A couple of tiny wines, Your Airline's 1-800 number, and A little patience

These are my recommendations for navigating summer travel troubles!

So, what happens if your flight is canceled?

Given all of the cancelations over the holiday weekend, which marks the unofficial start of summer, I thought I'd share my flight cancelation story. If nothing else, maybe what I experienced, what worked, and what didn't, will help during this busy travel season.

First, don't panic. I know, easier said than done, but as I saw firsthand, a knee-jerk reaction can be a costly decision.

In late April, I took a trip to beautiful Tennessee to finish the first draft of my novel. Surrounded by excellent writers in a beautiful setting, I had the most productive week of writing, but this post is not about the destination or the writing, but the travel, specifically the flight home.

My airline of choice? American Airlines. I earn miles through a credit card. Also, I live 10 miles from DFW International airport, which is American Airline's base hub, so I can go just about anywhere in the world (I can afford) on American (AA).

It was a Sunday afternoon, so I left Nashville International Airport with quite a healthy mass of humanity. Mercifully, I earned a free day pass to the Admiral's Lounge, where I could escape some of the crowd and write in peace. It was storming in Dallas, but no signs of cancellations or delays. I'd just texted my husband and my mother something along the lines of, "Well, no change in my flight status yet, but that's probably because I'm still comfortably seated in the lounge and haven't packed up my gear to head to the gate."

I spoke too soon.

As soon as I reached the gate, I simultaneously heard the announcement and received a text on my phone: FLIGHT CANCELED.

"Oh no," I said aloud to no one.

What did I do?

I proceeded to the line at the gate agent, which had already grown to two dozen people deep.

Important to note that I'd booked with AAVacations, so while I stood in line, I called their 1-800 number, not the regular reservations desk. I thought I'd see who could help me first. Calling while also in line was the right decision because the gate agent had helped like two people by the time I received a call back about 45 minutes later. When you call American Airlines, they have an option that allows you to hang up and receive a call back from a representative. I chose this option so I wasn't holding a hot phone to my head and running down the battery.

(Sidenote: I can't recommend enough to book your travel in a bundle with AAVacations. It saves money on flight+hotel+car. This has made some first-class travel affordable in the past. Also, pick an airline, get a credit card that earns you miles on that airline, and you'll be amazed how quickly life pays for a vacation.)

Now back to the story…

Meanwhile, some of those two-dozen people in line were part of a group returning to California from a company retreat. Rather than wait and see what American Airlines could do for them, they began looking online at flights with other airlines. They found that the next available flights were Tuesday, and it would cost $2500. Plus, they would have to stay in a hotel for two nights. Keep in mind this is Sunday.

Important note: When a flight is canceled for weather, the airline does not have to reimburse you or pay for accommodations!

While I listened and watched several grown people panic and some devolve to tears, a representative from the AA Vacations desk returned my call.

He was apologetic and realized the nightmare the cancelation created. With a pleasant demeanor and more apologies, his fingers typed away at his keyboard to find me a flight home. Then, by some miracle, this angel of a man asked, "Are you close to gate C10?"

Me, "I'm at the gate next to it and happen to be looking at gate C10."

"That is the 5:45 to Dallas. Would you like a window or an aisle seat?"

"An aisle," I managed to mutter in disbelief.

He said, "Go to the gate agent and tell her I said to print you a boarding pass. The system locked me out from sending an electronic one to your app."

He remained on the phone with me until I had the printed boarding pass. AND, just in case that flight was canceled, he put a tentative hold on a Tuesday flight to Dallas.

What? Who is this magic man, and can he be a part of my everyday life?!

I thanked him profusely and, with a smile plastered to my face, found a seat at my new gate, where I could see my former fellow travelers waiting in line at our old gate. I felt like I'd won travel.

Even though the gate agent announced trying to reschedule through the AA app, DON'T! Call the 1-800 number. Talk to a human. I did not have to pay any additional costs for my new flight to Dallas. In fact - I was refunded the $30 I'd paid for an emergency row seat. I'll take 30 bucks back rather than spending $3000 any day. Wouldn't you?

For this AvGeek, what happened next was frosting on the sweet cake of flying miracles.

What are the odds?

Now, you might say my new flight was bittersweet. The storms in Dallas led air traffic control at DFW airport to keep our flight in Nashville grounded. Storms were still firing on and off, which created a backlog of planes needing to land and take off, so, our flight was grounded to not add to the plane gridlock.

When we were finally allowed to board, I could not believe who was in the middle seat next to me.

"A celebrity?" you ask. No, even better. The pilot of my canceled flight to Dallas.

I tried to be cool, but I couldn't resist. I had questions, and I knew he had answers.

He humored me and answered them. The most interesting takeaway was about his own knowledge, or lack thereof, about why the flight was canceled instead of delayed.

**I urge you to keep this in mind the next time you have a canceled flight.**

Cancelations don't come from a member of the flight crew, including the captain, nor anyone even at your airport of origin or destination. They come from somewhere in a magical-airline-operations-palace in the sky and leave even the flight crew scratching their heads.

When he called his supervisor to ask about his next assignment, the captain shared that he said, "My flight to Dallas was canceled. Am I still going on to Orlando?"

And his supervisor was like, "Canceled? No, it's not."

They worked it out, but the point is that not even the pilot scheduler guy knew about the cancellation.

We were delayed another two hours on the plane, parked at the gate, but I started laughing it up with the pilot and a flight attendant he flies with often. It felt like flying with old friends. And that was even before the two tiny bottles of wine. After that, I didn't much care. I was headed home – not to a hotel.

I hope my story of a bit of patience and a lot of understanding helps you during your travels. I could have been mad, pouted, and shown my displeasure with everyone I came into contact with, but for what? All of those people, even the pilot, were not in control of the situation, and they wanted to be somewhere too (probably not stuck on a plane - at work).

So, before you book a $3,000 flight on a Tuesday from Nashville to San Francisco, stop and talk to someone. There is something to be said for human help.

Enjoy your summer travels! If you get to September and this helped you in any way, I'd love to hear your story!

Here's me happy to be on a plane stuck at a gate. Believe it or not, I haven't had my two tiny wines yet, this is just what I look like after spending a day at the airport.