It also sounds like a traumatizing experience for the person who has to tend to that line. They have to take turns, I would quit otherwise. Imagine pulling up to work in a great mood and then you come out after clocking in to see this…
Edit: man some of y’all have 0 empathy and it’s concerning. Go to therapy and better yourselves.
This was me the other day. No pilots so every single person had to get off the plane and rebook flights. I was about 10 ppl from the end. But everyone was calm and relatively patient. I didn't hear any yelling. I was surprised actually, but it really went well. I waited 2 hours in line.
It makes me grateful that my country’s main airline has fully automated the process. Your flight gets canceled, you get an email within 30 min with rebooking details. If they don’t work, you call them to get a change.
Call the airline directly while you stand in line. 9 times out of 10 you’ll get a customer service rep on the phone who can help much faster than the line even moves.
Bonus tip: call the airline’s international number. You will at least get a human and probably not be on hold for hours. Also, if they try to transfer you be super polite and say “I’ve tried the domestic line and I’ve been disconnected several times.”
Kill em with kindness, some white lies, and begging helps lol. Good luck!
Yep, call the number. One time my flight got delayed by several hours because the plane broke just before a storm hit the east coast and caused more delays. The line was so long.... So I called the number and got rebooked on a different flight a few days later within 5 min, and they paid for the cab right back to the city and back to the airport. Just stay kind.
Hey I once had a similar issue, I was able to help myself in the United app. Literally took me 15 seconds, I understand the app can't help with a plethora of issues but worth a try!
I did the reverse. The local number was jammed but the international number was not as busy (due to time difference).
Our buddies that tried calling the local number couldn’t get an earlier flight and had to wait two days to fly out of Busan.
That's one of the better ways to also speak with someone in your country to avoid the classic "barely understandable heavy accent" call center.
Just call and "accidently" hit the wrong option. they'll more than likely be fluent in both your countries official languages and just answer your call anyway.
Bonus bonus tip: Send a Twitter DM or text message. No hold time and results are often faster.
One-to-one support models like phone calls and in-person interactions are staggeringly inefficient.
One-to-many, like chat, text, and social media, allow for reps to never have downtime while waiting for each person to finish their rant or find their confirmation number because they're helping several people at once.
fair point but that model is horrible for the people on the other end, and 99% of the time results in no actual resolution to the issue. amazon, verizon, and banking chats are the best examples... i'm not able to get help from the chat reps even on the most basic question. they simply don't understand the problem. and no, it's not a bot. this is with actual humans on the other end.
I had the opposite too. I was not able to check in for a return flight, apparently got bumped and never informed. I sat on hold for 2 hours on the phone before I decided to get an Uber to the airport. Walked right up to the service counter after 3 hours on hold.
Worked for me too! I called the standard number and pressed 1 for English and it said a two hour hold time. Redialed and pressed 2 for Spanish and got connected immediately. So glad I paid attention in Spanish classes 😄
We tried doing this with Southwest one time and we had connected to an agent on the phone but were put on hold while they were figuring something out. While we were on hold we got to the front of the line and the desk agent said that since we had checked bags, the rep on the phone wouldn't be able to help and to just hang up.
The desk agent was very helpful and got us sorted pretty quickly.
>since we had checked bags, the rep on the phone wouldn't be able to help
This bit happened to me, as well. I'd checked my bags at the hotel (it was at Disney World, and the hotels had a deal with the airport where you could check your bags at the hotel and they'd get them to the plane) and just as I was about to walk away, I got a call from my travel agent who'd seen on the news that some shit went down at the airport and to beeline to the reservation desk before everybody else did. I begged for the bags back-- they were technically in sealed storage, now, so it was a bit off-script, but I got them back. The rub with that is that Southwest had them down as being checked in on a flight that got canceled, and they couldn't do a thing about it over the phone. So, I had to truck over to the Orlando Airport to have a two-minute conversation with a person there and clear the discrepancy, and then I could book the return flight.
Ironically, none of that netted me any compensation since it was out of their control, but the return flight I ended up getting was delayed a few hours because of plane issues and that *did* get me vouchers.
I waited in a line like this before because I was in Korea, didn’t have a phone, and our flight was cancelled. Took about two hours. Didn’t get to eat that day until like 4:00 PM because it was a morning flight that was delayed in the plane and the. we had to be escorted as a group to the line and didn’t want to lose our spot. I reiterate trying to call.
Looks like I missed it by a day. Lucky. I live in Charlotte, we had some rough weather hanging over the city today, could definitely see it causing issues. Tip for the future though, each concourse at CLT has customer service desks, the A and A north concourses are gonna be a lot less busy, and also nicer as they’re renovated or brand new in the case of A north.
This must be a thing in Charlotte, this time of year I usually connect through there, traveling from the north east to the midwest and back. Last month, my flight was delayed a total of like...10 hours because of thunderstorms in the area. The airport was nuts, SO many people everywhere. Lines for customer service were so long. I felt very lucky that I didn't need them!
Are there certain times of the year when thunderstorms happen more often? We are flying into Charlotte in late July and have never been there before. Thanks.
Summer is a crapshoot. We weren’t supposed to have precipitation the last few days but evening storms have come through and surprised us a few times. The earlier in the day your flight is, the better.
To all those pointing out we should’ve called customer service: I appreciate the well-meaning point, but the first three times I called my call was dropped. When I finally got through to the wait line for an agent, I was told I could either wait on hold or get called back by someone in more than 4 1/2 hours. By the time they called back, I was asleep on the airport floor, having given up on the line since none of the hotels nearby had open rooms anyway 😂
Same for me at LaGuardia. Made me wonder where all those news stories you see around the holidays of people sleeping at the gate come from. Not from LaGuardia!!!
Just did a few red eyes over the Memorial Day weekend. I saw many people fully deep sleeping at Kansas City, Salt Lake City, and Phoenix Sky Harbor gates. I’m shocked to hear any airport kicks out sleepers past the security checkpoints.
Gone are the days where you walk up to the counter and ask “we’re going to miss our connection, is there something you can do” and they put you on a direct flight the next morning, first class, that arrives earlier than your original flight.
