missed connections

Flying home for Christmas, I had a layover in Detroit and another in Minneapolis. Unfortunately, my flight leaving DC was delayed, so I missed my connections to Minneapolis and Kalispell. The airline put me up in a hotel for the night, and told me that the only option I had to get to Minneapolis was the next evening at 7:12. After considering my options, I decided I was going to get to the airport earlier than necessary to see if I couldn't catch an earlier flight out. Thinking my odds were best with the first flight out, I arrived at the airport at 5:45 am to see if I couldn't catch the 6:40 am flight to Minneapolis. It was full. I hurried to the 7:15 am flight, and was told that since I had a ticket, I wouldn't be allowed on other flights out. I could pay $50 and change my status to standby, forfeiting my ticket, if I'd like, but as it was, I wasn't going to be able to catch an earlier flight out of Detroit. I decided I'd rather keep my ticket than pay $50 and navigate the standby system.

Meanwhile, Detroit was in the middle of a blizzard (10 inches of snow fell by noon), and flights were being cancelled or delayed all over the place. The airport was full of people just waiting around, like me. At about quarter to five that afternoon, the status of my 7:12 flight to Minneapolis was posted. It was delayed. I was worried that with the delay, I would again miss my connection to Kalispell and have to spend an extra night in Minneapolis. I saw that there was a flight leaving at 5:10 and decided I'd go check it out. I sauntered down the terminal, and arrived at about 5:05, just before the gate was closing. The gate agent was letting on standbys, and he called out for people who had just misconnected their last flight. A few people stepped forward. He gave them tickets and let them on. He repeated his request, preparatory to letting on the rest of the standbys. I stepped forward and told the gate agent that I had misconnected the night before, that my ticket was for later that night, and that I was worried I'd again miss my connection. He looked at my ticket, printed out another one, and 20 seconds later I was walking down the ramp. It was that easy.

I arrived in Minneapolis with about an hour to spare, and I checked the monitors. The rest of the flights for that night from Detroit to Minneapolis had been delayed. Just before boarding the plane to Kalispell, I checked the monitors again. My original flight from Detroit had just landed, and I would not have made it onto the last flight to Kalispell. I called my parents to notify them that I had caught an earlier flight out of Detroit and that I was on the plane to Kalispell. They were extremely relieved; they had been watching the flight progress online and knew that I wouldn't have made it. I'm so grateful for the inspiration to check on the 5:10 flight so that I could get home!