Is My Flight Delayed?

I have learned to be patient when flying.  That’s a good thing on days like this where my flight is delayed.

I’m really not surprised – I woke up to emails from friends asking if someone was sandbagging my house for me.  Translation – it’s going to rain in DFW, it’s going to rain hard, and if it comes down too quickly then the block I live on might again make the national news due to a brief but crazy flood of waist high water.

But I’m less concerned about that because I’m sitting in the Admirals Club at San Francisco International Airport wondering when my flight will even board.

I’m wondering because American has been all over the map for the last four hours with flight delays.

It’s easy to see why I’ve been confused.

I’ve been burned by this kind of back-and-forth delay, pull in, delay again action before.

In July, I missed a flight out of New York’s LaGuardia Airport.  Over the course of several hours, the gate (and terminal) for my flight changed several times.

I was in the gate area when the last delay was announced and we were told we would be delayed “at least an hour” due to an inbound flight crew.  Because it was a wall-to-wall sea of people (not only nowhere to sit but nowhere to even stand with more than six inches of personal space), I walked back next door to the Admirals Club.

I parked myself in clear view of the flight departures board, so imagine my surprise when my phone buzzed with a notice that I’d been rebooked on a new flight – the next day.  I assumed they’d proactively rebooked me as an Executive Platinum but that realization was crushed as I saw two more emails come through behind this – one once again changing the gate for the flight and a second one announcing a “pull in” to a time that was ten minutes in the future.  I glanced at the departures board again – it was still showing the delayed time.

I ran out of the club only to discover a closed door and a gate agent finishing final paperwork.  She’d actually cleared standbys onto the flight so several of us were left stranded with no further options.

So yes… I’m wondering right now – is my flight delayed?  Or should I distrust the departures board and go camp out in the gate area… just in case?!