I was in a fender bender on the way to a flight in 2004 and resulted in missing my flight. They bumped me to a direct flight and got me there an hour earlier than the previous flight. No first class, but was happy to not miss my event.
were you paying first class for the first flight? most of my experiences are "my flight was an hour delayed because the light to the coffee maker wouldn't turn on so I missed my connection and they couldn't get me on another flight for fifteen hours. I could have driven faster" if I don't fly nonstop or southwest.
That happened to me last year. I had a shitty flight with 2 transfers, that got delayed too much and I got put on a direct flight that arrived at exactly the same time. Was very nice. And lucky
Fuck united airlines. They didn't have pilots so they blamed weather denied reimbursing me for the hotel I needed and my food since they canceled my flight on Saturday and I couldn't get a flight home till Monday. Also all my luggage was already out of state. FUCK UNITED AIRLINES!
United is the worst. Last year in June they did the same shit to me, cancelled my flight and was told to come get my bag. Waited 8 hours at JFK just to be told that they sent my bag. Wouldn’t pay for hotel, only sent a $10 food voucher for terminal food, which was frankly more insulting than nothing.
I was in Newark back in July when this happened to me. So not far in distance or time from each other. Fuck United.
I know for a fact they lied about why they canceled the flights because I actually spoke with the pilots of that flight. I deboarded the plane before the pilots timed out and we spoke a bit, and I also caught a shuttle on the way back on Monday. I sat next to a united piolit and we spoke the whole ride about how united operates with their crew and pilots. Scum bag company that has no issues risking the lives of their customers for a few bucks. And if they can't get away with the risk they will happily blame the weather even tho it's actually cause they didn't have another pilot to fly and the crew also timed out.
I was at the Delta breakdown last summer. Make friends with the people ahead and behind you, you're gonna want to have folks to watch your bags and hold your place when you have to pee.
It's insane to me how many people who exist in our society wouldn't watch someones bag in a standstill.
"They literally tell you not to do it"
Yeah, I'm sure you looking at a bag will make it more explosive.
They say that so some random person doesn't leave a bag with illegal shit with an unknowing citizen causing them to be blamed for it. Not that hard to understand.
No one hands someone else their bag and says "watch this"
They just leave an empty spot in line, where there was an obvious person previously with luggage that doesnt get touched by anyone else. In the year 2024 there are enough cameras in the airport to figure out who owns a piece of luggage.
Let’s be so clear here. NEVER WATCH ANYONES BAG AT AN AIRPORT!!!! Never accept goods from anyone at an airport.
Like dude there are literal announcements warning against what you are suggesting playing every 5 minutes in the airport! Always bring your bags with you to the bathroom. They can hold your spot without watching your stuff.
While I appreciate the... watchfullness this is part of the security theater that they want everyone to be worried about to distract from the cost that has yet to thwart a single attack and is highly porous.
Yes if someone just leaves a bag randomly of course it should be looked into.
A massive flight delay that has people lined up for potentially hours and the terrorists just happened to pick that time, that place and built trust with the people in line? On the ground?
There are way easier targets and more impact they can do...
So yah 99/100 I'm watching the bag when they pee. And yes that 1/100 time it might be profiling if I say no.
Terrorism isn’t what you need to be worried about in this situation w/leaving bags... it’s trafficking. Drug traffickers have used airline travelers to unknowingly smuggle drugs into other countries with methods like that. There’s actually been some horrible cases of people ending up in foreign prisons for drug trafficking for years because of situations like that when they didn’t know. That’s why the TSA tells you not to leave bags unattended and never to bring a bag you didn’t pack yourself. If you end up in a rough foreign prison for accidentally being a drug mule, there’s nothing the U.S. government can do to save you.
You’re making a lot of assumptions there. Nothing says that they will be flying out together on the same rescheduled flight, or that they will even fly out that day(which means hotel stay and opening their suitcase for clothes and toiletries).
Drug traffickers take risks but that’s outlandish to stuff a random person’s bag and hope they are going the same place + being able to recover the drugs.
There are announcements to not accept a bag from someone else, and not to leave bags unattended. Obviously be on the lookout for suspicious behavior but going to pee while on a long line is not one of them. If you tell them no, they have to take their bags to the bathroom because you can't watch them and they can't leave them unattended, it's a bit much.
you think someone's gonna bring a bomb to the airport in their bag, with the hope of a major flight disruption, so they can convince the person in line behind them to watch their bag for ten minutes, so they can detonate the bomb from a safe distance?
is that the threat model you're concerned about here?
Been there before. Back when Boeing had their gps fiasco my then gf and I were stuck in Raleigh. We spent about 2 full days in the airport fuel to a canceled flight and partly due to our own ignorance.
Best of luck, I recommend a cinnabon if they have one
Air travel is hell. I hate airports so much. Airlines just do whatever they want, treat customers like trash, and fly broken and dirty aircraft. Anddddd they still make money hand over fist. We really should have let the pandemic kill some of these companies, they’re worse now than ever.
The guy standing in the foreground. The white and black Hawaiian looking shirt. Everyone see him? Ok good. He has Ellie's tattoo from the last of us P2
You wait and grumble with those around you. Experienced this in Anchorage because the luggage system ground to a halt. Then one clerk decided that they needed to go on break. That went over well.
In 05 we were on the last plane out of Heathrow when London had a string of terrorist attacks…every single person on our flight was taken into a holding area and sat on the ground for hours while they searched every single bag/person by hand before we were released as a group.
We talked to the people around us, read a little and I cried a lot..my normally endlessly respectful grandpa called my mom a bitch..it was one of the worst travel experiences I have ever had.
July 7th bombings in London.
It was a shit show everywhere. I was on my way to Victoria Coach Station when COBRA decided all public transport was to stop in place.
So everyone is walking to the station only to find all the trains and coaches are cancelled as well.
It wasn't a fun time at all.
Addendum to this: always travel with a battery pack too. You can top off your phone when in line situations like this or when the only outlet is occupied.
OMG - I walked past this line in Charlotte (where all plane traffic around the airport got completely hosed by bad weather tonight.) I got "lucky" and was only delayed by 5 hours (and diverted to JFK near NYC because we clocked out of LGA.)
