Never had this when flying

[SiteWolf]

So I live in the metropolis that is our state capital- one of the very few capitals NOT on an interstate....15,000 ppl.....

This is to be the 3rd consecutive Christmas I spend with a brother in Honolulu. I know, feel bad for me! But I've been starting my flight from here, a $100 each way flight to Denver on a regional airline where I get on a real plane and continue my flight. Free parking, 5 minutes from home...perfect!

Had no problem the last 2 years....however too many had, apparently, because the city worked to get that carrier out (yes, we now have but one). I booked my flight weeks ago, looking forward to the trip, not realizing that the NEW carrier was having so many problems. Get this, I find out the entire airline is 4 18 yr old planes. Four! And over Thanksgiving all 4 were down for repair!

However, they all got going last week and everything had seemed fine, no real delays, no cancelled flights, nothing...............until yesterday. My flight was to be at 8:40am- simple 90 minute flight to Denver with a 3 hour layover for my next flight. Delayed....delayed again....cancelled, but I got the last seat on the afternoon flight....delayed....delayed....cancelled. I had worked with Delta to move my main flight to 7am this morning, all I had to do was get to Denver...........and still couldn't.

Drive? 9 hours. Other options to fly from? Last flight left a half hour before I knew my local flight was cancelled. Why did I not think it would be? They were sending another plane.....until they weren't.

So, now I've had to pay a premium price to get to Denver- meaning I'm about to make a 2 1/2 hr drive to pick up a $500 RT flight that will mean sitting in the Denver airport for 18 hours (otherwise it'd have been a $750 flight) so I can fly out of Denver at 7am Saturday morning.....arriving in Hawaii 40 hours after my original plan.