20 year old daughter having to spend night at JFK airport.

[DaughterStranded]

Not an AIBU, but posting for traffic as really worried.
20 year old DD has arrived at JFK airport to find connecting flight to South Carolina cancelled due to signalling issues. The next connecting flight will go 7am tomorrow morning. There are no earlier flights to any nearby airports available.
DD has decided to spend the night at JFK airport. I am worried she will fall asleep and get robbed of her phone/money. Anyone else had this situation to deal with? Any advice or tips anyone?

If she is airside, I'd think it would be fine. But perhaps she is not, given the setup in us airports.

I spent the night at the airport in Morocco alone at that age. It was ok, there were cats. In general if you are going to be out all night, the airport is one of the safer places to be...

Who is she flying with?

Now I know what a Hollywood bathroom is!

Very inconvenient for DD, but good job she landed safely. There were severe storms in the New York area this afternoon. Just FYI - BA started direct flights from LHR to Charleston, SC in 2019 but discontinued them during the pandemic.

Good idea to see what the airline can do. If they don't play ball, best to spring for a hotel.

She'll be fine. Deffo worth asking the airline for accommodation vouchers but they tend to be a bit weaselly about it unless their actual plane was the problem - otherwise it tends to be circumstances beyond their control and they won't cough up.

I ended up spending 24hrs airside in JFK due to a cancelled flight, we ended up having a lot of fun but I was lucky as I was with 3 other friends and so we were able to make the most of the situation. If I was on my own, I would feel safer staying in a hotel.

There’s a big difference between sleeping inside departures and the public areas before you go through security. If she’s in the departure gates beyond security she’ll be absolutely fine, have spent many hours in airports all over the place. Secure passport and phone under clothes, sleep on bag. Stay close to somewhere like Starbucks.

or get a sleep pod / hotel!

I’ve slept overnight in an airport at that age and was absolutely fine. There are usually lots of others doing the same.

However why can’t she just get an airport hotel? As pp have said, can you transfer her some money if it’s a financial issue?

Thanks so much all for your advice. I appreciate eah and every post.
DD has gone off to enquire about sleep pods. I have also offered to pay for a room at the airport hotel.
She is covered under our travel insurance too, so I expect they will eventually reimburse us for cost of overnight accommodation.

That sounds good, OP. Thanks for letting us know. Hope the rest of the trip goes smoothly.

Hope she’s sorted soon so you can relax and go to bed

Get onto Expedia or the like and book her a hotel.

Glad she’s getting some accommodation, that’s the best idea.

I’m on the East Coast and we’ve had stormy weather today, my area is currently under a tornado watch!
Don’t worry, I’m not close to NYC.

But it doesn’t surprise me at all that flights are being canceled.

She will be in the terminal though where only ticketed passengers are allowed.

I agree with paying for a pod or a club if she wants. I think she is safer in the terminal than a seedy nearby hotel!

Ahh, I’d be worried just like you are OP — hope you/she can sort it soon for both your sakes.

I did this many years ago coming home from camp America as we had run out of money and no-where to stay but the airport staff would not let us sleep, they just kept moving us on. I can't remember what we did in the end, just sat in a cafe all night I think !

I spent the night at JFK when I missed my connecting flight. I was 20 as well. I don't think I slept though. I wasn't the only one there, but mostly it was cleaners. If there's a 24 hour cafe or shop she can go near there perhaps? There are sleep pods at T5 I believe.

I understand the mum worry but honestly it’s less than 10.5 hours before she’d need to be back there again.

I think a nice dinner, a good book, lots of snacks will see her through. They do have pods, too.

I fondly remember nights like this when I was younger.

Yes, @AliceOlive , I spent hours waiting in bus stations and airports back in the 1990’s- once I only had 20p left after having to change my ticket and had to sit in the bus station while a family chomped their way through a takeaway supper next to me. After that, I always made sure that I had some emergency cash, I was so hungry! No Apple Pay or Venmo back then. 🤣

I spent the night in a train station in Rome, sitting on the floor playing solitaire for hours. Felt like the whole waiting room was watching me.

I’d had the shits of my friend’s boyfriend, and decided it was time to head home so I’d be there for Christmas. My flight was leaving out of London so I was facing days of traveling alone to get there. Had to take the bus from Termini to some other Rome station. Couldn’t speak Italian and it was dark when I learned I could only get the right train from a station across town.

The train ride was a nightmare, too because some kid kept hitting on me in Italian until I lost my mind and started yelling at him in English. Punctuated every sentence with “Do you understand?!!! Why not?!!! Don’t you speak English?!!” Then I sat in between cars for the rest of that leg of the trip.

Sorry for the long story, but that trip home alone was good for me. Early 90s also.

Thanks a million all. I have booked her a room at the TWA airport hotel which is in the airport. She took a lift within the airport to it. Apparently there aren't any sleeping pods anymore.
It was very expensive but I am hopeful our travel insurance might cover it.

Glad you got her sorted. I wouldn’t fancy a night in JFK.
The TWA hotel is a 60s airport theme hotel. If she wants to turn the problem into an opportunity they have a rooftop pool.

If she’s airside by the plane gates she will be fine. Just uncomfy and bored. But I’d get a sleep pod or hotel if there is one connected. It’s only if you’ve gone though and got luggage etc and then yes you get all sorts wandering about. So don’t stay there.
Me and a friend once had this happen when we were 20 and they shut us out the airport and we sat/laid on a bench outside from about 11pm until it opened about 5am! Luckily it was somewhere warm!

But if she is on a connecting flight I’d tell her to go to the airline and ask what to do. They may provide her with a hotel.

Not really very helpful but I did the exact same journey this time last year. Same date.
Anyway, that flight wasn't cancelled but I did have tickets coming back through JFK from somewhere else a couple of months ago with a tight connection I was worried about missing. I therefore did some research just in case the first leg was delayed. Most of the airport hotels aren't actually on site at all. You have to get the air transit train thingy and the shuttle buses to hotels run from (near) the end of the line. She could get a cab though, to avoid having to wait at the station for the shuttle bus (as they're a bit hit and miss on timings). We did that a couple of years ago.
Fortunately, I was transferred onto a direct flight back to LHR from my airport of origin so I never had to test it out.
Good luck to your dd. I have one a similar age and I would be having kittens in your shoes. It will all work out though and become a tale to tell in future.

Ah right, scrap all that as I can see you've got her sorted. Didn't know about the TWA hotel, unless I discounted it on expense grounds without looking at location.