Long Train Runnin

A quick intro:
I had one of the most complex and frustrating trips getting home that I have ever experienced after years of heavy travel, and just thought I’d share a slightly different kind of trip report. What happens when it all goes sideways? I hope you enjoy it.



The trip:
I was just wrapping up the last couple of open items from our third and final day of meetings when everyone’s cell phone in the room started buzzing and beeping the unmistakable sound of an emergency warning coming through. The alert was for flash flood warning for the next few hours in Raleigh, North Carolina. I joked about how that would be perfect for my flight tonight. A few minutes later another message my flight would be delayed two hours. Of course at that moment it was like okay no big deal a 2-hour delay nothing I can’t handle. It gives me a little time after the meetings to have a real meal, and then I’ll just check out both the Admirals Club and the Sky Club at RDU.



Then came the next message about 10 minutes later that my flight had been canceled completely. At this point it was just about 5pm, so I asked the client if they minded if I stayed in the conference room for a little bit, and worked on sorting out my next move.



Delta was only showing me options for flights the next day, and I knew with no status I’d have no chance to get through on the phones. I decided to accept my fate and began preparing overnight arrangements to spend an additional night in RDU. Called Hertz to inquire about how much keeping my rental another night would be. They quoted me a rate that was half of the prior 3 days I’d had the car to keep it an extra 11 hours. No thanks. I settled on an airport hotel with a shuttle so I could ditch the car.



I also decided that the auto rebooking option that had me leaving at 11AM the next day and flying RDU-ATL-EWR was stupid. I didn’t want to wait around all morning for a flight. My usual rule when things go sideways is if you stop moving your dead. Much better to try and get on the earliest flight you can. That was a 6:50AM flight to DCA. Giving me the routing RDU-DCA-CVG-EWR. I felt that DCA was a tad risky to connect in, but I’d rather take my chances there then if ATL goes full melt down.



Plan fully formulated I said good-bye to the folks that had hosted me at the client site for the last few days, and headed to the airport. On the ride there I decided that since I had to go to the airport anyway I would at least go airside and see if standing by tonight for anything would make any sense. And if I could get airside I knew that since I have an Admirals Club membership I’d have no problem getting in there, and I could at least take advantage of the bar there since I was no longer driving anywhere.



I had no problem dropping the car and boarded an already full shuttle back to the terminal so I didn’t have to wait long. I decided to just chance the TSA with my boarding pass for 6AM the next day rather then wait in line try and talk to someone landside. I printed out all three of my boarding passes from a kiosk and headed to security. There were about 5 people ahead of me in the Precheck line, and much to my surprise even after handing the agent a paper-boarding pass that clearly stated 6:00AM tomorrow it scanned okay, and after she looked at my license she let me through.

I don’t that was supposed to work, but I am glad I decided to try it. I headed over the SkyClub figuring that would be my best bet to get some customer service. There was already quite a long line of people also trying to sort out their plans. The agent told me everything was oversold tonight, so standing by for anything would be totally worthless. Come back tomorrow and hope for the best.



At that moment I was actually pretty okay with that. As much as I travel I still genuinely enjoy flying aboard airplanes. So, at that moment I popped next door to the Admirals Club and sent out a couple last minute work items, and then pulled up a stool at the bar. I was genuinely pretty excited at that moment I was going to get to burn the day flying on some CRJs picking up some new route lines, and I would get a pass on not being at the office tomorrow. That plan called for me to arrive into Newark at 3pm, so with any luck I’d even get to start my weekend a little early.



I spent a couple hours in the Admirals Club where CLT was also under a ground stop, so lots of folks in the club were having rough afternoons. Typically, I would be flying American on a day like today they are my preferred carrier, and I maintain Executive Platinum status with them, but for this trip DL was almost $200 cheaper, and had better timings on the nonstop EWR-RDU route. So when I booked the trip I figured whatever its only an hour flight in an RJ I’ll be just fine in the back. Although, the flight to Philadelphia I would have taken did make it out that night. So, hindsight being 20/20 and all that I should have just spent the extra money for American. After a few drinks I decided to call it quits since I knew I had to be up at 5AM to start my trip tomorrow.



I had a short wait for the Hotel Shuttle to show up and take me to my hotel. The Microtel by Wyndham Raleigh Durham Airport booked on Hotels.com. It didn’t look like it would be anything memorable, but for a quick overnight at an airport hotel I knew it would do the trick. As with most airport hotels it was completely unremarkable, but since I was on the sign up sheet for the 5:30AM shuttle the 8 hours I’d be spending at the place it would be just fine. I streamed a little bit more of the Yankees game, but with such a lopsided score I gave up on the game, and tried to get some sleep.



