Due to bad weather in Trenton, a plane took off late. It landed late in Albany, and it was the plane that would take me to Cleveland. The attendants at the desk told me that the flight will arrive late in Cleveland, but approximately 8:10PM, in plenty of time for my 8:35PM connection, so I boarded.
The flight landed at 8:40PM in Cleveland. Yes, every single person (about three quarters of the 60 or so passengers) who had a connection missed it, including six of us headed for STL. We were now officially "distressed passengers" and were entitled to a little compensation. Little is the key word though. As it was not exactly Continental's fault (it was the weather causing the delay, not them, as they explain it) they didn't have to fully reimburse us for the delay. They did provide a voucher for a discounted hotel room - I did end up with a $169/night room for $49. Something at least. I was rescheduled for 8:35PM Monday, Dec 2.
I arrived at the airport in a snowstorm. A snowstorm strong enough that the airport was in a "ground hold" - airplanes on the ground could take off, but no new ones could land. Great.
The airport covered with snow.
Most of these people had missed connections to STL from previous flights. The woman in the red sweater and the
man in beige sitting to the left of her missed their connection due to weather Sunday afternoon to STL, but couldn't
be booked on a flight to STL on Monday. They did show up to see as standby passengers to see if they could get on.
They'd been at the airport since about 1PM trying for the various flights to
STL which had 4 or 5 standby passengers already at Sunday night (why I couldn't fly back earlier myself, though
I at least got a genuine booking for the evening). This pic
was taken about 6:30PM and they still had another three hours to go before the next chance at a plane. I wonder
if they made it.
Still snowing. Here's a plane in concourse C (we were in D - there is an underground passage connecting the
concourses) getting deiced.
Although my flight was 8:35, there wasn't yet a plane at the gate at 8:35. We finally did get to board sometime after 9, though they didn't take off until around 10 EST because only one runway was open, and that was repeatedly shut down so it could be plowed. Finally did get to STL at 10:38PM CST.