All in all I’d consider myself fairly lucky. Over the past four years I’ve averaged about 50-60 flights annually. That means I’ve taken at least 200 flights over the past few years. Believe it or not in all of that time I’ve never experienced a cancellation that left me stranded. That’s not to say that I haven’t had a canceled flight. Instead I’m simply saying that I’ve been lucky/smart enough to avoid being affected by a cancellation in the past. Unfortunately that all changed this week as I tried to get back to Chicago from St. Louis the weekend following Thanksgiving.
How I Normally Handle A Weather Event
Generally if I’m traveling on a day with a poor weather forecast I’ll try to jump out ahead of it. If the storm is coming in the evening I’ll make sure to arrive at the airport early to jump on an earlier flight. When the storm affects a city within my travel plans I’ll try to work with an airline phone agent to get re-routed. When it comes to weather events if you’re not out ahead of it chances are you’ll get stuck.
You might remember a few months ago I was trying to get from Chicago to New York to catch a British Airways flight. During that series of weather related delays I switch flights twice and was in constant contact with American on Twitter to ensure that I’d get to New York on time. In that situation I actually ended up flying to LaGuardia and taking a cab to JFK airport. It wasn’t an ideal situation, but I got to where I needed to go on time because I was proactive.
I’m not sure what happened this time around, but I didn’t do any of that. Instead, I sat passively in my home in St. Louis and paid the price.
A Series Of Canceled Flights
To get back to Chicago from St. Louis I originally booked the afternoon departure which would get me into Chicago around 5PM. I saw a few headlines about evening snow showers in Chicago, but for whatever reason I sat still and waited. At around 11AM received the first of several emails from American which notified me of a 30 minute flight delay. American rarely posts delays hours in advance so I should have known this was a sign to get to the airport immediately! Instead, I continued to wait.
About an hour after the initial email from American I received a second email which notified me of my first (of many) cancellations. Once I received the email from American I tried first calling the Executive Platinum customer service desk. When I called American I was told to expect wait times of over an hour. Instead, I opted to use American’s call back option to avoid sitting on hold while waiting for an agent. While waiting for a call back I visited American’s website to select an alternative flight. I ended up selecting the 7:30AM departure known as AA1003.
American canceled flight 1003 the night before which gave me plenty of time to select my third alternative flight. Unfortunately at this point my only option was to fly after working remote from St. Louis on Monday.
As you guessed, American also canceled this flight. Again, when I called American the only available flights were for the following morning. It was at that point where I decided to scrub this plan altogether.
Changing Plans Completely
Strangely enough I need to be back in St. Louis at the end of this current week. That means I have to fly from St. Louis to Chicago again next Sunday. Because of this coincidence I decided to ask American if I could simply change my return flight to the following Sunday. I was then told that with flight cancelations you can move your flight back up to 7 days. Once I received that news I decided to push this flight to the following Sunday and find an alternative mode of transportation to Chicago.
That gets me to now. I’m currently sitting on an Amtrak train from St. Louis to Chicago which departed St. Louis at 5:30CST. The train is scheduled to arrive in Chicago at around 11:30PM which is late, but still several hours earlier than flying in the morning.
I actually lucked out with this particular situation. Flights from St. Louis to Chicago are oddly expensive at $250 each way. To come back to St. Louis next weekend I was going to shell out another $500 round trip. Instead I only had to pay $40 for an Amtrak ticket and $250 for my one way flight back to St. Louis. My existing ticket (with all the cancelation) now serves as my return ticket for my second trip. Ultimately I saved about $200 thanks to these rolling cancelations.
Final Thoughts
Overall this entire situation just kind of worked itself out. I am lucky it happened when and where it did. Technically I was stranded in St. Louis for a little more than a day, but I was stranded at home with my family. That’s a lot better than being stuck at an airport in a different city.
This situation also worked out nicely because I was able to move my flight to next week. Thanks to this flight change I was able to save $200 by booking a cheap Amtrak ticket home today and will use my original flight as my return flight next weekend. I have to say it feels nice to save $200 after spending an arm and a leg to fly to St. Louis in the first place.
Finally, I’m not really sure what happened here. In the past I would have jumped the moment I smelled trouble. The old me would have ran to the airport to get on an earlier flight and beat the storm. For some reason that didn’t happen this time and I’m not sure why. In fact, I’m not sure why I was completely passive throughout the rebooking process. Sure it worked out, but it serves as a reminder for next time not to sit still during a weather event.
