Flights for 2025 Labor Day Trip to California, Overnight and Baggage Delay

A post about the flights I took around Labor Day 2025 to California, with weather wreaking havoc to my plans.

Grand Canyon

Ticketing

During last year’s trip to Yosemite National Park, I deliberately avoided hiking to Vernal and Nevada Falls, as they share a considerable initial stretch with the trail to Half Dome. When planning that trip, the time to enter the Half Dome lottery had already passed.
Following a splendid day in the park last year, we resolved this year to mount a proper attempt at Half Dome. Six of us entered the lottery, mostly focusing on the days around Labor Day. Ultimately, two attempts proved successful, with Wednesday, September 3rd emerging as the most suitable date for our collective schedule.

Sometime in May 2025, American Airlines launched an award sale offering select domestic itineraries at a mere 5k miles one-way. Surprisingly, I discovered availability for both an outbound flight on Saturday, August 30th and a return on Saturday, September 7th, from Boston to San Francisco. With that, my plan was to explore several other Sierra Nevada peaks in the days bracketing our Half Dome permit, with particular emphasis on Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. The August 30th availability was especially remarkable, given it was the Saturday preceding Labor Day weekend—perhaps an inconspicuous harbinger of the downturn the US travel industry was experiencing amid the economic headwinds of 2025.

American Airlines Flight 2906 and 1828 from Boston to Fresno via Dallas Fort Worth

Following some schedule changes—hardly unexpected given that I had booked my tickets more than three months in advance—my itinerary was as follows:

AA2906 Boston 7:15am – Dallas Forth Worth 10:30am
AA2325 Dallas Forth Worth 12:31pm – San Francisco 2:16pm

This arrangement proved quite satisfactory: departing Boston not too early that I could reach the airport via public transportation, while still arriving in San Francisco early enough in the afternoon to meet up with a friend and drive together to Three Rivers, the gateway town to Sequoia National Park, where we planned to explore the following day. The two-hour connection in Dallas would afford me a pleasant interlude to unwind in a lounge.

The morning began on a somewhat hurried note as I hastily packed my suitcases, consequently catching only the second subway train of the day rather than the first as I had intended. Fortunately, I still cleared airport security at 6:13am, comfortably more than an hour before my flight’s departure.

American Airlines 2906
Boston, MA (BOS) – Dallas Fort Worth, TX (DFW)
diverted to San Antonio, TX (SAT)
Boeing 737-800 (N317PG)
Seat 4B
Scheduled Departure – 7:15am
Actual Departure – 7:29am
Scheduled Arrival – 10:30am
Actual Arrival (SAT)- 10:43am
4 hours and 14 minutes
Here’s GPS tracking:

The flight was operated by an 8-year-old 737 (N317PG), relatively young in age but there were a few telltale signs that all was not quite perfect: one overhead luggage compartment in the first-class cabin had been taped off due to a malfunction, and a brief power interruption before departure left the WiFi system temporarily inoperative. These minor hiccups aside, the flight proceeded smoothly enough, and I spent most of it attempting to catch up on rest after my early morning start.

Breakfast
Biscuit sausage.

The smooth sailing continued until we approached the outskirts of Dallas, where the captain announced that a storm system was bearing down on the airport, though he remained optimistic that “we could find a way around it.” Moments later, it became clear that the storm was far too extensive to circumnavigate, and with not enough fuel to wait it out, we were diverted to San Antonio.
It was really an unfortunate set of events. Checking my cell phone, I discovered that the storm had positioned itself directly on the final approach path to Dallas Fort Worth, and it was moving slowly, which meant it ended up shutting down the airport for an extended period of time. What happened later, as I was about to find out, was that it took American Airlines the entire remainder of the day to recover its operation, through numerous delays and cancellations.

A sole Delta flight somehow found a gap in between the storm and made its way towards DFW airport, while many other planes in holding patterns a safe distance away.

Shortly after touching down in San Antonio, I received notification that my connecting flight to San Francisco had been delayed by 3 hours. This created quite a predicament, as my plan had been to meet a friend upon landing in San Francisco and drive together to Three Rivers. A 5pm arrival would mean reaching Three Rivers late in the evening—far from ideal, particularly given the likelihood of further delays.
Then I realized American Airlines also served Fresno. In theory, my friend could depart San Francisco as planned while I flew to Fresno, which was considerably closer to Three Rivers, allowing us to adhere more closely to our original plans. (To illustrate the complexity of my situation, I even considered a third option—flying to San Jose, which was closer to my friend’s location than San Francisco.)
The challenge, however, was that with widespread disruptions at DFW that day, seat availability was extraordinarily volatile. Time and again, I would identify available seats on a desired flight, call American Airlines, and by the time I was connected to an agent (which, thankfully, was often only a few minutes later given my status), that seat was gone. This cycle repeated itself throughout my time on the ground in San Antonio, until I finally managed to secure a seat on the 9:30pm flight to Fresno. (There were three Dallas-Fresno flights that day: 12pm, 5pm, and 9:30pm. My strategy was to confirm the 9:30pm while attempting standby for the 5pm.) Minutes later, the 9:30pm flight was cancelled, but fortunately, I was automatically rebooked onto the 5pm flight to Fresno—something almost too fortuitous to believe.