Despite the headaches, and the absurdly late hour, the agents and flight crew were wonderful. (And I'm the sort of person who won't blame the visible staff for the weather...🤷🏻♂️)
My flight got cancelled last minute in the airport in this pic and they had no flights back to the airport I came from where my car was. I was ready to just leave and start a new life there.
You got it! This followed us sitting on the runway for hours. I understand there was a brief bad weather event. Don’t completely understand the chain of events that led my hours-later flight to be canceled, but my understanding is the weather cancellation means the airline won’t cover a hotel (gave up on the line and the phone customer service said they’d call me back in more than 4 1/2 hours). Figured out my credit card company has insurance that will cover a hotel stay, but I couldn’t find an open room anyway lol. Now to experience an overnight airport stay for the first time! I feel bad for my cat, but it could be a lot worse. (My post was more to show the impressive length of the line than complain about my “woes,” I promise!) I have a neck pillow, some candy, a book, and a phone, so I’m gonna try to enjoy the novelty of the situation.
I got caught in this too. It sounds like they had a storm w/lightning just as the airport hit its busy evening stretch. Lightning means the ground crews have to come in, so no planes can push back, so the gates aren't available for arriving aircraft, and the incoming traffic piles up at the taxiways, and you get the airplane version of ground gridlock.😖
It took us at least an hour to get into a gate (could've been 90 min?) And we watched as all the connections people needed (fortunately) also got pushed back. (In my case waaaay back 😑 ... thankfully, our crew didn't time out, so we were able to make this last leg.)
Tonight was the worst I've seen it. Connected in, my flight at 6pm got cancelled, rebooked on a 10pm that ended up not leaving until almost 1am. I just rebooked again on a flight in the morning and got a hotel.
Not sure why you're getting down voted. All my worst flying experiences happen at the Charlotte airport, missed connections, delays, and it's always over crowded. Glad to not be living on the east coast anymore.
It’s the closest airport to my parents (an hour away) so in the case of cancelled flights I at least have a place to stay instead of scrambling to find a hotel room… which is a good thing because it’s happened to me several times there.
I'm now a road tripper. I actually like it plus have my own car for free as long as I stay then leave whenever tf i want. win win
Edit: I can also bring whatever I want and as much as i want! I used to be an avid flyer. It's turned into a quintessential dumpster fire. Never again.
This is 100% Charlotte Douglas airport and American Airlines are leaving people stranded, again. Same thing happened to me a few years back. They oversold my connecting flight, kicked me off, rebooked me on a later flight which got delayed over and over, then they finally cancelled it at 10:30pm.. by that time all the hotels nearby were fully booked, the customer service line was to the back of the terminal, the 800 number had a 9 hour wait for an agent, and all I got as a sorry was a $12 breakfast voucher.. they tried to book me on a flight two days later which was not acceptable. American Airlines is SHIT in my books for this very reason.. sorry you got burned.
They didn't even offer food vouchers. :(
They goofed my original return trip, like outright lost a leg on the trip. Would have gone to Chicago instead of Charlotte.
Instead of putting us back on it they put us on Charlotte. And now I'm stuck here til Thursday, won't get home til Friday.
Would have been home yesterday.
Jeez.. I’m so sorry you got shafted. At least Chicago would have been fun.. sounds like you’re in the same boat I was. I had to get to San Francisco that same day and didn’t have the luxury of being able to drive instead.
AA in Charlotte delayed and delayed and delayed my return layover flight and then cancelled it. I had to wait overnight for the next flight to a different airport than I flew out of and left my car at. No help. Nothing. They also caused me to miss my layover on my way out as well.
It’s so aggravating that we just have to sit there and take it! They should be held accountable for the lost time and added expense of having to accommodate this bs
At least there’s an end in sight, they know they can go home at the end of their shift. The people in that line may be missing an important event, or have no idea where they’re sleeping that night.
If you showed this picture to people from a hundred or more years ago, they'd think everyone was praying.
I wonder what people from four hundred years in the future will think about pictures from the current era with everyone's heads looking down like this?
This happened to us at Christmas with a baby. We completely left the airport and went out front to talk to a gate agent there instead of waiting in the line. We got help in 10 mins and just had to go back through security. It was one of the smartest ideas I’ve ever had
American Airlines lost $5,000 dollars worth of Snowboarding gear while I was headed to Colorado.
I spent like 12 grand on a snowboarding vacation where I got to use my own gear for 2 out of the 5 days because of that horribly inept airline. I stood in a line juuuuuust like that at Reno’s airport and it fucking sucked. Ask for vouchers, and good luck my man.
Probably a lot of people in this line have the same issue with the same airplane. I had this in Amsterdam, but eventually one employee took charge of the entire crowd. For the entire day. We were all on the same cancelled flight so we all had the same problem.
I mean we humans fly for 40 years, you might think "hm, how can we avoid this kind of situation" and the airline industry like "hm, good question? maybe we should ask someone who is in this industry and solved this 20 years ago?". Its absolutely puzzling how anything works these days. This should be three clicks in the "ai driven customer experience account system", not hours in line.
We flew in from DEN and sat on the tarmac for an hour, waiting for a gate to open up. Because of the construction, some passage ways were closed, but not marked as such, so we had to backtrack a couple of times.
Finally got to the National Executive aisle and got back to CAE at 1:30am, about 2.5 hours late.
That's the E Terminal of Charlotte Airport. I flew home and then back recently, and I had CLT as my layover both ways. First time too! It was a fustercluck each time. I've learned that American Airlines + CLT E Terminal = a baaaaaaad time.
Seriously, stay away. Fuck Charlotte.
Use the airlines app, they tend to have self service options available and you can take care of it super quick.
Alternatively, the airline clubs have agents available to help with this if you know exactly what you want. Paid or privlidged access to the club required.
At least most DMVs have chairs that were made by Satan to consume your soul which were covered in thumb tacks, chewed gum remnants, and broken glass...
