A woman is sparking a debate after sharing just how much a flight delay can affect travelers.
The teary-eyed explanation comes courtesy of a TikToker named Luray (@imluray). Her now-viral story, posted in June, describes a “nightmare” travel experience featuring cancelations, missing luggage and 36 hours stuck in airports.
More than that, though, TikTokers seem to relate to the video because of its universality. As airports worldwide continue to struggle with cancellations, TikTokers have used the app to share their complaints.
In one clip, a Southwest Airlines passenger filmed their flight attendants singing nursery rhymes during a four-hour delay. More recently, a Hawaiian Airlines passenger called out the company after he was kicked off his flight for a strange “invalid ticket” issue.
Luray’s video gave even more insight into the effects of this year’s airline chaos. As she explains in her video, she was flying home to Pittsburgh from Italy, waiting for a layover in New York. But her second flight kept getting delayed.
“They changed the gate nine times,” she says. “It was to separate terminals. I took a shuttle four times … but I was holding out hope.”
After all the confusion, her flight was finally delayed by a full 12 hours.
“I almost lost my mind,” she says.
So Luray stayed at the airport overnight. By morning, she finally thought she’d be going home — but then her flight was canceled.
And then she decided she’d just drive home. However, even that idea proved impossible.
“I’m stuck in New York, five-and-a-half hours away from home,” he says. “And I can’t even rent a car, because they’re all taken.”
Even worse, Luray tried to reclaim her bags but was told she’d have to wait several hours to do so.
The TikToker says she eventually broke down and called her mom, who immediately offered to pick her up.
Luray wrote in her caption that, thankfully, her mom picked her up and they got home safely. But the frustration of a 36-hour travel experience was clearly a lot to handle.
It’s a problem that’s becoming more and more relatable for travelers. As the New York Times reported, U.S. airlines canceled over 2,500 flights in the last weekend of June alone. Throughout the month of June, about 2.7% of all flights were canceled. That’s double the rate from the previous June.
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