Have you spent the night in an airport terminal?

[LiveCoug]

Many times. When I was a college student and had standby privileges through my dad, I would fly places and get stuck. I was super poor, so if I missed my last flight, I would sleep in the airport I spent 8 nights in the Auckland Airport in 2001. I was a regular Tom Hanks.

[hostile]

Once. Flying to Honduras and had a 10h layover in Atlanta.

[Pelado]

Had a 7-hour layover in Santiago on the way to my mission, but don't think it was at night. Probably spent the night on the 7-hour flight from Miami.

[Scott R Nelson]

On one trip to Hawaii we were in the airport most of the night. The plane was supposed to leave in the evening, like 8:00 pm or something but was delayed until 2:00 am. We took off, flew for about half an hour then they detected some other problem with the plane and came back. We got off and waited some more, then finally took off just before daylight. So I spent "most of the night" in the airport.

I'm waiting for you to ask if I've ever had to sleep in my car. I have a few good stories about that...

[Green Monstah]

My parents lived on opposite corners of the country and were divorced school teachers. When a snowstorm shut down airports during Christmas break, there was no money for a hotel in Detroit or Minneapolis. I still put a change of clothes in my carry on for two related reasons: to be able to change in airports if necessary and so when I use a backpack as a pillow, it's a little more comfortable.

[wuapinmon]

Many times. When I was a college student and had standby privileges through my dad, I would fly places and get stuck. I was super poor, so if I missed my last flight, I would sleep in the airport I spent 8 nights in the Auckland Airport in 2001. I was a regular Tom Hanks.

Krakozia?

[Moliere]

My parents lived on opposite corners of the country and were divorced school teachers. When a snowstorm shut down airports during Christmas break, there was no money for a hotel in Detroit or Minneapolis. I still put a change of clothes in my carry on for two related reasons: to be able to change in airports if necessary and so when I use a backpack as a pillow, it's a little more comfortable.

One close call MJ and I had was in NY during our 10th anniversary trip. We had a 6 month old with us and our flight back got cancelled after we had waited in the airport for 4 hours. Since we had a baby, we didn't want to sleep in the airport so we found a hotel near Laguardia (we were flying out of JFK but everything was booked). Delta wouldn't let us get our bags since we had checked them and were supposed to fly out the next morning. Sunday morning I walked to a nearby store to get some diapers and other essentials for the baby. We had packed enough for the flight home and little extra but not enough to be delayed a whole day.

The next morning we got back to JFK to find out our flight was again cancelled for that day and would have to wait until the next day to fly out. Thankfully we had friends in Queens that we called and they let us stay at their place (which was in a nice area and overlooked the east river). it was Mother's Day and they didn't mind us crashing. The next Monday we flew out to Atlanta and were then scheduled to fly to Memphis, then to Houston. Once we got to Atlanta, I went to the Delta desk and asked if there was anything they could do to just send us straight to Houston.

The guy at the desk looked at our reservation and when he saw we had been in limbo for almost 40 hours booked us straight to Houston. We got to Houston and our bags didn't come out of the carousel. I went to the bag counter and they looked up and found that our bags had arrive Sunday morning

Long story short, I learned to pack an extra set of clothes in a carryon as well as all essentials....or I also learned to not check a bag unless you absolutely have to check one.

[Pelado]

One close call MJ and I had was in NY during our 10th anniversary trip. We had a 6 month old with us and our flight back got cancelled after we had waited in the airport for 4 hours. Since we had a baby, we didn't want to sleep in the airport so we found a hotel near Laguardia (we were flying out of JFK but everything was booked). Delta wouldn't let us get our bags since we had checked them and were supposed to fly out the next morning. Sunday morning I walked to a nearby store to get some diapers and other essentials for the baby. We had packed enough for the flight home and little extra but not enough to be delayed a whole day.

The next morning we got back to JFK to find out our flight was again cancelled for that day and would have to wait until the next day to fly out. Thankfully we had friends in Queens that we called and they let us stay at their place (which was in a nice area and overlooked the east river). it was Mother's Day and they didn't mind us crashing. The next Monday we flew out to Atlanta and were then scheduled to fly to Memphis, then to Houston. Once we got to Atlanta, I went to the Delta desk and asked if there was anything they could do to just send us straight to Houston.

The guy at the desk looked at our reservation and when he saw we had been in limbo for almost 40 hours booked us straight to Houston. We got to Houston and our bags didn't come out of the carousel. I went to the bag counter and they looked up and found that our bags had arrive Sunday morning

Long story short, I learned to pack an extra set of clothes in a carryon as well as all essentials....or I also learned to not check a bag unless you absolutely have to check one.

Our anniversary is also around Mother's Day, which drives up the cost of flowers.

[kccougar]

I think it was Charlotte. Was there for a conference and went to the airport to catch an evening flight home. Delayed, delayed, and delayed some more then finally pushed off until the next morning. Since I wasn't yet in route, the airline didn't offer any accommodations. I called around and couldn't find any hotels in the area that weren't booked and at that point it was midnight so I just decided to hunker down for the night. Found a comfortable chair near an electrical outlet and made it a Band of Brothers/Pacific marathon while I waited for my morning flight out.

[clackamascoug]

I slept one night in a rental car at the Hickam Air Force Base Terminal, and two nights up in the TV lounge room. I was sunburned so bad - it was hard to wear clothes - and made everything even more miserable.