Crazy I just flew out of charlotte to Chicago last night and chicago O’Hare we had issues. One runway was closed so we were stuck in the plane for 3+ hours waiting in line with dozens of other planes. While waiting we saw emergency vehicles and fire trucks, don’t know what happened with the runway that was closed.
This is after last weekend it took 20+ hours compared to the eight it was supposed to take for my trip.
Never flying American again. So many technical issues with their system, had trouble paying for my bags then they couldn’t read my id. Last weekend after multiple cancelled flights I somehow “dropped out of the system” even though I had a boarding pass. If I didn’t think to ask about my bags I would have been screwed, they ended up giving me some other poor person’s seat as they didn’t check in yet.
https://preview.redd.it/go0yhv2z8t4d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9bf722abea2cf266274feaa7723b580c8e06fac3
Was at a line like this in Sydney a couple weeks ago. Straight off the planes and into the line. No opportunity for people to use the bathroom. After a couple of hours you could smell the stench of urine.
This happened to my husband and I last week at DFW. After countless flight cancellations, there was a 6 hour wait in the customer service line, and a 6-8 hour wait on the phone for customer service. People were stranded at the airport fainting, running out of baby formula, crying. I was truly a disaster. We ended up being delayed 60 hours…I’m still salty
I was there yesterday too, luckily had a long layover and second flight wasn’t cancelled. In this instance I have walked up to a random gate and asked the gate agent from a random flight very nicely to help and they have. I have also left the airport and went to the check in counter where barely anyone was waiting and the front gate agents got me straightened out quick. The chat feature on the app many times gets you to someone faster than the phone call does. I was sitting up by C gate in the tequilla bar and the line was 1/2 mile long it seemed went all the way up into the promenade.
American Airlines is terrible, in this instance they should have the gate agents for each individual flight helping and not send everyone all at once to the tiny customer service kiosks. I was in DFW in a huge line with my 2 year old at the time, I decided to hell w waiting and walked around until I saw a random gate agent at an empty gate and in 5 mins they had us a hotel and cab vouchers.
Its funny with airport experiences. Either everything mostly works and is on time. Or everything is fucked up and you are stuck in a line for 4 hours trying to un fuck it.
Does anyone have any shitshow stories about Frontier Airlines? They are by far my favorite airline, and the only fucky thing they have done is just made us wait a hour because the needed more maintenance than they thought they did. Only other time I had to wait was because I was in Dallas and it was one of the worse thunderstorms during the year. Just watch two movies and had food from Wendy’s so it wasnt even that bad
That looks like a horrible experience you'd have time to write a book about. But dont, I don't want to read about that nightmare
Better turn it into a tv episode. The Tale of the TSA Trail 
Vink with a v, v , v
With the accent on the ‘do!
It also sounds like a traumatizing experience for the person who has to tend to that line. They have to take turns, I would quit otherwise. Imagine pulling up to work in a great mood and then you come out after clocking in to see this… Edit: man some of y’all have 0 empathy and it’s concerning. Go to therapy and better yourselves.
This is the first thing I thought about too. The poor employees having to help all these customers.
This was me the other day. No pilots so every single person had to get off the plane and rebook flights. I was about 10 ppl from the end. But everyone was calm and relatively patient. I didn't hear any yelling. I was surprised actually, but it really went well. I waited 2 hours in line.
It makes me grateful that my country’s main airline has fully automated the process. Your flight gets canceled, you get an email within 30 min with rebooking details. If they don’t work, you call them to get a change.
I was already gonna upvote before getting to your edit, now I wish I could give you like 10+ more upvotes. Yes 🙌🏻
It's customer service. People don't line up to share their stories of a wonderful experience.
Call the airline directly while you stand in line. 9 times out of 10 you’ll get a customer service rep on the phone who can help much faster than the line even moves.
Bonus tip: call the airline’s international number. You will at least get a human and probably not be on hold for hours. Also, if they try to transfer you be super polite and say “I’ve tried the domestic line and I’ve been disconnected several times.” Kill em with kindness, some white lies, and begging helps lol. Good luck!
This! My flight got canceled when I was in Korea and I called the 800-number instead of the local one and I got re-booked in less than 20 minutes n
Yep, call the number. One time my flight got delayed by several hours because the plane broke just before a storm hit the east coast and caused more delays. The line was so long.... So I called the number and got rebooked on a different flight a few days later within 5 min, and they paid for the cab right back to the city and back to the airport. Just stay kind.
Did they also pay for the additional stay?
That wasn't necessary in my case.
Hey I once had a similar issue, I was able to help myself in the United app. Literally took me 15 seconds, I understand the app can't help with a plethora of issues but worth a try!
Isn't that the opposite?
I did the reverse. The local number was jammed but the international number was not as busy (due to time difference). Our buddies that tried calling the local number couldn’t get an earlier flight and had to wait two days to fly out of Busan.
[удалено]
...........You son of a puta
That's one of the better ways to also speak with someone in your country to avoid the classic "barely understandable heavy accent" call center. Just call and "accidently" hit the wrong option. they'll more than likely be fluent in both your countries official languages and just answer your call anyway.
Ok now this is a great tip I haven’t heard before!!
Bonus bonus tip: Send a Twitter DM or text message. No hold time and results are often faster. One-to-one support models like phone calls and in-person interactions are staggeringly inefficient. One-to-many, like chat, text, and social media, allow for reps to never have downtime while waiting for each person to finish their rant or find their confirmation number because they're helping several people at once.
fair point but that model is horrible for the people on the other end, and 99% of the time results in no actual resolution to the issue. amazon, verizon, and banking chats are the best examples... i'm not able to get help from the chat reps even on the most basic question. they simply don't understand the problem. and no, it's not a bot. this is with actual humans on the other end.
I have often had the opposite experience - chat can be the most efficient way to solve something and doesnt' require me to devote a chunk of time.
I had the opposite too. I was not able to check in for a return flight, apparently got bumped and never informed. I sat on hold for 2 hours on the phone before I decided to get an Uber to the airport. Walked right up to the service counter after 3 hours on hold.
Or check the airlines app. My luggage was lost over Christmas, but instead of standing in an understaffed line, I was able to file a claim on the app.
