So I was going on vacation to Kona Hawaii for 10 days and I was excited. It was our first vacation since August of last year and we all needed it. There was a shave ice emergency and the only way to cure it was a trip to Hawaii. We had a simple trip planned. I was to fly home from Wichita on Friday night, get home around 10 pm and in the morning, the three of us would fly direct to Kona from San Francisco. Easy pesy right? Wrong!

I got delayed in Dallas due to who knows what by American Airlines. First no plane, then mechanical, then no crew, then no plane again, the list goes on and on. Finally by midnight yes midnight, I had enough. If I left in the next two hours I’d have less than two hours in SFO before my flight. And that was assuming no other delays. That’s assuming we actually left by 2 AM, which was not even confirmed. I called AA and asked them to reroute me direct from Dallas to Kona. The first agent said no, I spoke to him for over 20 minutes and he would not budge. The main sticking point was that I was flying the enemy to Hawaii from SFO. I was flying United to Hawaii and the agent was 100% only going to get me to SFO which meant I’d miss my connection on United. He was not sympathetic or understanding. I was trying to be logical about this. They were contacted to fly me home, and to SFO, but what good would that do me, let alone how much was a last minute ticket from SFO to Hawaii going to cost me during spring break, it was over $1000 if you your curious. I understood his point, but I was trying to use logic and that’s what did me in. Finally I hung up because we were going nowhere and he was not going to be able to resolve my issue. About 20 minutes later I called again. And you guessed it I got the exact same person, and he said he still could not help me. What are the odds of getting the same person? I know crazy. I said thanks for his time and hung up again, what was the point in talking to him. Finally on my third call an AAngel in Dallas answered the phone. She immediately got what I needed to have happen. Within five minutes she rebooked me on the direct flight to Kona, and was able to confirm a first class upgrade. SCORE!!! She even made a point to say that they appreciated their frequent flyers and should and would do what makes sense to their customers. She processed to tell me logic should be used when helping a person out. Why strand a passenger in SFO, when that doesn’t do me any good. Phew what a relief, someone who gets it, and is empowered to help too. Its unfortunate I had to wade through multiple calls and a four hour delay.

Needless to say because I flew Dallas to Kona which clocks in at 3724 miles I flew my longest domestic flight, eclipsing the more normal SFO-Boston, SFO- NYC, SFO-Miami or Denver-Honolulu all trips I’ve done.