I am in Maryland this week. As usual, I took Northwest airlines. Since I fly out of La Crosse, WI, there are not too many choices - Northwest, American, Northwest... you get the idea.
I got a phone call from NWA telling me that my flight had been delayed, and that we would be arriving at MSP 15 minutes after my connecting flight was going to take off. This is travel tip #1 - ALWAYS give the airline (or if you go throught Orbitz/Expedia, etc, you can go throuh them) your cell phone number so that they can contact you to let you know if there is a change in the status of your flight. This one may seem obvious - just do it.
When I got to the airport, I went right to the counter, and had them get me on a different flight right away. This turns out to have been a very good thing because the next flight was very full - I may not have gotten on if I had waited until I got to MSP. This is travel tip #2 - if you know you are going to miss your connecting flight, get booked on a different one immediately, rather than waiting to get to the connecting destination. I was once going to visit my mom in Tamarac, FL. My flights were LSE to MSP to MEM to FLL. My flight to Memphis was delayed. If I had gotten on the flight to Memphis, I would have gotten stuck there overnight because I missed the last flight out of there. Instead, I asked for help, and told the agent I was flexible on the destination. She put me on a direct flight to MIA in first class. My bags didn't get there until the next day, but that didn't matter. This leads to travel tip #3 - always be nice to the agent at the gate. They did not make your plane break. They did not cause the weather, and if you are not nice to them, they can put you in the last row. On the other hand, if you are easy to deal with, they may go out of their way to be nice to you,.