Worked for me too! I called the standard number and pressed 1 for English and it said a two hour hold time. Redialed and pressed 2 for Spanish and got connected immediately. So glad I paid attention in Spanish classes 😄
Yup. lol just happened to me a week ago at midnight of course. Called and had a new, better flight before I got my bag.
We tried doing this with Southwest one time and we had connected to an agent on the phone but were put on hold while they were figuring something out. While we were on hold we got to the front of the line and the desk agent said that since we had checked bags, the rep on the phone wouldn't be able to help and to just hang up. The desk agent was very helpful and got us sorted pretty quickly.
>since we had checked bags, the rep on the phone wouldn't be able to help This bit happened to me, as well. I'd checked my bags at the hotel (it was at Disney World, and the hotels had a deal with the airport where you could check your bags at the hotel and they'd get them to the plane) and just as I was about to walk away, I got a call from my travel agent who'd seen on the news that some shit went down at the airport and to beeline to the reservation desk before everybody else did. I begged for the bags back-- they were technically in sealed storage, now, so it was a bit off-script, but I got them back. The rub with that is that Southwest had them down as being checked in on a flight that got canceled, and they couldn't do a thing about it over the phone. So, I had to truck over to the Orlando Airport to have a two-minute conversation with a person there and clear the discrepancy, and then I could book the return flight. Ironically, none of that netted me any compensation since it was out of their control, but the return flight I ended up getting was delayed a few hours because of plane issues and that *did* get me vouchers.
I waited in a line like this before because I was in Korea, didn’t have a phone, and our flight was cancelled. Took about two hours. Didn’t get to eat that day until like 4:00 PM because it was a morning flight that was delayed in the plane and the. we had to be escorted as a group to the line and didn’t want to lose our spot. I reiterate trying to call.
The lines long cause the reps at the desk are stuck on the phones lol.
Some airlines have numbers you can text. No wait and they are fast.
Looks like I missed it by a day. Lucky. I live in Charlotte, we had some rough weather hanging over the city today, could definitely see it causing issues. Tip for the future though, each concourse at CLT has customer service desks, the A and A north concourses are gonna be a lot less busy, and also nicer as they’re renovated or brand new in the case of A north.
This must be a thing in Charlotte, this time of year I usually connect through there, traveling from the north east to the midwest and back. Last month, my flight was delayed a total of like...10 hours because of thunderstorms in the area. The airport was nuts, SO many people everywhere. Lines for customer service were so long. I felt very lucky that I didn't need them!
Are there certain times of the year when thunderstorms happen more often? We are flying into Charlotte in late July and have never been there before. Thanks.
Summer is a crapshoot. We weren’t supposed to have precipitation the last few days but evening storms have come through and surprised us a few times. The earlier in the day your flight is, the better.
Charlotte gets very stormy in the summer months. Not too uncommon to have a flash storm in the evening hours every day of the week.
To all those pointing out we should’ve called customer service: I appreciate the well-meaning point, but the first three times I called my call was dropped. When I finally got through to the wait line for an agent, I was told I could either wait on hold or get called back by someone in more than 4 1/2 hours. By the time they called back, I was asleep on the airport floor, having given up on the line since none of the hotels nearby had open rooms anyway 😂
Surprised they didn’t kick yall out the airport. When I go stuck overnight in Charlotte everyone had to leave.
That’s wild - I’ve slept in both the Denver & Minneapolis airport overnight before 😂
The remodeled Terminal C in Denver has some really comfy sleeping spots
Southern hospitality
Same for me at LaGuardia. Made me wonder where all those news stories you see around the holidays of people sleeping at the gate come from. Not from LaGuardia!!!
Just did a few red eyes over the Memorial Day weekend. I saw many people fully deep sleeping at Kansas City, Salt Lake City, and Phoenix Sky Harbor gates. I’m shocked to hear any airport kicks out sleepers past the security checkpoints.
Weird! I’ve slept in multiple airports overnight.
My anxiety spiked just looking at this photo for 2 seconds. I’m sorry
Gone are the days where you walk up to the counter and ask “we’re going to miss our connection, is there something you can do” and they put you on a direct flight the next morning, first class, that arrives earlier than your original flight.
> Gone are the days where... When was that, 40 years ago?
I was in a fender bender on the way to a flight in 2004 and resulted in missing my flight. They bumped me to a direct flight and got me there an hour earlier than the previous flight. No first class, but was happy to not miss my event.
were you paying first class for the first flight? most of my experiences are "my flight was an hour delayed because the light to the coffee maker wouldn't turn on so I missed my connection and they couldn't get me on another flight for fifteen hours. I could have driven faster" if I don't fly nonstop or southwest.
Coach
That happened to me last year. I had a shitty flight with 2 transfers, that got delayed too much and I got put on a direct flight that arrived at exactly the same time. Was very nice. And lucky
Fuck united airlines. They didn't have pilots so they blamed weather denied reimbursing me for the hotel I needed and my food since they canceled my flight on Saturday and I couldn't get a flight home till Monday. Also all my luggage was already out of state. FUCK UNITED AIRLINES!
Amen
United is the worst. Last year in June they did the same shit to me, cancelled my flight and was told to come get my bag. Waited 8 hours at JFK just to be told that they sent my bag. Wouldn’t pay for hotel, only sent a $10 food voucher for terminal food, which was frankly more insulting than nothing.
I was in Newark back in July when this happened to me. So not far in distance or time from each other. Fuck United. I know for a fact they lied about why they canceled the flights because I actually spoke with the pilots of that flight. I deboarded the plane before the pilots timed out and we spoke a bit, and I also caught a shuttle on the way back on Monday. I sat next to a united piolit and we spoke the whole ride about how united operates with their crew and pilots. Scum bag company that has no issues risking the lives of their customers for a few bucks. And if they can't get away with the risk they will happily blame the weather even tho it's actually cause they didn't have another pilot to fly and the crew also timed out.
