I got caught in
this on Friday.
I was flying from LAX to DC through Nashville (Tenacious D was on my flight!). When we landed in Nashville, there was a garbled message from American Airlines on my voicemail, which I deleted. I discovered what it must have been about when I saw that the second and final leg of my flight had been cancelled. The gate agents sent me to the ticket agents, who told me that my new flight was:
a) 5:30 PM
b) Saturday
c) Routed through Chicago with a 2 hour layover
d) Arriving in DC after midnight, Sunday morning.
And in compensation, I had a discount at the local Mariott.
I was unhappy, but I figured that with at least four flights to DC cancelled, enough people were in my situation that it wasn't too surprising that it would be hard to get them all accomodated quickly. So I spent the night in Nashville, and got back to the airport the next morning, where again the ticket agents said that no earlier flights were available. I resigned myself to wandering airport shops for 6 hours.
I did just that for an hour or so, slowly making my way to my gate, and when I got there, I discovered that a direct flight to DC was leaving from that gate within the hour!
Here is where my groove got less scorched. I asked the gate agents if they could fit me on the flight, and they did so! I got home at 4pm instead of midnight, and so did my checked luggage!
So ticket agents scorched my groove, but gate agents slapped on a bit of aloe.