Originally Posted by
FirstInFlight
I've been there. In my situation is was PHL that was unreachable. I had to be there the next morning and there were no flight options. So, with Delta unable to solve the problem - but willing to help if I saw a solution - I got online and found a solution. My solution involved flying West and then taking a red eye east to arrive in the morning. it wasn't ideal but it got me there on time. As I recall I flew DTW to SEA and an overnight flight back to ATL where I connected to PHL. It just depends on how seriously a can't miss meeting actually is. For me, an overnight flight (bumped to first) was worth it.
I am not sure a $1000 voucher is worth the potential lost income that might result if your employer frowns upon you playing the VDB game (I know my bonus and advancement opportunities would be getting a bit lighter), but if you have can't miss travel plans, always have a back up plan similar to this. I normally looked at the flight schedules and find the earliest flight into my destination that likely has seats available and figure out if any late flights can get me there.