Antigua Trip - Day 1 - Travel Day
South Beach, bringin' the heat, uh
Ha-ha, can y'all feel that? — Miami (Will Smith)
I had been waiting for this day for so long. Travelling to Antigua has been one of my bucket list items since I saw it on an episode of The Bachelorette. On travel day, I called an Uber to take me to the airport. While I was waiting for my Uber, I checked the American Airlines app, I saw my flight was delayed 20 minutes, I was too concerned about it as I had a layover in Miami. When I got into my Uber, I noticed it was delayed 55 minutes, that was more concerning, but I wasn’t going to miss the connection. Closer to the airport, I checked the app again and it had gone back down to only delayed 40 minutes.
I was grateful I had gotten to the airport early as I realized I forgot to add my Known Traveler number to my American Airlines app because I rarely fly with them, so I had to stand in the normal security line which at the Orlando airport can be…frustrating to say the least. I was very grateful that the line wasn’t terrible.
I arrived at my gate and the gate agent let us know that our flight was delayed coming in due to weather. They kept communicating with us during that time, which I really appreciated. They also kept coaching people that once we were boarding to be efficient and not stop in the middle of the aisle for long, 75 of 80 of us had tight connections. It was the most efficient I ever saw a plane boarding go.
We started to move and then we had to stop. We were stopped for about 30 minutes. The pilot let us know that the gate agents had given them some incorrect numbers and they had to get the right numbers and get clearance to fly. I immediately knew my connection was going to be VERY tight, so I started to chat with the customer service on the American Airlines app. They said there was nothing they could do as there wasn’t another flight to Antigua today and I hadn’t missed the connection yet. I checked the app a little bit later as we were starting to land, and I saw that my flight to Antigua had left early. I knew that at least 3 groups around me were on that flight, so they were missing quite a few passengers, and they didn’t even give us a chance to make it there. I guess they figured we wouldn’t make it. I was on the front of the plane and very glad I was as I was able to get ahead of the plane crowd that needed to be rebooked and given a hotel etc. There were MANY angry people. It took my conversation with the agent so long because she had to back up the agent next to her because there were people yelling.
I was given a hotel and some food vouchers. I requested that I take my luggage with me, because I didn’t trust them to get it on my flight the next day. After many mishaps with the luggage handling, the hotel shuttle, many hours later I was finally on my way to the hotel. I was grateful my hotel at a restaurant/bar in it because I didn’t have to worry about Uber-ing to food or getting food via DoorDash. I noticed that one of my fellow agents was also stuck in Miami for the night, so I messaged to see where she was and she ended up randomly being in the hotel behind mine, so we were able to meet up for happy hour.
After I had a burger and margarita in my system and a new friend made, I was much less stressed out about missing the first night in Antigua and ready to try the travel day again the next day.
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