5AM of course came around early. I showered and got dressed for the day. Repacked everything as I knew today had the potential to be a long one I made sure every electronic device I had with me got a full charge overnight. I was waiting in the lobby at 5:27. The hotel shuttle this morning since it was just me turned out to be a Lincoln Town Car. I was pretty surprised by that little service detail. Overall, I wouldn’t recommend the place for a long stay, but it was serviceable as a quick overnight airport hotel.



The check in counters and regular security line were totally insane as I walked through. Boarding started at 6:00AM, so I guess I was cutting things a little fine as I walked up to the Precheck line at 5:40. I was through in about 6 minutes, but still that was a little closer then I normally like to cut things. As I got the gate I saw they were looking volunteers and offering $800 in gift cards. I had a quick look on ExpertFlyer to see what kind of options I could present to the gate agent, but nothing looked promising. I went up the podium anyway and told her I would be willing to go to any of the three New York area airports via any routing to get off this flight. She confirmed what I had feared there was no better way to get to New York then my currently confirmed RDU-DCA-CVG-EWR routing home. Oh well, I had to at least try getting an $800 dollar Amex gift card and missing work would have made for a pretty nice Friday.



Our flight started boarding about 10 minutes late, and took longer then usual since post Dr. Dao they had to settle the oversell out at the gate before too many people got on the plane. Eventually the door closed, but we took another delay as there was only 1 ground crew, and two Delta flights pushing back at the same time. We must have lost the coin flip, and the pushed the Boston flight next to us back first. I think the total flight time was 34 minutes. I was awake for take off, and was awoken when the wheels hit the runway as we landed.



I had a 2-hour layover at DCA, and I knew my DCA-CVG flight was also oversold. I went up to the SkyClub, and again asked the agent if there was some other routing. I enquired about the shuttle flights to LGA. She told me no dice my best was still heading to CVG. I spent the entire layover on a couple of different work calls. Looking at the grey skies at DCA I was considering just booking a train right then and there. Amtrak fares were north of 300 for a same day ticket, so I figured lets just roll the dice.



As I got to the gate I once again volunteered for the $500 reroute. The agent literally looked at her screen for two seconds and told me there is no other way to get to New York. I said I’d be willing to go to a different New York airport, and she was clearly done trying. Seemed weird that all these agents really didn’t seem to try very hard to utilize me as a volunteer.



Once again pushback was delayed, as they had to sort out the oversell situation. Then we took about another 20-minute delay on the taxiway waiting for a take off slot. Before we finally took off for the 1-hour and 24 minute flight to Cincinnati. I once again slept until about 15 minutes before we started our decent. Everything was looking good as we taxied to the gate. I had about an hour layover and my flight to Newark was still showing up as on time, and there was a plane at the gate to operate it.



Instead of heading the Skyclub I decided to take a walk around CVG as it was only the second time I’d ever been to the airport. I found a place to get a small lunch as well. I headed to the gate about 10 minutes before scheduled boarding. At that time I had not gotten any messages from Delta. Although when I got the gate I saw we had been delayed for 2 hours. Okay, whatever these things happen. I figured I’d take that chance to visit both lounges that I had access to at CVG. I took the underground walk way over the A gates. Where I saw two different mainline United flights to Newark both had canceled. I didn’t like the look of that at all. Especially, since at both gates the planes were already sitting there. That certainly isn’t what UA operations was hoping for I am sure. I checked in “The Club at CVG.” I have been to a few of these before at various places and if you are still reading here is a pro tip. The Club at SEA at the A gates location serves in my opinion one of the best Bloody Mary you can find in a domestic US lounge. Trust me I’ve done an exhaustive search and still that comes in at number 1. Otherwise, all of these “The Club” brand lounges are pretty unremarkable. This one was no exception with some pre-packed food and limited amenities. I was catching up with a coworker on Skype when I looked up at the flight board in the lounge and saw my flight had gone to cancelled. The Delta App wouldn’t refresh and I didn’t get a text message or any kind of notification.



I quickly left the lounge and started toward the SkyClub. On my way there I finally got the Delta app to refresh they auto rebooked me a flight tomorrow via Detroit back to Newark. My blood was boiling no way was I going to have a double overnight to get from North Carolina to New York. As I got in the elevator to go up to the SkyClub I tried to take some deep breathes and relax. Being hostile with agents never gets you anywhere. As I stood in line to see one of the two agents on duty I was able to compose myself, as I knew that is the best way to get assistance.



Finally, when it was my turn I explained to the agent that I had already spent an extra night at RDU and wanted to get home today by any means nessacary. I told him I was willing to fly anywhere. EWR, JFK, LGA, PHL, ISP, SWF, HPN, BDL, any airport within 100 miles from the New York metro area, and I would take some trains from there to get back to EWR where my car was parked.



