Group tries to get from Fort Myers to San Diego with American Airlines. It ends up turning into a 24 hour ordeal

Traveling isn't as easy as it used to be. As seats get smaller, plane tickets get steeper, and passengers and flight personnel alike continue to reckon with post-pandemic social unruliness, there's a lot for the average traveler to reckon with.

However, some horror stories are more harrowing than others. One woman is going viral for sharing her own.

What happened to the group?

TikTok creator Madelyn (@madelynnnnn09) posted a 31-part slideshow chronicling her 24-hour “travel day from [expletive].” She tagged American Airlines in her caption. The post has accumulated nearly 200,000 views.

According to Madelyn's slideshow, the airline delayed their flight from Fort Myers, Florida. That made them miss their connecting flight. So they rebooked their trip to Dallas, Texas for an earlier flight, seeing as they had time to do so.

Unfortunately, that flight was also delayed, and they missed their connection again. They booked a new trip that would route them through Charlotte, North Carolina.

That trip was then canceled. They “rebooked back to Dallas.” But that flight was canceled as well, and there were no more flights departing from Fort Myers for the rest of the day.

By that point, Madelyn's slideshow featured back-to-back stills of her and her friends looking increasingly more tired and despondent in airport gate chairs. In text overlaying her slideshow photos, Madelyn wrote that the group had “sat at the airport for 7 hours to go nowhere.”

“Every American Airline employee LEFT THE AIRPORT and we had no flight,” Madelyn wrote, before adding a photo of one of her friends sitting with his head in his hands.

American Airlines presumably rebooked the trip. This time, the group was heading on a “red-eye” flight to Philadelphia. A photo of the group trudging out of the airport to go find food in the meantime read, “Every single food option at the airport was CLOSED.” So the group ate outside the airport.

How did they get home?

The situation didn't end there.

“Got told there was no layover in Philly at 2am,” Madelyn wrote. “Even though there was in fact a layover at 2am!” She revealed American Airlines “could not figure out how to re-check [the group's bags].”

When the group finally boarded the plane, they “sat on the tarmac for 30 minutes due to a mechanical issue.” They eventually “made it to Philly at 2am” and boarded their final flight. Madelyn's TikTok featured pictures of them napping on the floor of the airport in between.

The slideshow ended with the news that Madelyn and her friends made it back to San Diego 24 hours later.

‘AA is the new Spirit Airlines': True or false?

Madelyn's comment section was littered with viewers sharing their own experiences with American Airlines, with many expressing sympathy for her and her friends' experience.

“The way I knew this was American Airlines before looking at the caption,” one viewer commented.

Another responded, “I've used them twice and both times we had to sit on the tarmacs for mechanical issues. Never again.”

“Never fly American, they have so many issues like this all the time,” another wrote. “I'm sorry this happened to you.”

What did regular American Airlines passengers say?

However, one viewer said they've “never had an issue with AA.” Another viewer added, “literally … AA has always been my go-to.”

A couple commenters pointed out that there had been inclement weather over Dallas at the time of Madelyn's flight, leaving airport personnel with little to no options. AirHelp reported that there was “a wave of severe thunderstorms over North Texas” in late May, with at least 666 flights “canceled and 4,601 delayed, with Dallas-Fort Worth … among the hardest-hit airports.”

In response to various commenters, Madelyn revealed American Airlines “are covering the difference between our original flight and the cheaper one + the $12 meal voucher.” She also said they'd emailed her about a refund, but “have ghosted [her] now.”

The section of American Airlines' website dedicated to “delayed or canceled flights” says that “if your flight is canceled or a delay causes you to miss your connection, [they will] rebook you on the next flight with available seats,” and “will reroute your bags automatically when you check in for your new flights.”

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) also has a comprehensive chart on its website outlining the various cancellation and delay policies of all U.S. airlines. On the same page, DOT also advises passengers to always “ask airline staff if they will pay for meals or a hotel room or compensate you for your time” in the event of a cancellation or “long delay,” even though “Each airline has its own policies about what it will do for delayed or cancelled passengers.” 

Buzz News reached out to American Airlines via email and Madelyn via TikTok comment.