While I frantically searched for flights and made repeated calls to American Airlines, we remained parked on a remote stand in San Antonio, disconnected from any jet bridge. This meant only the lucky few passengers with San Antonio as their final destination and with no checked bags opted to deplane (along with a handful of others willing to endure a rather lengthy Uber journey to cities not too far from San Antonio). Fortunately, as this had been a morning departure from Boston, the crew weren’t at risk of timing out, and to their credit, they did their utmost to keep passengers informed and comfortable. It also helped me a lot that WiFi service was available on the ground, which I could access thanks to a subscription purchased weeks earlier—otherwise, I would have been severely constrained by my data allowance that month.
As I observed from flight tracking websites, that slow-moving storm had shut down Dallas Fort Worth Airport for approximately two hours, resulting in numerous diversions. Once it reopened, the FAA issued ground delay programs to manage the influx of traffic. The backlog of aircraft also left American Airlines critically short on gate spaces. Both factors delayed our departure from San Antonio, and at times it seemed as though our captain was bargaining with both the FAA and company dispatch for a slot to return us to Dallas.

In the end, we sat on the ground in San Antonio for about 4.5 hours (which was longer than the airborne time from Boston) before finally departing for Dallas Fort Worth.

American Airlines 2906
From diversion point San Antonio, TX (SAT) to final destination Dallas Fort Worth, TX (DFW)
Actual Departure – 3:12pm
Actual Arrival – 4:04pm
52 minutes

Finally, we landed in Dallas Fort Worth just past 4pm. According to our captain, he “pleaded” with Airline management that we had been on the plane for more than 10 hours, and thus we “jumped” the queue of planes awaiting gates. Even so, we didn’t pull into a gate until 4:42pm, more than 6 hours late. The captain’s advocacy proved warranted—once at the gate, two passengers were escorted off ahead of everyone else for “medical reasons.”

At that time, my connecting flight to Fresno was also delayed, so I wasn’t at risk of missing connection, but I had to get a boarding pass for that flight. That’s when I learned, for American Airlines, whenever a phone agent changed my flights, I had to check in for the new flights myself, but I couldn’t do that on the app, likely because it was past the checkin deadline for its original departure time. I tried to resolve this issue with the airport’s customer service desk, but the lines were predictably and horrendously long. Fortunately, while waiting, I placed yet another call (among the day’s many) to American Airlines, and the phone agent suggested exiting the security area to use the check-in counters. Almost miraculously, the check-in kiosk printed my new boarding pass without a hitch.

By this time, I hadn’t eaten in hours and was quite famished. With my Fresno flight’s departure pushed back to 8:30pm, I made my way to the Capital One lounge, and just as I settled in to rest and replenish myself, I received a notification that my flight to Fresno was cancelled.

In hindsight, had I not pursued the Fresno option and stuck to my original San Francisco destination, I could have arrived at San Francisco at 8pm that night with flight AA2810. However:

This would have required to me to predict, out of the many flights to San Francisco that day, which would operate and which would be cancelled, otherwise I would have been gambling on standby.
By the time AA2810 to San Francisco closed its gate, my flight AA1233 to Fresno was still scheduled to operate, with an updated arrival time of 9pm. Between an 8pm arrival at San Francisco and 9pm arrival at Fresno, the latter was much better.

But with AA1233 to Fresno cancelled, my last hope of reaching California that evening evaporated. I was protected to a 11pm flight to Phoenix, with another flight the next morning that would get me to Fresno at noon.

Continuing what I had been doing the entire day, I called American Airlines to explore better options. During my first call, the phone agent indicated no available seats on any Dallas-Fresno flights the next day, but I nonetheless changed my Phoenix flight to 9pm, as I was uneasy about the prospects of that 11pm flight ultimately being cancelled. When I attempted to check in for the 9pm Phoenix flight, however, I discovered I had “missed” its deadline. The checkin agent outside security worked quite hard, but said I had to resolve it with the gate agent.
Back at airside, there was expectedly a very long line in front of the gate agent, so I fancied my chances with another call to American Airlines. This time, to my astonishment, the phone agent informed me that he had miraculously found a seat on a direct Dallas-Fresno flight the following morning, arriving at 9:44am rather than noon. Even more delightfully, likely because my upgrade on the Phoenix flight had cleared, he was able to book me in first class.

