Yesterday was just the worst travel day ever. My flight out of LEX was delayed, but got to ORD in time to make my connection at 1:50 … except we sat on the runway for almost an hour waiting for our gate to open up. I got to the connection about 10 minutes after it had left.

I was rebooked on the 3:45, and even got an exit row seat. It was, of course, delayed a couple of times.

Meanwhile, I was approached by the gate agent, who said the plane was very, very full, and would I consider checking my rollerbag, in exchange for early boarding. Sounds good.

Finally, we boarded, and I was in my seat when someone discovered that the handle on that same exit door wasn’t properly flush with the plane body. They brought in maintenance to look at it, and I had to get off while they tinkered, and ended up removing the door and trying to figure out what to do.

As I was waiting for these decisions, I looked out the window and noticed my rollerbag, sitting on a baggage card, in the rain. My roller bag with my second laptop in it, and all of my recording gear, not to mention my clothes. I mentioned this to the gate agent, who after about 20 minutes managed to get someone to move it under shelter.

They finally decided that the door couldn’t be fixed, and delayed the flight while they looked for a replacement door, and then a replacement plane, and then cancelled the flight.

Now that the flight was cancelled, my bag was nowhere to be seen and I was told it was probably on the next flight to LA – not the one that I would be on – I was, after waiting in line for another 45 minutes, booked on the 9:30 flight.

The 9:30 flight was, of course, delayed for a further 45 minutes before it finally left, and I got to LA at about half past midnight, almost 9 hours after I had expected to arrive.

Because of the way my bag had been checked, I didn’t actually have a claim check for it, but I managed to convince the baggage folks it was mine, and headed out to the hotel shuttle bus stand where the bus for my hotel was pulling away.

So, I eventually arrived at my hotel at a little after 1 am.

I know folks get a lot of amusement out of the fact that no matter where I fly, no matter what airline I choose, or how I route my flights, I am delayed. Every. Single. Time. But this was by far the worst travel day I’ve ever had.