BN9.com readers share their holiday travel nightmares

Friday, November 27, 2009

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(Bay News 9) -- Turkey. Stuffing. Football, family and friends.

All of these are staples of the holiday season.

And just as commonplace is traveling to and from your destinations.

Thanksgiving kicks off the holiday travel season for millions of Americans but how often do those trips actually go smoothly?

Baynews9.com asked readers for some of their worst holiday travel nightmare stories. Add your story.

Here are some of their submissions (some responses have been edited slightly for clarity):

Thanksgiving dinner at the airport

I have been in Tampa for three years now. The first year I stayed here as I had just moved to Clearwater and wanted a long weekend to unwind.

The 2nd year I decided to fly home to Cleveland to spend the holiday with my family. I flew out of TIA on Thanksgiving morning; no crowds, easy flight, etc. Flying back from Cleveland was a different story as there was snow and sleet, had to stay overnight and fly out the next morning to get back to Tampa. Last year I expected the same type of flying experience. Boy was I wrong.

The airport was much more crowded. I had a layover in Atlanta and then on to Cleveland. Flight from Tampa to Atlanta was on time, even a few minutes early. But when we landed in Atlanta, we sat on an active runway over 2 hours because they didn't have a gate for our plane. How does that happen? Planes were taxiing by us going to gates but no gate for our plane??!! Needless to say, all of us missed connecting flights and had to be booked on later flights. I didn't end up in Akron until after 10:00 Thanksgiving night. Thanksgiving dinner consisted of a steak sandwich in the Atlanta airport. I am a sucker for punishment, so I'm flying out again on Thanksgiving morning. This time I have a non-stop flight from Tampa to Cleveland, so barring any major catastrophe, I should be home in time for Thanksgiving dinner with my family. Wish me luck!

- Sandra Ogilvie, Tampa

Angel in the Rockies

My family has quite an amazing travel story, though it was over Christmas, not Thanksgiving.

They went to Denver three years ago. On December 21 a horrible blizzard hit Colorado. They were to depart on December 22. The flight was cancelled so they got to the airport early on December 23 in hopes of finding a flight. They spent 6 hours in a line for Northwest and were finally given a flyer explaining that there was a blizzard and alternate transportation had to be found. They they stood in line for a rental car for 4 hours. There were no cars and no rooms to stay in. At this point my 5 and 8 year old also had no food, no patience and no prospect of getting home for Christmas. They would have to sleep in the airport until transportation was available, in a few days.

Zack and Abby, my children, had been singing and playing and caught the attention of an employee of the Denver airport. She introduced herself to my husband, Chris, and explained that she wasn't crazy and had never done this but did he and the kids want to come home with her.

She took them home and made dinner. Later, as we made arrangements Kim watched a movie with the kids and played Uno.

I had called a friend that was a travel agent for suggestions on getting everyone home. At midnight she called because she had found tickets through an old college friend that worked for Continental. The flight left the next morning. Kim took Chris and the kids to the airport early the next morning - She even packed a bag for each with fruit, water and muffins.

The security line was about 4.5 hours long but they made the flight and arrived home at 10 on Christmas eve.

- Aviva Baker, Dover

Stuck in Philly

My husband and I were flying back to Tampa from NY the Sunday after Thanksgiving a few years ago.

We had a connection in Philadelphia. We left NY at 7 am (after getting to airport almost 2 hrs ahead), got to Philly, were supposed to wait 3 hrs for our connection...it never came, no one, including the gate attendants knew what plane was supposed to come and from where and when...even though we all had tickets.

Many hours later, I think around 5 pm, they finally found a plane for us - only for us to taxi out to runway and come to dead stop.

Pilot announces that the FAA has halted all ground air traffic because there was too many planes in the air at that time! So there we sat for hours waiting for the traffic in the air to clear.

I think we finally got into Tampa sometime around 1 a.m. Later, we figured out that it would have been QUICKER to DRIVE from NY to Tampa (about 18-20 hrs) than it was for us to fly!!!! (This was US Airways by the way)

By the way, my husband, who never liked the fly in the first place, has not flown since and refuses to.

- Nanette Angelone, Tampa

Turkey in Tampa - and New York!

Every year I have an early Thanksgiving here with my extended family around noon.

My wife and daughter would then fly to New York for the weekend and have a late second Thanksgiving dinner there at a fancy restaurant.

The two climates, two different city feelings, and many times different dinners is an amazing experience. You can look at the Gulf (of Mexico) and Central Park on the same holiday.

What you are really asking is a travel question. At 2:00 p.m. the Tampa Airport is a ghost town although you will park in the last spot. The airport seems like it has less than a dozen people and is very relaxed.

I highly recommend everyone try it one time.

- Seasoned traveler,
Dan

No nightmare at all

I would never travel on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving but my sister ended up in the hospital.

I had to make flight arrangements on Tuesday evening to leave on Wednesday.

I got right through to the airlines with no trouble, got an incredible fare on the tickets (last minute special) and never waited for anything -- all the flights were early.

- Judy, Lakeland