With that settled, I booked myself a hotel near Dallas Fort Worth airport (which was ultimately covered by my credit card’s insurance), and spent the night there. On the drive over, my chatty Uber driver correctly surmised that I was spending the night in Dallas due to a cancelled flight. Clearly, I was far from alone in facing such a predicament that evening.

The next morning, it was a fresh start as I left the hotel and made my way to the airport. Weather was great and everything went smoothly at the airport.

American Airlines 1828
Dallas Fort Worth, TX (DFW) – Fresno, CA (FAT)
Boeing 737-800 (N827NN)
Seat 1F
Scheduled Departure – 8:25am
Actual Departure – 8:32am
Scheduled Arrival – 9:44am
Actual Arrival – 9:44am
3 hours and 12 minutes
Here’s GPS tracking:

Breakfast
Smoked salmon.

Probably to make up for my loss the previous day, the weather was great along the route today, granting me a scenic tour of southwestern United States, of the places I had explored in the past (and a few new ones). (The last time I was offered an aerial tour of similar magnificence was back in April 2021, when I flew from Washington DC to Los Angeles.) It was such a refreshing sight, recognizing them from above and recalling fond memories from deep within. Had I made the Dallas–Fresno flight the night before, these landscapes would have been drowned in darkness.

The first stop on the aerial tour was Albuquerque, New Mexico, with the Sandia Mountains rising to its east and the Rio Grande River flowing through its heart.

Sandia Mountains over Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico

Then came the Grand Canyon, which I had visited in January 2022. We flew past it at a distance, affording me a sweeping overview of the heart of Grand Canyon National Park.

Little Colorado River Valley
Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon Village in the center.
Grand Canyon

The tour of Grand Canyon continued into tribal land, where the geological layers were fewer but the canyon landscape remained no less spectacular. Here, we flew right over the Colorado River so the canyons felt more intimate.

Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon
Two Hundred and Ninemile Canyon and Granite Park Canyon
Canyons
Colorado River
Grand Canyon West Airport in the lower left.

Then it’s Lake Mead and Las Vegas, which I visited last November. I was delighted to recognize a few places, such as Promontory Point, that I had hiked during my trip, though some of them turned out to be incorrect (I mistook Muddy Mountain for Valley of Fire).

Lake Mead
The confluence of Virgin River and Colorado River.
Narrow Gorge in Lake Mead
Lake Mead
Downtown Las Vegas
Downtown Las Vegas

Typically, after passing Las Vegas, flights from Dallas to Fresno veer slightly northward, roughly tracing the California-Nevada border before entering California near Deep Springs. This routing was likely designed to circumvent the military airspace in and around Death Valley. Fortunately, that restricted zone appeared to be open that morning, allowing us to chart a direct course over Death Valley and the Sierra Nevada mountains toward Fresno, which meant my aerial tour would continue uninterrupted.

After the very distinctive Calico Hills and then impressive Rainbow Mountains, we soon flew over the heart of Death Valley, gazing down upon its vast, gleaming salt flats.

Calico Hills
Rainbow Mountains outside Las Vegas
Death Valley Playa
Badwater Basin
The lowest elevation point in the North America. Dante’s View on top of the mountain in the right.
Owens Lake

Less than 10 minutes after flying past Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North American, we were greeted by the Sierra Nevada mountains. From the photos, I later identified Mt Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous 48 states. Despite its distinction, Mt Whitney appeared rather inconspicuous among its peers, lacking the prominence that would set it apart.

Sierra Nevada Mountains
Sierra Nevada Mountains
Sierra Nevada Mountains
Kern River Canyon
A very distinctive river/canyon running north/south.

Further into Sequoia National Park, I spotted several impressive peaks, which I later identified as Kaweah Peaks Ridge. Two days later, I climbed Sawtooth Peak, a striking summit within the park. I had hoped to catch a glimpse of it, but it turned out to be on the other side of the plane.

Kaweah Peaks Ridge
Kaweah Peaks Ridge
Kaweah Peaks Ridge from Triple Divide Peak
Triple Divide Peak roughly divides three watersheds, Kern / Kaweah / Kings Rivers.
Sierra Nevada Mountains
Part of Great Western Divide.

