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due to weather, agent rebooked me to wrong airport 7900 miles away, should I fly?

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due to weather, agent rebooked me to wrong airport 7900 miles away, should I fly?

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Old Jul 19, 2019, 2:39 pm
  #46  
 
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Originally Posted by irishguy28
The city with co-terminals is on the East Coast, and is the origin of the trip. There are numerous possible examples - LGA/JFK, DCA/IAD/BWI, MIA/PBI/FLL for example.


The mystery is - which is the US city 1200 miles from the East Coast city with co-located terminals, and which is the ultimate destination that shares the same letters in its airport code as this unknown destination?
I guess I read "would miss my connecting flight" and assumed the weather was in the connecting city; this obviously doesn't have to be true. Let's assume the weather was at the origin. With the co-terminals you suggested, the original destination would be somewhere along or inside the blue circles (inside because OP had to make a connection to get there).

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Old Jul 19, 2019, 2:41 pm
  #47  
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Originally Posted by irishguy28
with co-located terminals
Does it have to be co-located terminals?

In extreme cases (such as a closed airport), I've been re-routed from AVP to ABE. I've heard of similar here in Texas, between AUS and SAT. While it isn't as common as co-terminals, with weather issues, agents are sometimes empowered to move pax between nearby airports.
In my case, I had to verify with Hertz that they would honor the rental agreement. Of course they initially said they would, but the manager when I returned the vehicle ended up having to deal with it.

Who knows, perhaps the AAgent meant to sent the OP to AUS, but instead is sending him to ASU
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Old Jul 19, 2019, 2:41 pm
  #48  
 
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And here is a corresponding picture of airport codes:

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Old Jul 19, 2019, 2:45 pm
  #49  
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Originally Posted by aztimm
Does it have to be co-located terminals?
Another user introduced that term, presumably in response to the OP's statement:

However, I wanted to fly out of a different airport in the same city,
I guess it doesn't *have* to be co-located terminals, but it sure sounds like co-located airports!!!
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Old Jul 19, 2019, 2:45 pm
  #50  
 
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I feel like we’re really narrowing it down here 😉

that said, this whole thing is cos of weather right? Where has had weather? Chicago. Anywhere else? I can’t find any decent anagrams of ORD or MDW but if Chicago was an intermediate stop that’s gotta narrow it down a tiny bit right?
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Old Jul 19, 2019, 2:49 pm
  #51  
 
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Probably easier to find an airport 7900 miles from DC, NYC, or South Florida that AA flies to. Not likely to be DC either since AA doesn't have many long haul flights from DC.
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Old Jul 19, 2019, 2:51 pm
  #52  
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Originally Posted by wetrat0
I guess I read "would miss my connecting flight" and assumed the weather was in the connecting city; this obviously doesn't have to be true.
Well, I guess your interpretation is equally plausible - the connection point being on the East Coast, making the connection unviable.

In this case, the origin is just as unclear as the destination!!!
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Old Jul 19, 2019, 2:54 pm
  #53  
 
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Originally Posted by ctbarron
Probably easier to find an airport 7900 miles from DC, NYC, or South Florida that AA flies to. Not likely to be DC either since AA doesn't have many long haul flights from DC.
if I have worked GCmap properly...
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Old Jul 19, 2019, 3:19 pm
  #54  
 
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I read the OP as saying the delay was in the connecting city, not the origin. So why does it necessarily have to be east coast?

We need to be looking at any cities where AA (or maybe codeshares, too?) operate from two different airports. Seems to me that only NYC fits that bill, unless it's a codeshare, in which case it could be almost anywhere in the world.

I wonder if Geometry had any idea how much people would enjoy this mystery . . . .
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Old Jul 19, 2019, 3:30 pm
  #55  
 
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Looks like we have a further clue,

The OP has also posted here https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/31321158-post1251.html

about redeeming UA miles so its a Polaris route if that helps :-)
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Old Jul 19, 2019, 3:34 pm
  #56  
 
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Originally Posted by hotturnip
I read the OP as saying the delay was in the connecting city, not the origin. So why does it necessarily have to be east coast?

We need to be looking at any cities where AA (or maybe codeshares, too?) operate from two different airports. Seems to me that only NYC fits that bill, unless it's a codeshare, in which case it could be almost anywhere in the world.

I wonder if Geometry had any idea how much people would enjoy this mystery . . . .
It's definitely clear that OP originated in a city with more than one airport. NYC certainly fits the bill, but it's far from unique, even on the east coast. In Washington, AA has flights from IAD, DCA, and BWI. In South Florida, they fly from FLL and MIA. Heck, OP could be flying out of ORF or PHF, which used to be considered coterminals by US (no idea if they still are on AA; and, I realize the OP didn't use the word coterminal).

