Talk about bad luck, I have had bad experience similar to this but not nearly this bad. I have relative working in airline industry, so I can get these standby tickets and my parents use them regularly. But if bad luck hit, you are stuck. http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/family-four-stranded-airport-six-days-video-205030173.html A Virginia family spent six days stranded at Salt Lake City International Airport before a generous donor purchased them a flight back home. "We just sit and walk around and wait for our flights," Curtis Saxton told local affiliate ABC 4. "We've been here for every flight, rolled over for every flight," said Saxton. "We're still at the bottom of that list." Curtis Saxton and his wife Nicole Bennett, along with their 13-year-old daughter Sadee and 4-year-old son Dominic, had used a relative's buddy pass, to fly from Virginia to Utah. Buddy passes are technically lower-end version of standby flights, meaning that the Saxtons were forced to wait until all passengers, including regular standby requests, had been seated. And with so many Americans traveling on summer vacations, there just weren't any seats available on their return JetBlue flight. So the family was stuck at SLC Airport from Aug. 15 through Aug. 21. Even worse, they were forced to sleep on airport benches and because of limited funds, could afford to eat only one meal per day. "There's a lot of people walking by and staring at you and kind of laughing at you," said Bennett. "It doesn't feel very good." The family hadn't even been able to shower since the day they arrived at the airport. "You feel gross," said 13-year-old Sadee. "It's embarrassing." The family said neither they nor their relatives could afford to purchase a ticket back to Virginia at the standard price. However, once news of their plight was reported, donations quickly arrived. United Airlines purchased a motel room for the family and an anonymous donor purchased them a ticket back to Virginia, which they used on Wednesday morning. Before the donations arrived, things had gotten so bad that 4-year-old Dominic began vomiting on Sunday and had to be evaluated by airport paramedics. "I have been hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry!" Dominic said. It should be noted that JetBlue did nothing wrong here. In fact, the airline said it was without options, as it could not take away tickets from other paying passengers on flights that were already fully booked. A independent survey of airlines passengers released by J.D. Power and Associates in June ranked JetBlue as the top industry airline for customer satisfaction for North America.
They went somewhere but on the way back they could not get a seat as their seating priority is low. How these type of tickets work is you have to wait for open seats, normally they pop up pretty often, which is how they able to leave their home in the first place.
i can understand flying with buddy passes solo or as a couple. but flying as a family of four is asking for trouble.
Christmas 2006 I got stuck in Denver on a layover flight headed to Santa Barbara. Had to take a stand-by to LA the next morning. Spent the night sleeping under a Delta Kiosk. They lost my luggage and it wasn't located until I went back home a week later. Then on the way back home I got stuck in LAX after my flight back to Dallas was cancelled due to tornado warnings. I got in line and secured the very last seat on the flight to Dallas the next day, so I spent the next 28 hours in LAX. Airports give me anxiety, so after that I made it a point to never take a connecting flight again.
28 hours in the airport?! Jeez, I'd at the very least pay the $39.99 or whatever it is for a room at the Motel 6.
Unless you do not travel much or have only one or two fixed destinations, you cannot avoid connecting flights, they are usually not that bad.
Flying stand-by is cool if you're by yourself. I would never do it if I was traveling with my family. And those buddy passes are basically like hitching a ride on a plane if there are any seats left right before takeoff. Why would you roll the dice like that with your whole family?
Hell, even if it weren't close by and I was on a budget, I'd take the city bus or train from the airport to the nearest cheap hotel. 28 hours in an airport is way too long.
I have traveled by air nearly every year, and from 2006 to 2009 I had a delay involved with probably every connecting flight I got on. Hate that ****.
My girlfriend just took a flight to dominican republic on a buddy pass last weekend, and I had to use my United miles to get her out because no standby seats were available. It's a risky game.
Reagan airport (in DC) is probably the best and worst airport in the US. Best because it's literally less than five miles from the National Mall. Worst because flights (at least on United) are almost always delayed from there.
If you use these type of tickets, make sure you do not have to be somewhere on a schedule. It is not bad if you are retired and can travel anytime you want.
I have been on an incredible run of good luck on planes this year. I have been on around 40 planes and all but one has arrived on or before the posted arrival time - the one late flight was in Nairobi and it was only about 15 minutes late. Just got in from Sao Paulo to Detroit an hour early and am currently on the plane to MSP and it is also expected a few minutes early. I suspect after I post this we will have to divert to Milwaukee.
You're doing something wrong. Ive been on dozens of flights the last few years and I've only had one canceled flight but I still made it to my final destination earlier. I've had a couple 1 hour delayed flights. I also rarely fly out past 9am and avoid weekend flights.
