(Written by my dad)
We had a short flight to Charlotte, NC where we had plenty of time to make our connection and be in London by the next morning. We arrived and everything was going smooth. We got on our plane and even managed to have an extra seat where the boy laid down and slept. That's when it started to get ugly. After a couple hours in the plane and several assurances from the pilot that they were just updating their logs, it was announced, 'we needed to get off the plane, it had to go to the hanger.' After a short time in the terminal it was announced that this US Airways flight was cancelled. A man announced that all passengers must go to the US Airways desk and rebook on another flight. The crowd went grumbling to the US Airways desk where we all waited for sometime, when a man arrived and asked everyone to go to ticketing outside the terminal. So we went. Upon arriving at the US Airways counter, we waited in line. After some time. We were given a sheet of paper with the US Airways number on it and told to call that it would be quicker. I called, and went through the computer message system. "A representative will be with you in approximately 15 minutes." She came on and said hold on one minute I will ask my supervisor what to do, and I was back in the computer system, "A representative will be with you in approximately 18 minutes." This happened one more time and when I heard a human the third time, I begged, 'please don't put me on hold, just set the phone down'. She did and her supervisor informed her that we would have to wait until Friday for the next available flight to London. I said this was impossible, this was a big trip for a 7 year old and a rare trip for a 68 year old. We didn't want to spend it in Charlotte (no offense Charlotte). The US Airways rep told me she could book me to Frankfurt the next day, but we were on our own. I agreed. I booked tickets onward online with British Air. Then we were ready to spend the night in Charlotte, but there were no rooms. None. I was given a distressed traveler phone number, which went to a computer message which said sorry the city is sold out. Well sleeping on the floor at the airport was not a great option for us. The boy had been patient, but... I checked with the rental car companies, they were all sold out. Some had signs on their counters that said so and other stranded travelers waited as if they might change their minds. I went to a couple myself and asked 'do you really have no cars' The Hertz rep said well if you swear to return it here in the morning I have one infinity, but its $200. I took it of course, after all $200 for a night in a car versus a night on a cold marble floor... I drove to the next city north and got a room at the Sleep Inn. Orbitz doesn't allow registration after midnight for the same day. So I copied their name and found them on Google and there you are.

The next day we drove our $200 taxi back to the airport and caught our flight at 4pm. After several hours on the plane, the pilot announced that we were pulling back to the gate because they could not start engine #2. After some time, they announced that while they fixed the engine, the weather had caused their flight to be rerouted and it would be two hours longer. The seats didn't recline, the boy slept between us and kicked us, better us then a stranger. Here we are. We made it and that was the goal.