After reading about 10-15 of these 1st World Tales Of Woe
My family was already in the air flying from Puerto Rico to Orlando, en route back to our home in Albany, New York, when we found out about the ground stop. I had a work conference there, so I decided to bring my wife and three kids, twin 3-year-olds and an 8-year-old, with me.
Maybe don’t bring the whole family to a WORK conference?
Luckily, we were able to land, but the pilot told us all connections had been canceled. Now it’s going to take us three additional days to get home, and it’s going to cost us thousands of dollars.
When we landed in Orlando at 7 p.m., everything was chaotic, with long lines of people trying to get help. My wife and I got our kids settled at one of the gates, and then I waited in line for about an hour. The customer service agent told me our connecting flight would depart at 1 a.m., so we decided to stay at the airport
Our kids were definitely troopers, but were exhausted. We were able to get one of the little ones to fall asleep in their stroller, but the other two didn’t fall asleep until about 10 p.m., way past their bedtime. The whole time we were there, the airline didn’t offer us anything, not even a snack or a blanket. The kids were definitely uncomfortable on the floor and cold.
One of our kids goes to bed every night with a warm cup of milk, but all of the vendors were closed, so she couldn’t have it, which led to some big tears. We were able to get everyone dinner before things closed, though.
Sniffle. AITA for not giving a shit about this tale of woe, or any of the others? Yeah, I’d be annoyed, I’ve had to set around at the airport for extra hours due to the weather, but, this is all so First World. I’m sorry you had a bad experience, but, you’ll be OK. You weren’t in danger, just inconvenienced. There is no need to write a bit Woe Is Me piece, nor others to do the same.
Last year, chronic flight delays and cancellations at Newark Liberty International Airport revealed a litany of problems with antiquated air traffic control systems. Today, those problems persist and are even more illuminated thanks to the FAA’s nationwide ground stop on Friday.
Even Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy admitted last year that some of the decades-old computer equipment air traffic controllers use looks like it came off the set of Apollo 13, and compared it to a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian also revealed last year that, due to aging air traffic control systems, it actually takes longer today to fly from Atlanta to LaGuardia than it did in the 1950s when the airline opened that route.
“That’s the air traffic control system. It’s very slow. It’s congested,” he told TODAY in May 2025. “If you modernize the skies, you can kind of bring greater efficiency.”
This has been an issue since the late 1980s, but, everything seems to be a patch on top of a patch, rather than an overhaul of the system. It’s way past time for that entirely new system. You want to blame someone? Blame every president since Reagan, and everyone who has worked in Congress. Blame bureaucrats.
