Due to weather conditions, I missed my connecting flight to Seattle and was doomed to spend the night in Jersey. Newark, to be exact. And of course, if weather is the problem, the airlines don’t pay for your room, although you get a “distressed passenger” discount at some hotels.

The weather was terrible at Newark airport, where I had to change planes for Seattle. My flight was delayed in West Palm Beach, but then we reached New Jersey on time, only we were put into a holding pattern for almost 40 minutes. Then we made the descent from hell into the airport. I’ve never experienced turbulence like this before, in all of my travels.

But what pisses me off is that my connecting flight to Seattle left about 10 minutes before we landed. There were six people on board my flight who missed that plane. How difficult would it have been to hold the plane? I mean, ten minutes wouldn’t have made any real difference and Continental would have gained brownie points. Instead, they’ve earned my scorn. I can see not holding up flights if they’re not sure of other arrivals, or if it’s going to be over 15 minutes. But 10 minutes?

So now I had to go through the tiresome process of changing my ticket, booking a hotel, getting my luggage, then getting to the hotel shuttles, and so on. My flight came in at 5:35pm, and I arrived in my hotel room at 8pm!

The staff at Continental was very nice, and they gave me $12 in vouchers for food–downside was that I had to use them today and at the airport. So I bought a salad and some fruit and a bottle of water, and here I sit in my hotel, munching airport salad (actually quite good) and lamenting about my tale of woe.

I am happy to have landed safely after that awful turbulence. I am glad to be in a nice room. However, I would prefer to be at home, or at least, en route, which is what I’d be right now.