This is why people don't volunteer to give up their seat

Yesterday, my 8 am American Airlines flight from San Francisco to Dallas was overbooked. I thought about it, went back and forth a little bit, but decided to volunteer. I was on my way home, had nothing planned, and could use the voucher for an upcoming vacation. My new flight was 5 hours later, but I didn't mind that. Before I said yes, though, I verified that I could have a decent seat on the next flight to DFW, because that's a long flight to be stuck in a middle seat at the back of the plane. She was able to get me the exact same seat I had for the original flight, bulkhead window. You see where this is going...

By noon, my new flight started getting pushed back. Finally it was so delayed that we would land 10 minutes before my next flight. I called American and told them I knew I was going to miss my connection. The next available flight out of Dallas was this morning at 8. I told her to go ahead and book it, but I was frustrated because I had voluntarily given up my previous seat. She asked if I'd gotten a voucher and I said "Yes, but it won't pay for my hotel room tonight." So she worked some airline magic and booked me on a United flight to Denver, then home from there. She couldn't confirm me over the phone, so I had to go to an American gate agent to get confirmation. 

My gate had a crazy long line for the gate agent, so I went to the next gate. She was able to print my confirmation, so it was safe for me to abandon the American flight, which was just about to finally board. United flies out of a different terminal, and there is no way to get there without leaving security. Then, because I didn't have an actual boarding pass, I had to check in at the ticket counter before I could get back through security. The line was crazy long, there were not enough employees, and my departure time was getting dangerously close. An employee, Toni (who is awesome by the way), was checking on people in the line to see if they could get out of line and check in at a kiosk. I explained my situation. She sent me to a kiosk, but stayed close helping a lady with a stroller at another kiosk. I almost made it through the check in process, then I got the "See a Representative" screen. I was near tears, and I don't get upset about bad travel. Toni came back over, took me to an empty counter and started checking me in. I mentioned that my TSA Pre-Check probably didn't transfer (thinking about how much longer it would take me to go through the regular line). She asked if I had my TSA letter with me. It just so happens I carry that letter in my laptop bag. So she re-printed boarding passes with Pre-Check on them. They normally won't do that for you at the counter. I made it to the gate as they were boarding, but of course I was in a middle seat at the back of the plane.

Denver to Little Rock was fine. My luggage made it on the original flight and was waiting for me when I landed, so that was a huge plus. I got home a little after midnight last night, completely exhausted. It was NOT worth a $500 voucher. I won't be making that mistake again.