The other clue is that the flight from the origin to the connecting point was delayed enough that OP would have missed the connection. There was a very delayed LGA-CLT today. So one plausible original routing is LGA-CLT-???. In that case the mystery destination would need to be about 600 miles from CLT.

(I don't seriously think we're going to figure this out, in part because it's clear the OP was trying to obscure some of the details, so perhaps the mileage numbers are just "in the neighborhood").

Last edited by wetrat0; Jul 19, 2019 at 3:40 pm
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Old Jul 19, 2019, 3:44 pm
  #57  
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It’s got to be some podunk city in both destinations, that’s why we can’t think of it, but the OP is regular and knows it...
The question is what is he going to say when busted at check in, it will get awkward...
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Old Jul 19, 2019, 3:47 pm
  #58  
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Originally Posted by WiscAZ
Yeah, I did some digging and found that out so that's out. But as another poster up thread stated, OP was from East Coast which opens up some options. I guess I assumed it was a direct flight.
It would be a more difficult mistake to make if the rebooking changed a nonstop to a connection.

The no visa for the OP's situation comment is making me suspect mainland China if we take the comment literally, but there could be an existing visa or ETA-like permission. I don't think the situation comment suggests fairly normal requirements such as onward travel or a passport that won't expire soon.

ADDED: Are there categories of USA citizens born in India who wouldn't need visas to return to India? BOM versus MOB?

If it weren't the case of rearranging letters in the airport code, I would maybe guess Melbourne Florida versus Australia, but that would be too many miles, or maybe RDU versus GRU, which is not enough miles. For China, the obvious mistake would be PVG versus PVD, which again isn't just an interchange of letters. How about ANC versus CAN, with the OP not starting from the east coast?


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Last edited by MSPeconomist; Jul 19, 2019 at 3:56 pm
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Old Jul 19, 2019, 4:00 pm
  #59  
 
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Originally Posted by wetrat0
It's definitely clear that OP originated in a city with more than one airport. NYC certainly fits the bill, but it's far from unique, even on the east coast. In Washington, AA has flights from IAD, DCA, and BWI. In South Florida, they fly from FLL and MIA. Heck, OP could be flying out of ORF or PHF, which used to be considered coterminals by US (no idea if they still are on AA; and, I realize the OP didn't use the word coterminal).

The other clue is that the flight from the origin to the connecting point was delayed enough that OP would have missed the connection. There was a very delayed LGA-CLT today. So one plausible original routing is LGA-CLT-???. In that case the mystery destination would need to be about 600 miles from CLT.

(I don't seriously think we're going to figure this out, in part because it's clear the OP was trying to obscure some of the details, so perhaps the mileage numbers are just "in the neighborhood").
I'm taking the OP at his/her word when s/he says "same city." Thus, no MIA/FLL, although IAD/DCA would work.

Am I correct that OP's departure was imminent, and s/he is probably in the air by this point?
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Old Jul 19, 2019, 4:19 pm
  #60  
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Originally Posted by geometry
many airports on the East Coast were hammered by bad storms... I got a text from AA telling me that I wouldn't be able to make my connecting flight. The website offered many free options to rebook. However, I wanted to fly out of a different airport in the same city, so I had to call and speak to a live AA agent on the phone.

Well.. 45 minutes later, I got the callback that I requested. The agent was super-nice and rebooked me out of the other airport that I requested. I thanked her and hung up the phone.

Later in the evening, I logged into the AA website and discovered something unexpected. I will need to my passport to fly on the new flight. The agent had mistakenly booked me to the wrong airport 7900 miles away. My original flights were just 1200 miles. Both my original destination airport and the wrong airport have the same three letters... like XYZ vs XZY. It's actually a frequent mistake that I hear airline agents make.

I did OLCI and it went through just fine. I"m wondering what happens if I actually board the flight. Will AA charge me after the flight? I do have my passport with me and the wrong airport does not require visa for US citizens.(edit: in my situation) I also checked my UA account. There are many available UA flights that I can use my UA miles to fly back to the US in a couple of days. I will only have to take two day work to make this.

Should I do it? I don't want to do it if it will cost someone her job....
This is more interesting than when DL has automatically rebooked me to the wrong countries. At least then it was more like 790 miles or 1790 miles away than 7900 miles away.

I think you deserve a prize for most out of way booking due to IRROPs and whatever miles you can get out of it.
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