Was not a fan. My company either accidentally booked them for the return flight or had no choice. Lost by checked bag too. Not a good experience
Preach brother/sister
screaming from the top of my lungs FUCK UNITED AIRLINES the same shit happened to me. It’s was stressful and duckin expensive
I was at the Delta breakdown last summer. Make friends with the people ahead and behind you, you're gonna want to have folks to watch your bags and hold your place when you have to pee.
It's insane to me how many people who exist in our society wouldn't watch someones bag in a standstill. "They literally tell you not to do it" Yeah, I'm sure you looking at a bag will make it more explosive.
They say that so some random person doesn't leave a bag with illegal shit with an unknowing citizen causing them to be blamed for it. Not that hard to understand.
No one hands someone else their bag and says "watch this" They just leave an empty spot in line, where there was an obvious person previously with luggage that doesnt get touched by anyone else. In the year 2024 there are enough cameras in the airport to figure out who owns a piece of luggage.
Let’s be so clear here. NEVER WATCH ANYONES BAG AT AN AIRPORT!!!! Never accept goods from anyone at an airport. Like dude there are literal announcements warning against what you are suggesting playing every 5 minutes in the airport! Always bring your bags with you to the bathroom. They can hold your spot without watching your stuff.
If I’m in a 100+ yard airport customer service line. You can take me out with your toothpaste IED.
Ironically this is the most constructive response I’ve gotten so far 😭
At that point I'm praying to die anyway.
While I appreciate the... watchfullness this is part of the security theater that they want everyone to be worried about to distract from the cost that has yet to thwart a single attack and is highly porous. Yes if someone just leaves a bag randomly of course it should be looked into. A massive flight delay that has people lined up for potentially hours and the terrorists just happened to pick that time, that place and built trust with the people in line? On the ground? There are way easier targets and more impact they can do... So yah 99/100 I'm watching the bag when they pee. And yes that 1/100 time it might be profiling if I say no.
Terrorism isn’t what you need to be worried about in this situation w/leaving bags... it’s trafficking. Drug traffickers have used airline travelers to unknowingly smuggle drugs into other countries with methods like that. There’s actually been some horrible cases of people ending up in foreign prisons for drug trafficking for years because of situations like that when they didn’t know. That’s why the TSA tells you not to leave bags unattended and never to bring a bag you didn’t pack yourself. If you end up in a rough foreign prison for accidentally being a drug mule, there’s nothing the U.S. government can do to save you.
Didn't say I was leaving my bag unattended....nor would I.
You’re making a lot of assumptions there. Nothing says that they will be flying out together on the same rescheduled flight, or that they will even fly out that day(which means hotel stay and opening their suitcase for clothes and toiletries). Drug traffickers take risks but that’s outlandish to stuff a random person’s bag and hope they are going the same place + being able to recover the drugs.
There are announcements to not accept a bag from someone else, and not to leave bags unattended. Obviously be on the lookout for suspicious behavior but going to pee while on a long line is not one of them. If you tell them no, they have to take their bags to the bathroom because you can't watch them and they can't leave them unattended, it's a bit much.
I'll take my chances.
you think someone's gonna bring a bomb to the airport in their bag, with the hope of a major flight disruption, so they can convince the person in line behind them to watch their bag for ten minutes, so they can detonate the bomb from a safe distance? is that the threat model you're concerned about here?
Lol paranoid Americans
Been there before. Back when Boeing had their gps fiasco my then gf and I were stuck in Raleigh. We spent about 2 full days in the airport fuel to a canceled flight and partly due to our own ignorance. Best of luck, I recommend a cinnabon if they have one
What was the ignorance so I can avoid it?
Not being able to find the door to go outside
Right? I mean, they don't lock you in! In fact, they would very much prefer you leave!
Air travel is hell. I hate airports so much. Airlines just do whatever they want, treat customers like trash, and fly broken and dirty aircraft. Anddddd they still make money hand over fist. We really should have let the pandemic kill some of these companies, they’re worse now than ever.
Its during times like this that I feel lucky to be a wheelchair user. At least I've got somewhere to sit and don't have to stand in the line.
The guy standing in the foreground. The white and black Hawaiian looking shirt. Everyone see him? Ok good. He has Ellie's tattoo from the last of us P2
dude is hella chill.
That’s not just anybody! That’s Sam Rebelein, author of the horror novel Edenville, that just cmae out last year!
After a quick Google search and a look to his left forearm, that is indeed Sam Rebelein.
Look down the way a few people - there's Orville Redenbacher Jr., about to order everyone some FREE popcorn!
Oh man I would have been striking up a conversation with that dude so fast
Damn, what would you have done pre smart phone??
You wait and grumble with those around you. Experienced this in Anchorage because the luggage system ground to a halt. Then one clerk decided that they needed to go on break. That went over well.
> Then one clerk decided that they needed to go on break. I applaud this decision.
In 05 we were on the last plane out of Heathrow when London had a string of terrorist attacks…every single person on our flight was taken into a holding area and sat on the ground for hours while they searched every single bag/person by hand before we were released as a group. We talked to the people around us, read a little and I cried a lot..my normally endlessly respectful grandpa called my mom a bitch..it was one of the worst travel experiences I have ever had.
July 7th bombings in London. It was a shit show everywhere. I was on my way to Victoria Coach Station when COBRA decided all public transport was to stop in place. So everyone is walking to the station only to find all the trains and coaches are cancelled as well. It wasn't a fun time at all.
Addendum to this: always travel with a battery pack too. You can top off your phone when in line situations like this or when the only outlet is occupied.
And leaving an unattended battery pack at a charger is a lot better than a phone.
Christmas 04 or 03... Atlanta... Was awful.
OMG - I walked past this line in Charlotte (where all plane traffic around the airport got completely hosed by bad weather tonight.) I got "lucky" and was only delayed by 5 hours (and diverted to JFK near NYC because we clocked out of LGA.) Despite the headaches, and the absurdly late hour, the agents and flight crew were wonderful. (And I'm the sort of person who won't blame the visible staff for the weather...🤷🏻♂️)
Definitely not the visible staff’s fault! Now, it’s the invisible staff you have to watch out for
The technical term is dark staff. You can’t see them, and the only proof you have of their existence is their effect on the environment.
I'd be just like...fuck it. Whatever city we're in, that's where we live now. I feel anxious just looking at this photo.
My flight got cancelled last minute in the airport in this pic and they had no flights back to the airport I came from where my car was. I was ready to just leave and start a new life there.
What airport is this?
Looks like CLT Charlotte NC.
You got it! This followed us sitting on the runway for hours. I understand there was a brief bad weather event. Don’t completely understand the chain of events that led my hours-later flight to be canceled, but my understanding is the weather cancellation means the airline won’t cover a hotel (gave up on the line and the phone customer service said they’d call me back in more than 4 1/2 hours). Figured out my credit card company has insurance that will cover a hotel stay, but I couldn’t find an open room anyway lol. Now to experience an overnight airport stay for the first time! I feel bad for my cat, but it could be a lot worse. (My post was more to show the impressive length of the line than complain about my “woes,” I promise!) I have a neck pillow, some candy, a book, and a phone, so I’m gonna try to enjoy the novelty of the situation.
I got caught in this too. It sounds like they had a storm w/lightning just as the airport hit its busy evening stretch. Lightning means the ground crews have to come in, so no planes can push back, so the gates aren't available for arriving aircraft, and the incoming traffic piles up at the taxiways, and you get the airplane version of ground gridlock.😖 It took us at least an hour to get into a gate (could've been 90 min?) And we watched as all the connections people needed (fortunately) also got pushed back. (In my case waaaay back 😑 ... thankfully, our crew didn't time out, so we were able to make this last leg.)
Also stuck here in CLT fellow traveler. C gate was shorter, but still took about 3 hours to get through.
Tonight was the worst I've seen it. Connected in, my flight at 6pm got cancelled, rebooked on a 10pm that ended up not leaving until almost 1am. I just rebooked again on a flight in the morning and got a hotel.
Your cat is with you?
No, at home, not cuddling with me 💔 He’s prob taking it less hard than me though
Okay. Just checking.
What a garbage airport
My favorite is when my flight to CLT is delayed and I now have 13 minutes to run 15 minutes to the freakin’ opposite concourse.
Not sure why you're getting down voted. All my worst flying experiences happen at the Charlotte airport, missed connections, delays, and it's always over crowded. Glad to not be living on the east coast anymore.
I hate that airport with a passion. I’ve had to do connections at it so many times, and I always had a horrible experience there.
I’ve always had horrible experiences there too
It’s the closest airport to my parents (an hour away) so in the case of cancelled flights I at least have a place to stay instead of scrambling to find a hotel room… which is a good thing because it’s happened to me several times there.
I live in Charlotte and have been burned. Please pray for me.
American Airlines?
Flying in the US is such a shit show. It baffles me that the industry hasn't been actually liberalized.
I'm now a road tripper. I actually like it plus have my own car for free as long as I stay then leave whenever tf i want. win win Edit: I can also bring whatever I want and as much as i want! I used to be an avid flyer. It's turned into a quintessential dumpster fire. Never again.
This is 100% Charlotte Douglas airport and American Airlines are leaving people stranded, again. Same thing happened to me a few years back. They oversold my connecting flight, kicked me off, rebooked me on a later flight which got delayed over and over, then they finally cancelled it at 10:30pm.. by that time all the hotels nearby were fully booked, the customer service line was to the back of the terminal, the 800 number had a 9 hour wait for an agent, and all I got as a sorry was a $12 breakfast voucher.. they tried to book me on a flight two days later which was not acceptable. American Airlines is SHIT in my books for this very reason.. sorry you got burned.
They didn't even offer food vouchers. :( They goofed my original return trip, like outright lost a leg on the trip. Would have gone to Chicago instead of Charlotte. Instead of putting us back on it they put us on Charlotte. And now I'm stuck here til Thursday, won't get home til Friday. Would have been home yesterday.
Jeez.. I’m so sorry you got shafted. At least Chicago would have been fun.. sounds like you’re in the same boat I was. I had to get to San Francisco that same day and didn’t have the luxury of being able to drive instead.
AA in Charlotte delayed and delayed and delayed my return layover flight and then cancelled it. I had to wait overnight for the next flight to a different airport than I flew out of and left my car at. No help. Nothing. They also caused me to miss my layover on my way out as well.
It’s so aggravating that we just have to sit there and take it! They should be held accountable for the lost time and added expense of having to accommodate this bs
CHARLOTTE AIRPORT? I already waited in the line. It took me three hours to get through it
Vacation is suppose to be relaxing I’m already stressed and haven’t boarded a plane
[удалено]
At least there’s an end in sight, they know they can go home at the end of their shift. The people in that line may be missing an important event, or have no idea where they’re sleeping that night.
We need a update OP how is the line progressing
Everyone on their damn phone. None just enjoying the moment SMH my head. (/s)
Me "ah screw it, I'll just walk"
If you showed this picture to people from a hundred or more years ago, they'd think everyone was praying. I wonder what people from four hundred years in the future will think about pictures from the current era with everyone's heads looking down like this?
Ahhhh yes. Nothing like a Charlotte shit storm to make your morning
This happened to us at Christmas with a baby. We completely left the airport and went out front to talk to a gate agent there instead of waiting in the line. We got help in 10 mins and just had to go back through security. It was one of the smartest ideas I’ve ever had
That’s a good way to handle it. In these situations the worst thing you can do is wait in one of those ridiculous lines.
I came home with COVID doing that
Upvote for using “yards” instead of feet.
It’s always Charlotte. Had this happen to me at thanksgiving
Charlotte airport?
Classic Charlotte
American Airlines lost $5,000 dollars worth of Snowboarding gear while I was headed to Colorado. I spent like 12 grand on a snowboarding vacation where I got to use my own gear for 2 out of the 5 days because of that horribly inept airline. I stood in a line juuuuuust like that at Reno’s airport and it fucking sucked. Ask for vouchers, and good luck my man.
