for a future flight. I hope you can feel the sarcasm radiating from that as I felt like that was pretty low given the stress we endured and the lack of help we got in the process but I left it alone because I was happy to be done with the ordeal. Plus speaking honestly I don’t know if I can be objective if I continue talking about this as all I can really think about was how frustrated I was over all of this.

I’m very confident I don’t have it in me to make a solo trip ever again but where Anime Impulse had some people I wanted to see my wife encouraged me to do so, but we had no idea that would happen. This experience was rough and honestly it’s bad enough that I really don’t have any desire to fly to Dallas again anytime soon, especially not with American Airlines.

The Lessons I Learned

Though there was a silver lining to all of this stress. The people I met and bonded with over this ordeal were incredibly nice. I’m thankful to have met them as the feeling of handling this situation alone felt suffocating and having them with me really did a lot to help that. It’s really incredible how soothing it is just having someone with you. The second is if I’m ever in a similar situation again I’ve got a better understanding of what I should be doing to have some kind of back up plan ready in case the delays get too long.

I hope to never be in this situation again but if I am I think I can handle it with a much more rational state of mind now that I know how to plan for alternative flights and with how easy it was to just change over to another flight which was way simpler than I expected. My tip to anyone in this situation is if your flight is delayed by over an hour it wouldn’t hurt to immediately know what alternative flights your airline has that work with your needs and have them ready just in case. If I and the rest of my group did that we honestly could have ended up back in Lexington on a different flight rather than rerouting to Knoxville.