The nationwide ground stop disrupted my flight to a Vegas conference, but I hitched a ride and got there in 6 hours

Detailed summary

Vanessa Santos got caught up in the ground stop and worried she wouldn't make it to Las Vegas in time to speak at a friend's business conference.

This story is based on an interview with Vanessa Santos, 43, a business consultant for female founders from Phoenix. It has been edited for length and clarity. I got a message on the app that my 1:45 p.m. Southwest Airlines flight from Phoenix was slightly delayed, giving me a chance to dash to Starbucks. The delay was longer than expected. Then, as we finally boarded the plane, I overheard the gate agent telling another employee something about a ground stop. A man sitting across from me looked alarmed. "This hasn't happened since 9/11," he said. We sat at the gate for 45 minutes, then were told to deplane.

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