My Worst Travel Experience: Las Vegas to Manila, or so I Thought

Every February my mother and I travel to Manila to visit my grandmother for her birthday. Usually Mom meets me in Las Vegas so that we can fly together to our final destination. We are used to making the 20-24 hour trip, and we rarely have any travel complications.

My Worst Travel Experience: The Whole Sordid Story

In 2007 we showed up at the airport for an 8 a.m. flight that would take us to Los Angeles. From there we were supposed to fly to Tokyo before taking our final flight to Manila. We arrived in what we thought was plenty of time, 6 a.m. But the line to the ticket counter was full of tour groups leaving on the same flight. We started our trip behind 100 people in line, a bad sign of things to come.

It took us about 30 minutes to check in, and we rushed upstairs towards the terminal only to be stopped dead in our tracks by a security line so long it snaked around the entire length of the airport twice. In all the years I've lived in Las Vegas, I have never seen anything like it. TSA agents blocked off paths and prevented people from jumping the line. Later I discovered that it was Chinese New Year, and for that reason there were a lot of Asians traveling abroad. Nerves started flaring and we worried that we were not going to make our flight.

Over an hour later, we finally passed through security and once again made a mad dash to the gate. Breathless, we got there exactly at 8 a.m., the time our flight was supposed to leave. Only it hadn't left yet. Which would have been a good thing, except the airline now said we were going to be delayed by at least an hour because of technical problems. Great, our flight from L.A. to Tokyo was at 11am, how were we supposed to make connection?

Airline agents assured us that our connecting flight would be held for us because there were over 100 people who were also scheduled to travel to Tokyo. Fine by me. I'd rather wait than be on a plane that is not 100% operational anyway. "Not a big deal," Mom said. "So we'll be a little late." Uh huh, sure. Famous last words.

At 10:30 a.m. I looked at the flight monitor only to see that ugly word "Cancelled" flashing next to our destination. A good 10 minutes later the airline made the official announcement: we were definitely going to miss our flight to Tokyo.

Not happy, I proceeded to line up with other passengers to try and rebook our flights to Manila. It's a long process, compounded by the fact that three large Japanese tour groups had priority over all of us individual passengers. I would have been fine with that, except I noticed that people who were originally not part of the group were handing their tickets to the tour operators with money so that they could jump the line. And the customer service agents aren't doing anything to stop it. Needless to say, my patience started wearing very thin.

From the haggard airline employees, we learned that the aircraft was rendered inoperable because a woman on the flight from L.A. to Vegas flushed a diaper down both toilets on the plane, clogging them and making them inoperable. So they were unable to turn the plane around to fly it back to L.A. and there were no other aircrafts available. It may not sound like a big deal, but for sanitary reasons you cannot fly a plane with 200 people aboard and no operational toilets.

I finally got to the front of the line at 2:30 p.m., eight long hours after we first arrived at the airport. Tired, exhausted, and hungry, I just wanted to get things resolved. I was also trying very hard to hold onto my temper because I knew this delay was not the airline's fault.

Meanwhile, my mother struck up a rapport with the airline's Filipino gate agent. He patiently presented our options to us and waited while my mother and I discussed (ok, argued) about the best thing to do. We could drive five hours to L.A. to make the next flight that same evening. We vetoed this idea quickly - who wants to drive to L.A. after being at the airport all day? We could also wait two more days and fly to San Francisco, then on to Manila. My mom thought this was a great idea, but I did not. I refused to wait two more days to start a vacation that I was already supposed to be on. Our last option was to go home and come back the next day to take the exact same flight. The only problem was we would have to fly first class at no extra charge. Gee, which option do you think we chose?

At last I was beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel. But then we were told we needed to go back to baggage claim to collect our bags, take them home, and recheck them in the next morning. Wait, what? We had to wait for our bags to come from baggage claim? Weren't these bags already sitting around from a cancelled flight since 8 a.m.? Why did we still have to wait for them, why couldn't the bags be waiting for us?

My mom decided that the first class package was not good enough and asked for more compensation. I thought this was pressing our luck, but the agent agreed to give us a voucher for 10,000 frequent flyer miles. Because I was a customer service supervisor at the time, I had the distinct feeling he went out of his authority level to give us this voucher because he asked us not to tell anyone where we got it. However, because of everything I endured that day, I took the voucher with gratitude.

By the time we got our bags (we waited another 45 minutes for it to come down the belt), left the airport, and drove back home, it was 5:30 p.m. We had officially been on an 11 hour "trip" and had nothing to show for it.

Fortunately, the next morning we had none of the same issues. The same gate agent who had taken care of us the day before personally checked us in and sent us on our way. We flew first class all the way to Manila and had a lovely trip despite experiencing the worst travel nightmare imaginable.

So what did I learn from this experience?

Worst Travel Experience Lesson #1: Give yourself plenty of time at the airport

Whatever amount of time you think you need to get through security, double it. Find out if the flight is going to be full and give yourself about 30-45 extra minutes to check in bags and an additional 30 minutes to get through security. Now I usually try to be at the airport two hours ahead of my departure for domestic flights and three hours ahead of schedule for international flights. After that fateful trip, I'd rather amble through the airport with plenty of time than run like a madwoman to make my flight.

It's also not a bad idea to see if your flight falls on any holiday or scheduled events, not just the ones celebrated by Americans. This is especially important if you live in a busy tourist town like Las Vegas. Lines were long during my nightmare trip because of a Chinese holiday, not an American one. If your flight falls on a busy travel date, plan accordingly.

Worst Travel Experience Lesson #2: Try to stay calm and professional

I have been in customer service for over 15 years, and most of us in the industry are happy to help solve consumer issues. After all, it's our job. If you do have problems while traveling, rest assured most customer service agents would do their best to help you. (Notice I said most, because I also know what's like to receive bad service.)

If you do need to talk to an airline representative, try to be nice to them. Trust me, you will make things worse by screaming or threatening airline employees. Agents are paid to solve your problems, not take your abuse. And in the days after 9/11, it does not take much for security to become involved and ban you from your flight.

So here's a tip for dealing with customer service agents when you know you are losing your cool. Try to temper it with a statement like, "I know you're just doing your job. I'm mad at the situation, not you, so I appreciate any assistance you can give me." They will appreciate it and be more willing to help you.

Worst Travel Experience Lesson #3: Be reasonable about your requests for compensation

If you feel you deserve compensation, ask for it. But don't ask for the world. Most customer service agents have guidelines to follow in case a guest requests compensation. Just remember that they represent a business, not a charity. If you ask for a free upgrade, they can probably give it to you. If you ask for a full refund, a free upgrade, free access to the VIP lounge, and 100,000 frequent flyer miles, you will just come across as unreasonable and overly demanding.

If you really are not happy with the compensation offered, you can ask for a supervisor to negotiate for more. But be prepared to wait about 20 minutes for them to come to the gate and speak to you. I never worked for an airline, but I was a customer service supervisor and more than likely you are not the only person to request for a supervisor that day. For every 30 agents you see, there is probably only one supervisor who is responsible for putting out fires all over the place. They have a lot of ground to cover, so please be prepared to wait for them if you really want to speak to them.

And again, just because you are speaking to a supervisor does not mean all your requests will be granted. Be reasonable. Supervisors may have more authority than their agents, but they also have guidelines they need to follow. Anything outside of that, they will probably need to justify to their manager. Which means more waiting for you. So you should decide what is worth your time and money to pursue.

Worst Travel Experience Lesson #4: The airlines have rules for a reason

Do you ever look at signs posted in airplanes and snicker because you think, "Duh, that's so obvious?"

Well, apparently it's not obvious to enough people because there is a reason airlines post signs on the bathroom doors instructing passengers not to flush certain things like diapers down the toilet. Because of one woman's (pardon me) outright stupidity and carelessness that day, over 200 people were stuck in Las Vegas for several hours.

I asked the customer service agent if they were trying to catch who did this, and if they were going to press charges. I was told unofficially, yes, they would slap a hefty fine on the passenger if they caught her. I thought to myself, better she get a fine from the airline than have to deal with the people she prevented from traveling.

So the next time you think you're going to ignore an airline rule, I would rethink that sentiment. Again, in post 9/11 days, airlines can afford to be strict about their rules. And if you don't care about that, at least think about what it could do to your fellow passenger.

Worst Travel Experience #5: The one thing you can control is yourself

Sometimes there is nothing you can control about the situation except your own reaction. As cheesy as this sounds, if you try to maintain your sanity and treat everyone nicely, you may end up with better travel plans than before. I could hardly argue with first class plane tickets, could I?

And always remember, as bad as the situation may be, it could have been a lot worse. While I was irritated beyond belief with my travel experience that day, I am grateful that the ground crew discovered the technical problem of clogged toilets before takeoff. I shudder to think what a flight would have been like with two overflowing toilets. Ew, I think I'd rather wait.