[txbeautyqueen]

My name is Rita and on July 14, 2009 I embarked with my family on our vacation to celebrate my husband and I's 25th Wedding Anniversary in Hawaii. Our reservation number was *****. Our trip was to begin on a flight #9572 from Killeen Texas to Houston Texas at 6:25am. Our flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems with the plane. There was no "back up" plane to replace the broken one and there were no mechanics on duty to repair our plane. We were going to miss our 9:35am flight # #1 to Honolulu if we did not get to Houston on time. The gate agent attempted to book us on other airlines to get us on our vacation. However my step father was on oxygen and only had a permit for Continental Airlines. She was able to book my mother, step father and my youngest son on a flight from Austin to Houston then an 11:35 flight from Houston to Honolulu. There were only 3 seats left on that flight. The rest of us were booked on American airlines from Austin to Dallas to San Francisco then to Honolulu. Continental shuttled us to the Austin aiport to catch our flights. My mother, step father, and my son got on their flight to Houston and then on to Hononlulu. The rest of us approached the American Airlines counter at 9am to catch our 9:45 to Dallas. However the American Airlines clerk said "I see your names, but I do not see a reservation". She typed and typed but found no reservation and sent us to the Continental counter. The clerk there was very kind. She got on the phone and was able to get our reservation in the system and sent us back to the American Airlines counter...it was 9:25am. The American Airlines clerk said "I see your reservation but it is too late to board the plane, the flight is closed". I was devastated . We had to go back to the Continental counter. This poor clerk was clearly frustrated as was I ...I began to cry at the thought of losing my dream vacation on my 25th Wedding Anniversay. She worked diligently to get us to Hawaii. At 10am She was able to get us to Houston, then to Los Angeles then to Hononlulu. We had our anniversary dinner on an American Airlines 737, a half of a sandwich and some chips, that we had to pay for! We were supposed to arrive in Honolulu at 12:55pm in the afternoon and spend our anniversary having dinner with our children on the beach. Instead we arrived at 9:30 pm, exhausted, cranky and ready for bed. We lost an entire day of our vacation in Hawaii because Continental does not have a "back up" plane at the Killeen Texas airport.