By Shawn Gallagher
I recently went through a lot of bad luck and had the worst flight experience I’ve had so far in my life. From poor weather conditions to cancellations to a sleepless night, I had quite the travel day(s). Here’s what happened on my July 17th flight from Detroit to New York City.
Arrival In Detroit
I arrived in Detroit after a 12-hour flight from Tokyo Haneda. I was here to connect to another flight and make my way home to New York City.
As I lined up at immigration, I was expecting a very smooth transfer to my next flight. My flight was to board in 30 minutes. It looked like I’d make it to my gate right around the time my boarding zone got called.
Related: Delta Airlines Boarding Zones, Explained
Let me take this time to call out the sheer ineptitude of Detroit’s baggage claim at the McNamara Terminal. Every time I use this airport after an international flight, bags seem to be coming out of random carousels, different from the ones posted on the screens. There are also no posted labels at the carousels themselves.
This time, my flight was shown as carousel 3 and 5, but instead, there were bags from my flight on 2 and 3.
I remember another time at this baggage claim when bags from my flight came out of 1, 2, and 3 when the screens showed just carousel 3. Dear McNamara Terminal, is it seriously that hard?
I made my way to gate A78 using the train.
I learned here that my flight had been delayed 30 minutes due to a late equipment swap. No problem, this gives me extra time to grab a quick snack before departure.
The Flight That Never Flew
Here’s the Airbus A320 that was supposed to take me to JFK.
I made my way to seat 26A, my home for the next hour and a half waiting for other passengers to board, and making circles around the airport.
I’m the type of person where I have serious legroom issues if I get stuck in regular economy. Normally I’d try to book an extra legroom seat, such as Comfort Plus with Delta, but this was a last minute trip and I didn’t have much options.
Related: Delta Comfort Plus vs Main Cabin, What Is The Difference?
This is when issues began to arise. We pushed back and taxiied to the runway, but then returned after sitting on the taxiway for about an hour. We were told that we couldn’t depart due to a ground stop at JFK thanks to thunderstorms in the area.
Everybody deplaned, and this was the beginning of a very long string of delays.
The departure board showed “departed” since the flight had technically left the gate, but in reality, we were being held there with no concrete plan of departure anytime soon.
This was originally a 4pm flight. After returning to the gate, we got a 6:30pm departure that got pushed back, a 7:30pm that got pushed back, a 9pm that got pushed back, it all kept going.
Other New York City flights at the airport were delayed as well. The weather wasn’t getting any better.
I tried to get some work done while I was waiting. I was also very tired from the trip, as I had left my Tokyo residence 9pm the day before (due to the time difference).
There were a lot of very unhappy passengers. Although there’s nothing the airline can do about weather delays, it’s natural that people will eventually get frustrated after seeing their flight get delayed every hour.
I had some fun conversations with the captain though, who was waiting to get clearance to fly just like we all were. It’s good to remember that the crew and gate agents also feel the same way we do. They all want to go home just like us.
The Flight Is Canceled
Eventually, my flight got canceled a few minutes after midnight. Even worse, all flights to New York City the next day were full, and I would’ve had no choice but to make another connection somewhere else. I hadn’t slept in about 30 hours and there was no way that I was going to do another big travel day the next day.
I decided to go to Boston instead where I have another apartment and stay there for the time being. I had Delta change my destination at no charge and was able to grab a 10am flight in the morning.
After a stop at the baggage office making sure that they’d send my checked bag to Boston, I left the airport and headed to a hotel that I’d booked.
Unfortunately, airlines don’t give reimbursements for hotels and meals for weather delays. I had to swallow the hotel cost here.
It was very nice to lie down in bed after being awake for the past 30+ hours.
I woke up to a very nice morning in Romulus, Michigan. I left the hotel at around 7:30 and made my way to the airport. It was a quick 5 minute Uber ride.
Flight to New York City Boston
The McNamara Terminal was up and busy at this time in the morning. Even the Sky Priority line took some time.
Thankfully, my bag made it onto my plane. I was concerned that the airport would accidentally send it to New York City instead of Boston, but Delta pulled through here.
Related: 5 Things You Should NEVER Put In Your Checked Luggage
About 37 hours after leaving my Tokyo residence, I finally made it onto my second flight!
I normally don’t sit on the aisle anymore, but it was nice on this flight. I enjoyed the arm space to my right.
I got some work done and enjoyed a Biscoff cookie before landing in Boston 20 mintues early.
Although Boston wasn’t my intended destination, it felt great to finally close the door on this long trip.
Concluding Thoughts
I picked up my suitcase and made my way to my apartment.
It ended up taking 40 hours door to door from the time I left my Tokyo residence and the time I arrived at my Boston apartment. This became the longest trip I have ever taken in my life. I rested there and made it back to New York City the next day.
Considering I’ve done a lot of flying ever since I was a baby, the law of averages tells me that an experience like this was bound to happen at some point. I’d been lucky on several occasions that my flight would somehow make it through a winter storm when many other flights wouldn’t. It made me appreciate the normal, uneventful flights.
This was also just one day before the start of the Crowdstrike/IT issues, which put the airline industry in a frenzy. Even after going through this experience, I consider myself a pretty lucky flyer.
All photos taken by the author.