It was a really rough travel day, but I do think it’s fair to say we are all pretty well conditioned now to expect disruptions, so I was not expecting perfection.
We woke up at 4 AM to get to the airport by 6 AM for a 7 AM departure. Everything looked on time until we arrived, when the flight was suddenly delayed until 6 PM.
We managed to rebook onto a 2 PM flight, went back home, rested for a bit, and returned to the airport. After boarding that flight, we sat on the plane for about an hour before deplaning due to a mix of weather issues in Chicago and maintenance paperwork problems. The flight was then pushed again.
While waiting in the lounge, we almost missed an earlier departure because the boarding announcement was easy to miss. We rushed to the gate and got on just before closure.
We had been high on the upgrade list all day, and my husband and daughter had already been ticketed in first class. There were empty seats available, but we were told we could not be moved into them due to having switched to standby during rebooking. It wasn’t worth arguing at that point, but it was still frustrating in the moment.
By the end of the day, our original 6 AM flight was pushed all the way to 10 PM, so getting on the earlier flight felt like a win even after everything.
We were traveling for one last weekend trip to see Bruno Mars before I have major back surgery next week, so it was an exhausting day overall.
On the positive side, I later received 30,000 miles as compensation, which honestly did help make the experience feel a bit more fair in hindsight.
Travel is chaotic right now, so I just hope everyone manages to stay patient and gets where they need to go safely.
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