13 Stranded Strangers Drive Overnight Together in Real-Life “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles”
These jilted airline passengers banded together to make their destination the hard way.
Imagine this, you're trying to get out of Orlando Florida because you have to make it to a court case in the morning. Or, you need to get your daughter to her dream college for a campus tour. Or maybe, you need to help a friend move to Mexico? Now imagine that you are absolutely stuck at the airport because your flight has been delayed and there is nothing the airline can do for you. That is exactly the situation that thirteen strangers found themselves in recently, until a bright idea and a rented GM 15-passenger van saved the day.
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According to a CNN report, on the evening of December 4th, 2022, thirteen people stranded at Orlando International Airport while heading to Knoxville, Tennessee resorted to drastic,Planes, Trains, and Automobiles-like measures to make it by morning.
Carlos Cordero and his partner Laura Puckering had an appointment for their daughter Mikayla to go on a campus tour of the University of Tennessee. Farming industry influencer Michelle Miller needed to be in Knoxville for a conference. Robin needed to go to a custody case. Another person just needed to be at work in the morning. But Frontier Airlines had canceled their flight had nothing else available.
Out of frustration Miller asked an attendant at the airline desk "Why don't you guys just get us like, a big bus or like a van or something?" Another traveler, Amy overheard and thought it was a great idea, so she turned to the stranded crowd and asked "who wants to go in on a van?!" After a bit of hesitation, Michelle, Robin, Carlos, Laura, Mikayla, and six others all joined Amy and rented what appears to be either a Chevy Express or identical GMC Savana 15-passenger van from the Hertz rental counter. Why Hertz? It was the only rental outfit without a line. Luckily for them, Herz had the van at the ready. If the only vehicle available was, say, a subcompact like a Kia Rio, then the story would have gone very differently.
At about 9:30 pm that night the group of travelers embarked on their journey to Knoxville. Eventually one of the passengers, Alanah Story, started livestreaming the trip on her TikTok account—and within hours it had millions of views. Viewers kept asking for updates as the audience followed along and made comments that this situation would make for a good movie.
The unlikely group made it to Knoxville by 8:30 am the following morning with everyone able to make it to their respective engagements, responsibilities, and appointments in time. It just goes to show that humanity isn't totally doomed—at least not by air travel—as long as there is hope, some game strangers, and a massive GM van nearby.
Andrew Beckford’s passion for cars started as a middle schooler when his friend Richie explained how an internal combustion engine works. He was bitten by the bug and the rest, as they say, is history. He dug deep into the tuner scene and eventually wrote for Turbo Magazine, Import Tuner, Super Street. He covered car shows, feature builds, and reviewed racing games for those magazines in addition to covering motorsports including Formula Drift, Indy Car, and F1 for his personal blog. Eventually Beckford joined MotorTrend to cover the daily automotive news beat. Besides being a gearhead, Beckford has been a gamer since the ’80s and is a huge fan of the arcade racing games of the ’90s like Daytona USA, SEGA Rally, and Ridge Racer. Beckford’s a movie buff as well, especially comic book films from DC and Marvel. When car culture crosses over with gaming and entertainment, rest assured Beckford is aware of it. In addition to serving as a consultant on a “triple A” racing titles, he’s reviewed major racing games such as Forza Motorsport, Need for Speed, Gran Turismo, F1, and more. He’s also interviewed blockbuster directors including Steven Caple Jr. (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts) and Neill Blomkamp (Gran Turismo). His biggest profile to date was with Robert Downey Jr. on his love affair with cars and his show Downey’s Dream Cars on MAX. Beckford’s profile of Downey Jr. was the first print cover story written by an African American in MotorTrend’s history. Along with KJ Jones, Andrew Beckford also heads up MotorTrend’s celebration of Black History Month by spotlighting diverse voices in the automotive industry and motorsports. Beckford’s first car was a 1982 Nissan Stanza affectionately named “Stanley” by his late mother.
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