In superbowl week I just got back from my business trip to Brazil, after an 8 hour flight I went to the Holiday Inn Express to spend the night because I had a 9:15am flight back home to Leon, Mexico.

When I woke up at 6:30am I went for breakfast and guess what? Well, there was a huge snow/ice storm in Dallas and all of the flights where cancelled. The problem is that I called American Airlines to check on my flight and they told that it was cancelled and they would put me on the 2:30pm flight back home.

So I went to the airport at 12pm after check out and went to check on my flight, it said "on time" so I went all the way from Terminal D to Terminal A to the Pappadeux restaurant (which is great by the way and the bartenders are gorgeous) to have some brewskies. Went back to my gate and of course the flight was delayed.

Ok, so we got delayed till 6pm, and all of a sudden the tell us to get on the plane because we are leaving. I was like "YES". So, they closed the doors of the plane and we stayed for 1 hour in the plane without moving from the plane when all of a sudden the captain said that there was a huge line for the runway to take off and we where far behind on that line. So they got us out of the plane and to the gate again.

At 9pm (don�t remember well) they told us to get on the plane again, so we did and of we went to the runway, there was this huge line of planes to get there you cannot even believe. It took us two hours to get to the runway because there was only on opened.
Finally we where at the runway the plane starts to speed up for take a lady starts to clap in joy and all of a sudden a strange noice in the engines, we started to slow down and the pilot said they had problems with the reverser, OH NO!!!!

We head back to the gate for repairs and we waited for another 2 hours or so.

After 2 hours the time was around 12am at night when they announce to get on the plane again (third time), that the problem was solved and we where ready to take off. We waited for like 30minutes to get to the runway because of all those planes in line, when all of a sudden before getting to the runway the pilot starts to check on the engine reverser and GUESS WHAT???

NO GO!!!!

We went back to the gate (for the third time) and everybody just start to loose it. Even me. We started telling the AA personel that this was total BS. Well they told us that we missed our curfew for flighing into Mexico and that we had to stay the night an rebook.

So I was like the fourth in line and the passangers in front of me, ready to rebook got the flight at 9:50am next a hotel room and some meal tickets for that night and the next morning breakfast (about 15usd worth).

I got the 12:15pm flight for next day. So we went to the hotel and by the way it was freezing outside, the shuttle took forever to get to the airport and we got to the hotel at 2am. I was talking with some people that I would go to the airport early to try to catch the first flight home (Leon Mexico) and sign myself on the standby list.

After a ...... night at the Sleep Inn hotel, I went early morning to sign on the standby list, I was number 7.

Well after everybody got on board they started calling names from the standby list and I got the call, I wasn�t really excited because I just wanted to get home. I got a seat and all of a sudden the flight attendant came to me and said, "Sir we are very sorry, but you have to step down from the plane, because we cannot have all of the seats taken for security reasons" I was like ...!!! So I stepped down from the plane.

I was confirmed for the next flight home which was at 12:15pm.

We where all waiting at the gate when the an AA announcer said "We are sorry but the flight is delayed, because the flight attendant for this flight is coming from another flight that is also delayed". Everybody just lost it....

After two hours, finally the flight attendant arrived, everybody was clapping and cheering. But not me. I said to myself, "I will cheer once I get home", I guess I lost all faith.

Finally the airplane starts the runup the runway, lift up and we where on our way.

At last we touched down in Leon,Mexico and I was happy now. I went to claim my bag and yes it didn�t get there. Fortunately it got on the earlier flight (the one that I was kicked out off), got my bag and went.

I should get some frequent miles for free, for my troubles. LOL

Thanks for reading....

Sounds like a lousy day. I agree with your assessment of Pappadeux. They also serve true pints to boot!

Wow! Wow! You are struck at airport for extended another days. I cannot not believe it your flight is cancelled. Why? This is third attempted that is problems your aircraft is awaited for takeoff from DFW. I can't imagine what happened your flight is oversold. AA forced you to put on next flight out.

This apperas to be an instance where the DOT's recently enacted three hour rule may have made the difference. Without that rule in place, the ariline may have been more willing to let your flight stay in line for the runway.

However, the fact that there were problems with the engines would have become apparent when you actually tried to take off so in this case, the absence of the rule wouldn't have helped...looks like you experienced Murphy's Law at its finest!

I'm puzzled that the airline declined to fill all seats for "security" reasons. That makes less sense unless the seat was designated for a FAM. Absent that, the only reason I can think of to not fill a seat is weight and balance or an inop. seat. Perhaps others can shed some light?

Finally, I think kudos are due to AA in one respect--they provided accomodations to the people on this flight instead of trying to blame everything on the weather. I suspect that in these mixed mechanical/weather situations, airlines are sometimes tempted to deny compensation and cite weather, which was obviously a factor. I'm glad AA didn't try to go down that dodgy road!

Thanks for sharing your sharing your story fede33 and glad you made it home safe!

Thanks for reading guys!

Yes it was total nightmare!

The worst part was that they didn�t let me stay on the flight because of security reasons?

I cannot understand this, why do they have to leave one empty seat?

And that�s not the end of my story:

After I arrived to my home town Leon,Mexico. I had a next day flight to Las Vegas to attend my friends bachelorparty and I had to drive for 2 hours to get to Guadalajara Airport.

My plan was to stay home for two days and work/recuperate from my Brazil trip, but because of the nightmare I just had I couldn�t get any rest till Vegas.

LOL!!!!!

What type of aircraft was it? It could be a weight / balance issue.

This seems to be the general BS excuse used in the US these times, when they are not willing to explain the real reason or entertain an argument. Mention "...security..." and no one is going to argue, 'cause they know it's a loose - loose situation....

Well it is a small aircraft, Embraier. But don�t know the exact model.

You are totally right my friend. I couldn�t do anything and they didn�t give me any miles AT LEAST for my troubles. LOL