Last week we flew to Utah for Brian's sister Tanya's wedding! We had NO idea of the mess it would be to fly up there. I am NEVER going to fly American Airlines AGAIN! It was absolutely horrible. We flew out of Laredo on the 27th of June with a lay over at DFW then on to SLC. Our flight leaving Laredo was delayed an hour and when we boarded the plane we stayed at the gate for another hour or so until we were given the OK by Flight Control that we could leave. Apparently DFW was having some rain but we were told by the captain that all flights were running behind 45 mins so our connecting flights would be delayed as well. They had us pull down the sun shades bc the airplane could not sustain the heat outside of the plane in Laredo to cool down the airplane. We were beyond sweating. We finally take off 2hours plus later and then the captain comes over the loudspeaker to tell us that the controllers were only allowing them to fly at "half" speed d/t the weather and all of the other planes that were in a "holding" pattern over DFW to land. The flight should only be 58mins! I had to use the restroom, which was a HUGE mistake, it smelled like death in the restroom, there was urine sloshing around on the floor with the turbulence of the airplane...so I ended up with about a dozen or so peoples urine on the bottom of my capri pants...what a pleasantry that was! We FINALLY land around 9 when we should of landed at 6! We immediately see on the billboards that our connecting flight had been cancelled! We were stunned! We go talk to the agent at the desk and she tells us to go to the next desk and stand in line bc she was about to be boarding another plane passengers. So we go to the next desk, fourth in line, start to call the 1 800 number...40min wait is what we are told on the phone, hold for 20 and then we are disconnected!! I attempted to call with the same result, disconnected after holding for a while! The people in the line with us were attempting to board the plane that we were standing in line for, well attempting to get on stand by for the plane, they were not to nice to us. They proceed to inform us that THIS plane is not going to SLC, we tell them that we are aware of the situation and explain to them that we could conduct our business at any agents desk, she continues to tell me to go to another line. I told her no thanks I was staying in THIS line! She wasn't too happy, but by this point, I didn't care to make any new friends. We finally get to the desk and the agent tells us that she could put us on standby for the morning flight but there was 142 other people on standby for this flight! HA! We took our standby tickets and went to see what our options were. Come to find out later that there were people sleeping on cots in the airport for 2 days! AND to make matters worse, our luggage we were told would be at our FINAL destination!! So we had 3 diapers, and enough for 3 more bottles and the clothes on our backs! We called the reservation line to be told that they could guarantee us a flight on Saturday morning to SLC. Brian's sister was getting married on Saturday! We called Brian's parents to tell them about the situation we were in. I was sooo upset with AA for flying us into DFW KNOWINGLY that we were going to be stuck there with an 11 month old!! I was boiling mad! After a long long wait we finally rented a vehicle and we were going to drive to UT. Of course they ONLY had SUV's left...we had no car seat bc Grandma Johnson had one at the house for us to use while we were up there, so we rented a car seat and a 2007 Toyota Highlander. It was a really nice vehicle though. We were able to get the last 2 tickets our of Amarillo Texas to Denver then on to SLC thanks to some HARD work from Brian's bro and aunts and parents! We got to Wichita Falls at 3:15, found a hotel, slept for 3 hours and were going to drive the rest of the way to make it to our flight. What an expensive hotel for 3 hours, but it was the Best sleep we have had!! We felt refreshed as you could be with having to put back on your Dirty clothes you wore the previous day! Outside of Wichita Falls I got my FIRST ever speeding ticket! CAN you believe the story gets worse!! YEP! 65 in a 50..It was a speed trap! I swear the police was 75 years old and had been smoking a pack a day for 73 years!! He didn't even let me explain or plead my case, of course we had MISSOURI license plates on the rental, I think that if it had Texas he would of gone easy on my but it was the end of the month, they gotta make their quota! We get to Amarillo, get checked in, I stand in line at AA to get a refund for the partial ticket we didn't use as I was told on the phone by a representative of the great company. After standing in line for over an hour, I was told that "we no longer give refunds at the desk". She hands me a lovely envelope to mail back my ticket stubs and we move on our way. We hadn't eaten all day, had 3 hours of sleep, we were dirty/stinky, and beyond frustrated. We grab something to eat and I have a momentary breakdown and we get to our plane. Of course its a two seater prop plane, where the boarding passes are hand written and you have to walk on the tarmac to board and the co pilot is your stewardess! I about died on the way to Denver, we fish tailed back and forth and we got there just in time before I lost my lunch that I just scarfed down on the guy asleep in front of me! Then we get to Denver and board our plane to SLC and have to sit on the tarmac for another hour d/t an incorrect number of passengers. The pilot over the loud speaker tells us "we are not in the business of giving free rides". Avery by this point had had it! She was not going to play nice anymore and she wanted EVERY one on the plane to know it. I at this point could care less what the people around me thought, they had NO idea what we had been through the previous days!
We finally got to SLC, had a wonderful time with Brian's family, beautiful wedding, worth every bit of the nightmare we went through. Its what memories are made of right?
So Friday when we went to return to Laredo, AA said we were supposed to have paper tickets. We had to explain the whole ordeal again to them and tell them we didn't have such things, our return flight had been cancelled by AA in Amarillo when we wanted a refund. We didn't want the rest of the trip cancelled...So after 30mins of the agent talking on the phone we were able to get our tickets and have a smooth trip the rest of the way home!
We are glad to be home, even if it is for the moment Laredo! There is nothing like sleeping in your own bed, but we really enjoyed our trip and the family we were able to spend time with and puppies we were reacquainted with and the fun that we had. Below are some pics of all of our fun!