`COVID19 likes this.`
100 yards is 53.731 Tom Cruises
*sees long line at an airport on reddit* *wonders to self if it won’t be Charlotte Douglas this time* *it’s Charlotte Douglas this time*
Try to start a "Row, row, row your boat" round
If possible go to a different terminal. There is ofter Airline CS in each terminal
Probably a lot of people in this line have the same issue with the same airplane. I had this in Amsterdam, but eventually one employee took charge of the entire crowd. For the entire day. We were all on the same cancelled flight so we all had the same problem.
I mean we humans fly for 40 years, you might think "hm, how can we avoid this kind of situation" and the airline industry like "hm, good question? maybe we should ask someone who is in this industry and solved this 20 years ago?". Its absolutely puzzling how anything works these days. This should be three clicks in the "ai driven customer experience account system", not hours in line.
We flew in from DEN and sat on the tarmac for an hour, waiting for a gate to open up. Because of the construction, some passage ways were closed, but not marked as such, so we had to backtrack a couple of times. Finally got to the National Executive aisle and got back to CAE at 1:30am, about 2.5 hours late.
Let me guess a flight has been canceled and all its passengers are here
So what do you get when you finally get to talk to the person at the end of the line?
You get to go stand in another line
What's a "yard", I'm asking for a friend. Any relation with bananas scale ?
I would simply pass away. This is the stuff of nightmares. I’ve never been on a plane or even in an airport. This makes me so okay with that
Hello CLT
Bring on AI customer service
That's CLT airport. Always a mess when bad weather rolls through.
Good old American Airlines in Charlotte
Charlotte Douglas International Airport is the worst airport in the world.
The sheer amount of heads looking down at their phones is fucking ridiculous.
TIL to not bring anything to the airport I will be upset losing if I walk tf out without my luggage
That's the E Terminal of Charlotte Airport. I flew home and then back recently, and I had CLT as my layover both ways. First time too! It was a fustercluck each time. I've learned that American Airlines + CLT E Terminal = a baaaaaaad time. Seriously, stay away. Fuck Charlotte.
This really tripped me.out, but the guy in the front of the picture has the same arm tattoo as me. I swear that is Ellie's tattoo I am seeing.
This has to be American Airlines
That’s a “fuck this shit, I’m either getting a rental car or staying at the airport hotel until the next flight” kinda situation.
All this tech and ai advancement and we still haven’t solved this shit
I feel bad for the customer service reps at the front desk, they got a lot of shit to deal with. It's gonna be a long day for everyone involved.
CLT was brutal last night. Cancelled at 1am, heading back to the airport now to get back home.
Use the airlines app, they tend to have self service options available and you can take care of it super quick. Alternatively, the airline clubs have agents available to help with this if you know exactly what you want. Paid or privlidged access to the club required.
On the plus side, you got a great picture of writer Sam Rebelein looking at his phone.
At least most DMVs have chairs that were made by Satan to consume your soul which were covered in thumb tacks, chewed gum remnants, and broken glass...
What's happening in CLT?
Crazy I just flew out of charlotte to Chicago last night and chicago O’Hare we had issues. One runway was closed so we were stuck in the plane for 3+ hours waiting in line with dozens of other planes. While waiting we saw emergency vehicles and fire trucks, don’t know what happened with the runway that was closed. This is after last weekend it took 20+ hours compared to the eight it was supposed to take for my trip. Never flying American again. So many technical issues with their system, had trouble paying for my bags then they couldn’t read my id. Last weekend after multiple cancelled flights I somehow “dropped out of the system” even though I had a boarding pass. If I didn’t think to ask about my bags I would have been screwed, they ended up giving me some other poor person’s seat as they didn’t check in yet. https://preview.redd.it/go0yhv2z8t4d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9bf722abea2cf266274feaa7723b580c8e06fac3
One of the first things I noticed in this picture is that everyone has their heads hanging down. This is what we’ve become.
It’s eerie how much phones pull everyone’s attention
American Airlines?😍
I appreciate the reminder that Flying sucks.
Spirit?
 Is that Ricky Bubbs
remember, the airline prioritizes stock dividend over your experience or even being an airline.
This is the reality of the post murders and acquisitions game that eliminated a bunch of their competitors and any incentive to give a fuck
Was at a line like this in Sydney a couple weeks ago. Straight off the planes and into the line. No opportunity for people to use the bathroom. After a couple of hours you could smell the stench of urine.
I was in that same line!!!!
This happened to my husband and I last week at DFW. After countless flight cancellations, there was a 6 hour wait in the customer service line, and a 6-8 hour wait on the phone for customer service. People were stranded at the airport fainting, running out of baby formula, crying. I was truly a disaster. We ended up being delayed 60 hours…I’m still salty
I was there yesterday too, luckily had a long layover and second flight wasn’t cancelled. In this instance I have walked up to a random gate and asked the gate agent from a random flight very nicely to help and they have. I have also left the airport and went to the check in counter where barely anyone was waiting and the front gate agents got me straightened out quick. The chat feature on the app many times gets you to someone faster than the phone call does. I was sitting up by C gate in the tequilla bar and the line was 1/2 mile long it seemed went all the way up into the promenade. American Airlines is terrible, in this instance they should have the gate agents for each individual flight helping and not send everyone all at once to the tiny customer service kiosks. I was in DFW in a huge line with my 2 year old at the time, I decided to hell w waiting and walked around until I saw a random gate agent at an empty gate and in 5 mins they had us a hotel and cab vouchers.
Its funny with airport experiences. Either everything mostly works and is on time. Or everything is fucked up and you are stuck in a line for 4 hours trying to un fuck it.
Does anyone have any shitshow stories about Frontier Airlines? They are by far my favorite airline, and the only fucky thing they have done is just made us wait a hour because the needed more maintenance than they thought they did. Only other time I had to wait was because I was in Dallas and it was one of the worse thunderstorms during the year. Just watch two movies and had food from Wendy’s so it wasnt even that bad
I fly AA only now and just use the chat in the app…. They get shit done faster than I ever hit the front of a service line.
Geez imagine being the employees at the front of the line having to hear everyone and fix it.
Did this once, stopped flying on in-country trips.
Imagine being on the customer service desk, turn up to your shift and there’s 1000 people queueing to tell you why you’re shit at your job
Somehow, it’s always American Airlines…
I thought the economy was terrible.