I just recently started flying a bit (it will probably increase as time goes on), primarily going from LAX to NYC a few times a year. Flying back after the holidays I was scheduled for LGA-CLE-LAX. I'm wondering if people can comment on my experience at CLE, what I should have done to avoid this, and whether CO did anything wrong.

My flight from LGA-CLE arrived 20 minutes early. I had an almost 3 hour layover from the original times. Upon arrival, I checked the monitors and found that the CLE-LAX flight was delayed for 1 hour. I immediately went to the nearest GA, who checked her computer, told me it was maintenance issues with the plane that was still at IAH and that it should get there on time. I pressed her on the issue and she just repeated the same thing. Deciding there was nothing I could do, I wandered around the airport looking for something to eat. About an hour later, I realized I should have asked about any rerouting options I had, so I went to the nearest customer service booth and spent about 5 minutes interrogating the person on every possible option (I don't think she could really think much besides answering questions). Turned out I could have made a flight to IAH and from there to LAX had I been rerouted immediately.

My flight eventually took off at midnight after the plane was switched back to the original plane (I finally determined that originally it was a plane from SFO that was supposed to take us to LAX, that had been switched to a plane from IAH and then back). Meanwhile, by the time the plane from SFO arrived, there were at least a few planes that looked identical to the one that arrived from SFO parked in the gates surrounding ours, and no one from CO even thought of using those planes and saving everyone an hour.

This has been my first experience with a significant delay on CO, and frankly, I was not amused at the lack of creativity on the part of the employees and the lack of scheduling by everyone else. Do people think that CO is to blame here at all or was it just my inexperience that helped cause this?

Thanks,
David