My April Fool’s Day Reality – Flight Cancellation, Delays, Delays and More Delays

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Written By: Cindy Bertram

An experienced traveler, when taking a trip (business related or pleasure) I try to keep
tabs on weather situations myself. And I always purchase trip insurance when taking a
vacation, which for me is usually a cruise. Last week I attended a special industry
conference in Fort Lauderdale and didn’t really see any issues with the weather. The
conference’s last day was April 1, so I decided to fly back that evening. Early that
morning I checked out of my room at the hotel, got my one bag stored, and walked
over to the convention center for the final conference sessions.

Then the Unexpected Happened – My Flight Got Cancelled

At 12:19 pm, I received a text message from the airline I was flying on. I was told that
my departure flight that evening from Fort Lauderdale to Chicago had been cancelled.
Then I got another text message saying they had rebooked me. I was now on a flight
departing at 10:40 am Saturday, April 2 from Fort Lauderdale and connecting to
flight from Houston to Chicago. I immediately called the airline and waited on hold
for over an hour. The reservation agent told me there were no other available flights
available on April 1, so I had no other options. She mentioned flights had been
cancelled as a result of the Air Traffic Control directives (ATC) implemented on the
East Coast, which led to more than 100 flight cancellations.

As a result of this last-minute cancellation, I had to get another hotel night booked on
my own and would not be receiving any reimbursement from the airline for this. On April 2, I woke up at 6:30 am so I could get ready, check-out and then take a taxi at 7:30
am from that hotel to the Fort Lauderdale Airport.

Then I received another text message at 6:40 am from the airline saying that my
flight # 2441 on April 2 from Fort Lauderdale had been delayed and was departing
at 11:29 am. A few minutes later, I received another text message that this flight had
been delayed again and would now be departing at 12:01 pm. I was worried that with
the delays of that departure time I would not be able to make the connecting flight that
airline had booked me on from Houston to Chicago. So while on the taxi heading to the
airport, I called the airline and was told the hold time was over 100 minutes. I stayed
on hold. At the airport I went to that airline’s check-in desk and the line was extremely
long. Also while looking at the screens with their departures, I could see that over 45
flights had been delayed or cancelled. I wound up waiting over 90 minutes to get to the
counter and spoke with one of their reservation agents.

She spent over 30 minutes with me looking into more options and said keeping me on
the flight from Fort Lauderdale to Houston would still be the best. Then she found a
flight from Houston to Dallas that would work, along with another flight from Dallas
that would go to Chicago.

More Delays Took Place

Then I went to the gate assigned to board this flight and waited for over another 45
minutes. In addition, then the airline changed the actually boarding gate. When I,
along with the other airline passengers were able to get on the plane and seated?
Another unexpected delay occurred. The pilot came on and said he had bad news.
Because there were some possible storm issues up north, all flights had been
temporarily grounded for a bit, and they would let us know when our flight would
depart. Finally this flight was able to depart and arrived in Houston much later. But I
still had a window of time.

Text Messages Continued Regarding Delays – Departure from Dallas to Chicago

After landing in Houston, I was able to check my text messages on my iPhone and
received even more messages from the airline I was flying on. First I was told flight
2882 was now departing on April 3 from Dallas at 12:55 am. Then I received another
that said that flight was departing on April 3 at 1:25 am from Dallas. The next message
said the flight was now departing on April 3 at 4:23 am from Dallas to Chicago.

And then I received seven more text messages that showed different departure times.
One even said that my scheduled flight # 2882 was now going to depart on April 3 from
Dallas but not until 10:35 pm in the evening.

Needless to say, I was getting a bit stressed because if that connecting flight was not
going to depart until 10:35 pm would I be stuck at the Dallas Airport for close to 12
hours.

When my delayed flight landed in Dallas around 10 pm on April 2, I went to the gate
where my flight # 2882 was supposed to depart. Their sign said the flight was departing
at 1:30 am on April 3. I decided to wait in the line where their customer service agents
were assisting guests like myself. The wait time was 35 minutes, but the customer
service agent said that boarding of this flight would start at 1:30 am and she didn’t see
any more changes.

Flying from Dallas Back to Chicago

I was fortunate that this airline did start boarding this plane at 1:30 am on April 3. And I
was able to get a window seat so I could relax a bit. The flight did take off at 2 am and
did arrive in Chicago at 4 am. Also my one checked bag (which had the transfers tag on
it) did arrive safely.

I was relieved that after almost 2 days, I was able to safely get back to Chicago and
drive home.

I Was One of Many Fliers Who Encountered Flight Delays That Weekend

After turning on the news, along with checking emails and travel sites, it turned out
that airlines cancelled hundreds of flights over the weekend, first starting with April 1
and then continued on from April 2 and April 3 to Monday, April 4. One article said
there were 3,970 flights cancelled along with 12,000 flight delays over the
weekend. They listed weather conditions in Florida as the Southeast part of the
USA had resulted in cancellations and delays. Also a spokesperson for Southwest
Airlines mentioned that overnight maintenance work on their technology platform
Friday April 1 into Saturday April 2 had added to this issue of flight cancellations. But
this spokesperson said only seven flights had been cancelled due to this issue. The rest
of the cancellations and delays were attributed to the Florida weather and airspace
congestion.

Some Key Things – Good Takeaways

I chose to receive text messages from the airline I was booked on for updates and
changes and this was faster and easier keep track of. In my case I was not flying
internationally.

One Takeaway?

Have a back-up plan in place. When I got to the Dallas Airport, the restaurants and places to purchase food were closed. I try to take some healthy variations of food with me when I travel – whey protein powders which I can mix with water, protein and snack bars, and more.

More Takeaways?

Get to know the area where you’re staying at so if your flight gets cancelled and you can’t get rebooked at that original hotel, you have some other options. Keep track of weather conditions. Also there are different apps available that you can download and use to check into flight status and delays.

Depending on the trip you’re taking, check into travel insurance. There are different travel insurance companies available, and they all have diverse travel insurance policies that provide coverage for different areas, including travel delays, baggage delay, baggage loss or damage, as well as the other traditional options – emergency medical transportation, trip interruption, trip cancelation and more.

Learn From April Fool’s Day Reality!

I was never one to play jokes on April Fool’s Day myself, but after going through this
challenging situation myself? The fact that I successfully weathered this challenging
situation and got home safely after 2 days? I’m hoping I won’t have to deal with another
April Fool’s Day Reality for a while!