MISSED CONNECTION

Stuck at Baltimore/Washington International

I suppose if you fly enough like I do it's bound to happen sometime.  Missed connecting flight; stuck in the terminal overnight.  My flight was scheduled to depart Norfolk at 6:55 but rain delayed it to 8PM.  We took a 45 minute hop to BWI, where I was supposed to change planes and head to Tampa.  We arrived at BWI and I checked to monitors.  My flight number was nowhere to be found.  I discovered it had left 5 minutes before we arrived.  The gate agent told me there was a flight to Raliegh Durham that would go on to Tampa but I would have to run to another terminal to try and catch it.  He tried to call the gate but they wouldn't answer the phone.  I ran from A15 to B5 to no avail.  Of course it was gone.  Worse yet, they wouldn't refund anything, no hotel, no nothing.  I even lost my boarding position from A29 to B1.  I can't get out of here until 7AM.  It's 10:30 as I write this.

I'm sure I could take a taxi to a hotel and the company would approve my expense but it doesn't seem worth it for 8 hours.  I will sit here all night long and try again tomorrow.  At least my next round of travel, Friday evening to Phoenix, will be for pleasure.

Update:  It's now 5:15AM and I've been awake for over 25 hours.  The airport cleaning crew made it impossible to sleep during the night.  I honestly believe their boredom with their job motivated them to make my night miserable.  There were 7 of them and there was no where in the terminal I wouldn't hear them.  They would scream out at each other without reason.  For the last 2 hours they have done nothing but stand around and BS.  Other passengers have began arriving and the airport is coming back to life.  Hopefully, soon, I will too.  I have a 100 mile drive home from the Tampa airport.  Friday I will turn right around and head back there again.