I was lucky enough to get rerouted within a day. Most people had to wait a few days after Christmas weekend. Plane was stuck at O'Hare in that blizzard. When I finally left Austin on the plane that finally showed up from Chicago, I missed my connecting flight in Denver. So, my alternative was to fly to Salt Lake City THE NEXT MORNING to then back-track to Montana. Fun, fun. At least I can check spending the night in an airport off of my list. Oh, yes, and I also went straight to work.

Did this happen to be a flight from Minneapolis to Tampa? If so I was on the same. Two hours of sitting away from gate and THEN they decide they guy doesn't have the hours. Needless to say it was difficult to get 35 people back home for the night without a bus.

A similar thing happened to me a couple years ago-there were delays for various reasons and it took me about 24 hours to get home . . . eh, it happens. We were actually in line to take off, like two planes back, when the pilot came on and announced that he was over his hours and we had to go back to the gate. I thought it was odd that he would wait that long, until I learned that if pilots have x number of hours to fly (I don't know the actual number), then they can take one more short flight (like two hours or less) at the end of their 'shift', as long as they take off for that last short flight before their original hours are up. So what our pilot was trying to do was get us in the air before his original hours were up so he could make that short flight (it was like a 45 minute flight). Because we got stuck in line to take off, we didn't make it in time and he had to stop flying. Apparently there's a big light on the instrument panel that will start flashing and that's FAA rules and you absolutely have to turn around. A similar thing probably happened to the OP in that the pilot was trying to get off the ground in time, and just couldn't make it. Doesn't make it less annoying, but at least it makes a bit more sense. If you're going to travel by plane, you've got to be ready for some delays and just go with it.

Take the trains once in a while. They may be late some of the time, but it isn't nearly as bad as people make it out to be. And I would know, I work onboard Amtr@k trains. :>

You don't know how many times this happens to me!! The same day these things happened we were finally about to leave, my sister gives birth!

my ass would have got off the plane if they had all them problems. FO real

If u make it home, fyl, I woulda been freaked.

I'm a future pilot and I know a lot about airplanes and how airports work. The plane being low on fuel shouldn't be an issue because as soon as the plane parks it's supposed to get filled all the way up with fuel, no matter how much fuel it used on the previous flight, even if it's from baltimore to pittsburgh. I'm assuming you were in the plane getting ready to leave, and yeah, the plane should've been filled all the way up with fuel before you got in

I wouldn't have got on that plane!

Those rules are all implemented for your safety. Just be glad you got home safe