This agent was the first one I’d encountered who actually spent some time looking at solutions. We came up with 3 different plans including a very interesting routing CVG-DTW-HPN. Although, he said my best was to actually go back to DCA. He said LGA would be a better bet then EWR today from what he saw. There were really no seats anywhere he could confirm me on. In the end I agreed I’d just go back to DC in a couple hours.



I figured at least from DCA I could give up and use some ground transportation to get home from there. Even as a devout Flyertalker it felt insane to be holding a boarding pass to fly back to the airport I had just arrived from less then an hour ago, but it seemed like there was nothing else I could do. While, I waited for the flight back to DCA I used Google Flights and ExpertFlyer to no avail to try and find a better routing home. I also brushed up on the Q70 express bus as if I did get to LGA I still needed to get to EWR and get my car. I felt like I had a decent plan at that time anyway.



I kept myself busy with my work and responding to emails until it was time to board my third flight of the day and my second flight to DCA of the day. This was also the first flight of the day that wasn’t oversold. We boarded on time, and had the door closed ahead of schedule. We had to 10 minutes on the taxiway for our ATC release from DCA as they were under flow control. This flight I stayed awake for and had a cup of water. During the flight I started to read “The President Is Missing” by Bill Clinton and James Patterson. The book was off to a good start and the flight passed quickly. It felt kind of surreal to be back in DCA. I headed up to the SkyClub once again because I had about an hour and a half until my shuttle flight up to LGA.



The same agent from this morning processed me in and didn’t say anything. It wasn’t until I went into the SkyClub and saw the flight monitors that I saw all the remaining shuttle flights were canceled for the day. Why the agent didn’t mention this when I check in I had no idea. Why Delta had stopped sending me text updates I also was unsure of. My App was experiencing “technical difficulties” so I went back to the agent and asked her what was going on. She said yeah its canceled we don’t have any seats tomorrow either you should really try and take the train. I was pretty surprised that was her serious answer of course at this point she was right I was done expecting Delta to actually get me home, but still a little compassion would have been nice.



At this point I was really at a loss. I had spent all day getting back to the same point I was at roughly 8 hours earlier. I really should have just bought the train ticket this morning I guess. Of course at this point Amtrak didn’t have a lot of promising options in fact they didn’t have anything viable for that night. It also looked like getting a one-way car rental was going to be astronomically expensive. Finally, I settled on probably the worst option of them all. Taking the 11pm Megabus from Union Station to New York. This would leave only roughly an hour wait until the first NJ Transit train of the morning to EWR. The bus ticket could be had for a mere 38.50 including all fees. Not bad at all for what is basically a walk up fare.



With my fate sealed to be quite a rough night I once again found myself for the second time in 24 hours sitting in an airline lounge with no flight to catch that night. Normally, I would find something like this be kind of fun, however I was just dreading what I had signed up for to get home. I sat there until around 9PM when I headed landside to get an Uber over to Union Station. That whole process took roughly 40 minutes. I typically only use the train station portion of Washington Union Station, but had vague memory of how to get the bus garage and to the DC streetcar.



I found the correct waiting area for the Megabus to New York. Where I met a whole hoard of displaced air travelers like me that had expected their fate and realized this was probably the best bet to getting to New York tonight. I heard people saying that they couldn’t even get rental cars at any price, so that made me feel better about not really fully exploring that avenue.


We started boarding the bus around 10:30. In some ways I was a little disappointed as it wasn’t the traditional big blue double decker bus you see rolling down the highways of America. It was a standard single level charter bus. I figured since I hoped this would be my first and only trip ever on Megabus I should get the full experience with the blue bus. It was pretty empty but it was announced we’d be stopping in Baltimore. The power outlets at my seat did not work. Thankfully, I carry a battery pack for such occasions so I wasn’t worried about keeping my phone charged.



At the stop in Baltimore I was almost impressed with the efficiency of Megabus. There were exactly as many people waiting to get on the bus as there were empty seats. There revenue management people must have gotten it right, and we had a 100% load factor. Honestly, compared to the CRJ-700s and CRJ-900s I was flying all day even with someone sitting next to me I was more comfortable on the bus.



I am not sure if it was the alcohol the tiredness of having such a long day or what, but I slept pretty well. I woke up once along the way and realized we were passing the NJ Turnpike exit for Trenton. I was pretty surprised at the progress we had made. The next time I woke up was as we took the turn to head down the helix to the Lincoln Tunnel. I mean all things considered the ride wasn’t actually nearly as bad as it sounds. I don’t think I’d make it a habit, but I’d do it again especially if I didn’t have to do it overnight.



