I haven't yet met anyone that beats my bad airport story. Keep in mind this is before 9/11, and I'm shortening it because I don't feel like typing.
I was going from San Fran to Indy, with a stop in Minneapolis. San Fran to MN was fine, till we got there. There was a large storm system going through with tornados, so we circled above it until we ran short on fuel. Then we turned around and went back to Fargo, ND to refuel.
In Fargo, the runway could take us, but they had no way to get us off the plane because the plane was too big for the airport. So, we stayed on board... for 6 hours along with tons of other planes just sitting out. They turned off the air conditioning and electrical in general to save on gas I guess, and we just sat there with a baby crying and people bitching to the attendants (who could do nothing and were stuck with us /shrug).
After 6 hours, we took off again and landed in Minneapolis, at about midnight. Of course my connecting flight was long since cancelled, so I had to stay the night-- along with everyone else. I called a 1-800 number they gave us to find a hotel, and paid for a room (they didn't offer money), but I did get them to give me a travel voucher to get to it via cab. Because everything was booked up, my hotel was a 30 minute cab ride each way.
So, I get in the cab, say, "Holiday Inn, North" just like I was told to say... and the cab driver took me to some other Holiday Inn. I didn't know any better, so I got out, gave him my voucher, and he took off. Got in the hotel and of course they are full and my hotel is 45 minutes in another direction. I have them check every hotel within sight of this one-- no rooms anywhere. It's now 1 am.
I decide to just call the cab company back and go to my original hotel. I should back up and point out that I had two possibilities to fly out to Indy the next morning-- 7 am and 1 pm. I figured I would just sleep in and take the afternoon one, since I wasn't in a hurry to get anywhere.
Weeeelllll... the cab driver never came. The hotel called ever 15 minutes-- for about 3 hours. No one came to get me. I sat in the lobby staring at a TV. At about 4 am I was like "fuck it" and decided I might as well just take the 7 am flight if I can ever get a cab company to come and get me. So we called back and asked for a cab to the airport-- and what do you know? Cab driver is there in 10 minutes. I was pissed about that, but what could I do?
So we go to the airport-- it's almost 5 now and the flight goes at 7 am. I haven't slept now for 24 hours. I make sure I have a ticket for the 7 am flight, and lay down to sleep a few minutes in front of the gate. I ask the attendant to wake me if it looks like I'm going to miss the flight.
So she does-- and I'm in a huge hurry because I was awakened at the final boarding. I grab my ticket from the lady, give it to the other one to board, and they rush me on the plane. It's only after I get on the plane and it has taken off that I notice that the ticket wasn't in my name-- it had my last name but someone else's first name. I figured this sucks for the poor guy standing in the airport waiting for a ride, so when I get to Indy I go up to the ticket counter and show them the ticket. I explain that there must be someone in Minnesota freaking out right now because he no longer has a ticket.
Apparently this was a mistake. They assumed that I had somehow stolen the ticket (even though *I* came to *them*), and held me to question me. They would not let me go until they woke up the attendant in Minnesota to verify my story-- almost 3 hours later. They wouldn't even let me go to the bathroom.
At about noon they let me go, and my ride (who I never got a hold of to tell that I was on the earlier flight) was due to pick me up at 3 pm. So-- I sat in the airport there for three hours. My ride almost missed me-- due to poor communication we didn't meet up, and he couldn't find me for another 30ish minutes.
So there you go. A long and exhausting ride, and one I don't ever want to do again.
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