A tearful woman who believed that she would not be able to make it to her friend’s wedding recorded her emotional reaction in an airport and posted it to TikTok, where it has since been deleted.
The woman, who was flying to her best friend’s wedding at 5 a.m., was mortified after she was prohibited from boarding her flight.
The woman appeared to blame Delta Airlines after they refused to let her board her flight 15 minutes before the aircraft was set to take off.
Abbie (@abbieadcox) was excited to be by her bestie’s side as she said “I do” on her wedding day. However, it appeared as if her plans were going to crumble after she was turned away at her flight gate after arriving 15 minutes before the plane was scheduled to take off.
Abbie recorded herself puffy-eyed and swollen after crying in the airport upon realizing that she may not make it to the big day. Thankfully, plenty of TikTok accounts stitched Abbie’s video.
“Just a girl who missed her 5 AM flight and won’t make it to her bestie’s wedding because Delta sucks!” the devastated woman wrote in the text overlay of her video.
She addressed the bride, Rilee, in her video’s caption, apologizing to her and claiming that she had been sobbing for over an hour.
She also shared that she had arrived at the gate 15 minutes before the flight was set to take off before deleting the information from her caption.
While it appeared that Abbie blamed Delta for missing her flight, many people pointed out that the airline was not the culprit — she was.
All experienced travelers pointed out the importance of arriving at the airport way ahead of your flight time to avoid this exact scenario.
“Word to the wise, your departure time is not the time they close the door,” TikTok user Shonda (@thedrisen2015) responded to Abbie in a video of her own.
“Your departure time is when that plane is on the tarmac, and the pilot spins up those jets… and he hits that button or presses that pedal… and you go pewing down the runway.”
According to the Delta website, passengers should arrive at the airport at least two hours before their departure time. This allows them enough time to check their luggage, make it through security, and ensure that all of their belongings are in order ahead of their flight.
It also gives them some wiggle room in the case of unforeseen circumstances, such as a long line at security or any unpredictable issues with checking in.
Some airlines even require passengers to be checked in at least 30 minutes before their flight to let them on board.
Other people believed that instead of blaming Delta, Abbie could have made more of an effort to arrive on time given the fact that she was flying to her best friend’s wedding.
“You missed the flight! All Delta did was leave on time,” another TikTok user, Luis Lopez, said in a video. “Also, if it’s your best friend’s wedding, don’t fly out the day of!”
“It’s crazy to be like, ‘You are my best friend in the whole world; I would do anything for you except take a day off and pay for a hotel.’”
One flight attendant kindly pointed out some helpful information that Abbie may have benefitted from ahead of her flight.
“Your boarding pass states when boarding starts, and it also states that the boarding door will be closed 15 minutes prior to departure,” flight attendant Ashely shared.
“It does not matter if you get to the gate and you see that the jet bridge is still connected to the plane. If it is within that time frame, the boarding door is closed.”
After her original video quickly went viral, Abbie decided to post a follow-up clarifying her true thoughts about Delta.
“I do want to preface that I’m not trying to blame Delta,” she shared in a video she also promptly deleted. “Of course, I know that I could have had better time management, and in the end… it’s my fault.”
Abbie claimed that she has flown many times and has arrived within an hour of her flight taking off but has never had any issues. She hopes that her recent flight will be a “learning experience” for her.
She also explains the circumstances surrounding her decision to leave for the wedding the day of. According to Abbie, her other best friend’s wedding was the day before this particular wedding, and she did not have the time to fly out the day before.
Therefore, she opted to take the first flight out the next morning.
She added that the security line took longer than usual, as the woman in front of her had fallen and injured herself, and that one of the metal detectors was experiencing technical difficulties.
Abbie also encouraged people on the internet to be kind before jumping to conclusions and judging a situation they know nothing about.
Thankfully, Abbie was able to make it to her bestie’s wedding that same day and shared a video of herself and the bride jumping on a trampoline to celebrate.
When we are traveling, we are bound to encounter hiccups along the way that may delay or prevent us from getting to our destination.
It is essential that we plan accordingly while traveling, giving ourselves more than enough time to get to our destinations should anything come up that pushes back our arrival time.
That way, we’ll be able to watch our best friends walk down the aisle and celebrate their milestones right by their sides rather than fretting about not being there while stuck in an airport.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.