We pulled up the curbside drop off on 27th Street and 7th Ave where we were let off at 3:40AM. A minute later I had my bag and started walking toward Penn Station. While I was walking I checked the Airporter Express Bus from Port Authority to see if they would have an earlier option. There first bus was at the same time as the first train, so since Penn Station was 7 blocks closer it was an easy choice.



I have been at Penn Station a few times in my life at that hour, and it’s always an experience. You have a blend between the all nightclub crew and the travelers roughing out a night in the station, and the homeless. This morning I was impressed to see that they had large sections of the station closed, so there were a lot of people down there then usual. I purchased my NJ Transit ticket and was allowed into the waiting room. I spent about 45 minutes reading some more.



With about 20 minutes till departure I left the waiting room and found an open Dunkin Doughnuts and got a cup of coffee to help me stay awake for the drive back home, and a little something to eat. 10 minutes until departure as usual they posted the track for the train. I found myself a seat on board and it was an uneventful 25-minute ride to the airport.



From there I got on the Newark Airtrain monorail and rode it over to Terminal C. When I got to the curb mercifully there was already a shuttle for my parking lot waiting there. I climbed aboard what would be last leg of this unbelievable journey home.



I made good time back to my house where I got there a little after 7AM or 26 hours since I woke up in a hotel room only 454 miles away by road in Raleigh, North Carolina. Google Maps suggests the drive from the hotel to my front door would be only about 8 hours. Instead I had the journey you just read about.





All in all, I guess this is just part of the game. I have been travelling over 100,000 miles by air for the last 5 years, and this is only the second time I’ve encountered a flight cancelation that forced an overnight. This is the first time that I lost two full nights trying to get home, and the first time I have ever abandoned an airline ticket for a bus line. I am hoping that I never have another story like this to share. I just thought I would write it down for Flyertalk as typically the trips here are all aspirational, and this is more the opposite. Just a stupid business traveller who in hindsight made some poor rerouting decisions along the way, and had to unscramble them.



If you have read this far thank you very much. I hope you enjoyed it. Now that its all over I can say I almost enjoyed it. If nothing else it will make for a good story at the office next week.



I have requested a refund from Delta for the unused portion of my ticket as they have in my view failed spectacularly to deliver me to my ticketed destination. I will update this thread with the resolution Delta offered.



Sorry for the lack of photos in this report. I only decided it would be worth writing about halfway through the trip.



Of course, I’d like your feedback on where I am may have gone wrong, and any tips you could share if you’ve been in this situation.

Often1

Can you rewrite this into 3 short declarative sentences? Anything more can't possibly be relevant to a simple reroute during IRROPS which affected RIC-BOS with ground stops and delay programs of all kinds imposed by the FAA.

You will get better advice and better results if you narrow this down to your very specific concern/

Zorak

^ the CVG SC agents have a good reputation in the DL forum, and based on my one experience in CVG I agree.

This is a trip report from that happens to contain a solicitation of feedback as an afterthought, and from a 3500+ post EXP; not a typical request for help from a first time poster. So your usual boilerplate response seems slightly misplaced here IMO.

PV_Premier

Long Train Runnin

It's a trip repot. Not a request for help. It also didn't go anywhere near RIC or BOS.

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Long Train Runnin

Yeah, I mean like I said maybe its an AA vs DL thing or having status vs not having status, but outside of the one agent at CVG no one from DL even the Skyclub folks seemed to be to interested in actually looking for solutions. Plus since it was WX and I am a DL no one I doubt I could have talked them into getting me on another airline.

As usual, I kind of forget WN even exists. I wonder what the walk up fare is on them.

PV_Premier

Long Train Runnin

Wow. That would have been money well spent. Live and learn I guess.

tom tulpe

WN don't fly RDU-PHL direct. It's a connection via (mostly) ATL.

EDIT: Megabus OTOH offer an overnight connection from Durham to NYC via Washington DC Union Station, leaving at about 8pm and arriving 8 am the next day. Would have saved OP about a day.

wtcmor

That was quite a story. Will be interesting to see how Delta handle this.

nequine

That was certainly a long route for a shortcut!

krazykanuck

Thought of your adventure today as I drove past the Megabus lot here in Houston. Quite the day, I still think you should have tried to return to RDU.

transportprof

Amtrak also runs two daily trains from Raleigh to Newark, NJ. They don't stop at EWR, but it's just a short ride back from Newark Penn Station to the airport, around 5 minutes

janehoya

Schwann

What a great report! Just a shame you couldn't take advantage of some of those vouchers.