I should've known flying from Charleston to Wilkes-Barre with an hour and a half layover in Newark was a recipe for disaster yesterday, but I didn't have many other options for the trip.

Anyway, we were delayed 2 hours out of CHS and after speaking with the GA, he said it was going to be really close in making my connection. My options were staying in CHS or trying my luck, so I hopped on-board.

Well, we were delayed another 15 minutes once boarding the plane. When I got into Newark, I believe they just closed the gate on my connection (probably less than 3 minutes before I talked to the GA). They weren't going to hold the plane and shuffled me off to Customer Service where I was informed the next available flight was 2:30 pm today.

I pleaded with her to see if there were any connections to another city that could get me to Wilkes-Barre faster where she rudely said "we can get you on the 2:30 pm tomorrow, otherwise call the number on here". Gave me a Continental brochure and basically turned her back to me. I was so furious.

But it got worse.

I got on the phone with a customer rep and was following signs toward the C terminal where I ended up on the AirTran. Well, admittedly, not really paying attention that I had crossed over security, I ended up on the outside looking in at 10pm. So I found a CO ticket counter where they were closing up shop. I explained what happened and asked for assistance and was told "we're closed for the night, you need to find someone else".

Now, I was cursing under my breathe. I found another CO agent on the other end and she told me I need to find a person in a red coat and that she was off the clock.

I wandered around a little more and found an Airport Customer Rep who turned out to be my saving grace. She walked around the airport looking for anyone from CO that could help me out. Eventually she found a manager I guess who took my ticket and disappeared into a room. When he emerged he had me on a 11am flight into Wilkes-Barre.

In hindsight, I should've just rented a car and made the 2 hr drive as it would have been cheaper than the hotel for the night. Anything I should've done differently in this situation?