Quote Originally Posted by MRSDS1DONNA View Post
I have to admit that I have been pretty blessed and gotten onto flights that I had no business getting a seat on through sheer luck.
One of many that comes to mind was two winters ago, day after a major blizzard. Had plans to attend a wedding in PHX. Originally going for the 6am day prior. JFK doesn't open til noon. My friend on a rev ticket asks if I'd be interested in driving all night to PHL for a 6 am out of PHL to ORD to PHX. I say, thanks but no thanks. Try for anything going west - LAX,SFO,DFW and of course PHX. Even find a RDU-LAX connection that might work. After the last PHX flight leaves, I head over to LAX. SFO across the way is on final boarding. Hmm, calling names and no answer. I walk over and ask if there are any seats left. They said they would walk me down, maybe. I get a window in Y. After a quick 4 hour nap at the hotel, head back to SFO for the 6am to phx day of. Luckily, it's an evening wedding so I catch some more zzz when my room finally became available. P.S. Couldn't find it in my heart to tell the folks back in NY dealing with 0 degree temperatures that I had to use the AC in the rental car while in PHX.

Or the time I bought a rev ticket from SEA-LAX to get back to JFK as I really had to get back to NY. The nonstop flight to jfk was way oversold but I'm early for my flight down to LAX so I go by the gate as they call my name. Nonstop trumps maybe getting stuck in LAX.