My worst travel horror story has to be when I went to Las Vegas a few years back. Las Vegas was awesome, that was not the issue, it was getting there, and back that was the problem.
I am not going to mention the airline, I think anyone who reads this can glean that information from the route description. Anyway, the first problem was in Pittsburgh; it was raining and we were delayed on the tarmac for a while waiting for the clouds to clear up. We finally did take off, and when we landed in Dallas we were late for the connecting flight, but the airplane was held until we all boarded. That was a minor bump in the road, but the return flight was far worse.
We arrived at McCarran Airport around 2 hours early, and had no issues with security or getting to our gate. Our flight was to connect in Chicago O’Hare; the aircraft was in Las Vegas on time, but there was apparently weather in Chicago, so we could not take off. We were allowed to remain at the gate in the terminal at McCarran until we were cleared to depart, at which time we boarded the plane.
When we arrived in Chicago, we made it to the gate for our plane, but it turns out that our seats were given to standby passengers because we were not at the gate on time prior to departure. Well we were changing planes, but not airlines, so they knew what was happening with the routes, but that did not matter. So we had to spend the night in Chicago. Because the flight was not cancelled, we just missed it (through no fault of our own), the airline refused to comp our entire room cost; they just gave us a voucher for a small percentage off.
I thought we would have to claim our baggage since we did not make the plane, but when I went to do that, I was informed that our bags did make the plane, and were on their way to Pittsburgh. Now this is post 9-11 flight, and I thought that baggage could not be on a plane without a passenger. So much for that rule! Then we stopped at the ticketing counter to get boarding passes for the next day. Good thing we checked them before we left the secure area, as they had given us passes that were for two other people! Neither of them was remotely correct. That would have been fun trying to get past security with those passes the next day.
Also of note was the poor treatment the airline personnel at O’Hare extended to a fellow traveller who happened to be returning from Las Vegas. She was from Germany, and it was clear that she was having some issues understanding what she had to do. They made no attempt to help her in any way; we invited her to follow us until we returned to Pittsburgh. She even got the room next to ours at the hotel so she would not have any problems.
Speaking of the next day, we basically jogged around O’Hare because they kept changing our departure gate. We moved no less than four times, only to end up departing out of the gate we were originally scheduled for. For those reading this who have been to Chicago O’Hare, you will appreciate the fact that is no small airport!
We did finally get home a day late, and our baggage was waiting for us in Pittsburgh. I did write a letter of complaint to that particular airline, outlining our grief and the mistakes that were made with security. All I received back was a form letter of apology. Needless to say that was the last time I have ever flown on that airline. I have never before or since had such a poor experience with travel.