Flying further west into Sequoia National Park, the peaks softened into gentler contours and the landscape grew increasingly forested.

Mountains in Sequoia National Park
Mountains in Sequoia National Park
Mountains in Sequoia National Park
Alta Peak, in the center of this photo, was also on my radar.
Distant Sillman Crest
Little Baldy in Sequoia National Park

As we descended toward Fresno, the air grew increasingly hazy with smoke from the Garnett Fire burning to the north. I even spotted a firefighting aircraft flying below us (p2 below).
It turned out that Fresno Airport was serving as a base for aircraft battling the Garnett Fire, and it appeared that one of them hadn’t cleared the runway in time after landing (judging by flight tracking data, likely the same aircraft from p2 below). This prompted our captain to execute a go-around. Of the 200+ flights I’d been on, this was my first go-around, leaving us in the air for an additional 11 minutes.

Distant Garnett Fire
Firefighting Aircraft Below

Just as I thought I had weathered enough drama for this journey to Fresno, I was thrown another curveball. This time, American Airlines’ app indicated that my bags had been sent to San Francisco.
While San Francisco had been my original destination when I checked my bags the previous morning, yesterday’s weather disruptions prompted me to change my flights numerous times, ultimately sending me to Fresno this morning. While in Dallas yesterday, after each flight change, I went to American Airlines’ baggage counter to ensure my bags were redirected to my updated itinerary. This, combined with the fact that my bags were loaded onto the second flight of the day from Dallas to San Francisco, struck me as evidence of something seriously amiss with American Airlines’ baggage service at DFW.

Before we deplaned, a baggage handler boarded and made an unusual announcement, explaining that because all flights from Dallas to Fresno had been cancelled the day before, this 737-800 was carrying 230 checked bags, which would “take them some time to offload.” Even so, some bags had unfortunately been left behind—an issue they would resolve after finishing the offload.

This mishandling could have derailed my entire trip. I had planned to spend the next two nights at an Airbnb in Three Rivers, a 90-minute drive from Fresno Airport. After that, I would stay in Yosemite Valley for two nights, then Bridgeport for two more before flying back from San Francisco a week later. All were remote locations with spotty cellular coverage, I could scarcely imagine the logistical nightmare of reuniting with my bags.
Fortunately, some of my friends from the San Francisco Bay Area would join me in climbing Half Dome on Sept 3, and we were set to rendezvous in Yosemite Valley the night before. I could have my bags sent to them and brought along to Yosemite. In the end, it took American Airlines only a few hours to deliver my bags to a friend in Berkeley.

Nonetheless, this delay meant my friend and I had only one day to explore Sequoia National Park. My friend was so captivated by the rugged contours of Sawtooth Peak that we decided to devote the entire following day to it, and with all my clothes and outdoor gear trapped in my checked bags, I first had to embark on a shopping spree to replace them. (If there was a silver lining, American Airlines ultimately covered my shopping expenses. 🤑)

American Airlines Flight 2410 and 910 from San Francisco to Boston via Charlotte

Fast forward to a week later, my flights back home on the evening of Sept 6.
After driving from Bridgeport CA to the San Francisco Bay area, I met some friends for dinner before heading to the airport.

A minor mishap occurred when I somehow dropped one of my boarding passes en route to the gate. Though I could still use my mobile boarding pass, I retraced my steps through the concourse to prevent any confusion for others—and fortunately, the wayward document had been picked up by some kind gentlemen who were searching for its owner.

Earlier that afternoon, a storm system had swept through the East Coast. Fortunately, it didn’t affect my flight to Charlotte (though the adjacent flight to New York was delayed). All in all, it proved to be a rather uneventful flight.

American Airlines 2410
San Francisco, CA (SFO) – Charlotte, NC (CLT)
Airbus 321-neo (N467AL)
Seat 5F
Scheduled Departure – 11:52pm
Actual Departure – 11:56pm
Scheduled Arrival – 7:50am + 1
Actual Arrival – 7:10am + 1
4 hours and 14 minutes
Here’s GPS tracking:

Sunrise

After a brief stop at The Club lounge in Charlotte, which had grown disappointingly lackluster in recent months, it was the final leg of my flights back home. Still, largely uneventful as I attempted to catch what sleep I could along the way.

American Airlines 901
Charlotte, NC (CLT) – Boston, MA (BOS)
Airbus 321 (N135NN)
Seat 3A
Scheduled Departure – 9:23am
Actual Departure – 9:37am
Scheduled Arrival – 11:47am
Actual Arrival – 11:08am
1 hour and 31 minutes
Here’s GPS tracking: