Boltbus, Greyhound, or Amtrak. If you're re-routed or have other "issues" on the NEC, take your pick. Mileage/segment desires aside, once forcibly rerouted and getting that atrocious layover in New York, I would probably have had an honest talk with someone about ashcanning the NYC-WAS leg. If that was no dice, I probably would have walked on that segment (keeping a record of the changes on the highly unlikely off chance that someone tries to complain on the airline end) and just taken the train. For the record, there are trains leaving NYC as late as about 10PM (ignoring the middle-of-the-night one) and since you'd have to collect your luggage to pass Customs, you should be good for just "taking a walk" in a pinch.