History Main / StuckAtTheAirportPlot

* The ''Victoria Wood'' episode "We'd Quite Like To Apologize" was about Victoria stuck in a departure lounge with a bunch of bizarre and terrible people, while representatives of the airline, the airport and the package holiday company all insist it's someone else's job to know what's going on. It ends with the plane finally ready to take off and Victoria realizing she's now going to spend a week with these people. The final scene shows her relaxing at a sidewalk cafe ... which turns out to be outside a shopping center in Britain.

* In the ''Fanfic/MotionPractice'' series, "The Eight-Hour Postponement" see bad weather strand a group of travelers at an airport for eight hours, leaving Bruce Banner as the responsible adult for a small child, two teenagers, and Tony Stark.

* "Series/{{TheAmazingRace}}" had a bit of this with NFL Teammates Chester and Ebrihim. They got stuck in an airport in Argentina and the episode would switch to them trying to deal with thier travel delays. By the time they finally got to their destination in Portugal, night had fallen and Phil was already there at the airport to eliminate them.

[[TropesAreFlexible This trope is not limited to airports]]. The kinds of chaos that can close an airport or ground flights can leave buses and trains parked as well. It can even happen to the occasional [[SinisterSubway subway]].

* In [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR6xbulUmsg one of the first Microsoft "Cloud" commercials]] a couple is stuck in the airport. The man declares "[[ToTheBatNoun To the Cloud!]]" and they pass the time by watching their favorite shows which have been recorded to the cloud. ([[FridgeLogic On public wifi?]])

* In [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR6xbulUmsg one of the first Microsoft "Cloud" commercials]] a couple is stuck in the airport. The man declares "[[ToTheBatNoun To the Cloud!]]" and they pass the time by watching their favorite shows which have been recorded to the cloud.

* ''Series/{{ER}}''. Kerry's subplot of the episode "April Showers" had her venturing to Las Vegas for a conference to cover up her humilation at not being invite to Mark and Elizabeth's wedding. With the weather shutting everything down, she ended up stranded there.

* ''TheTerminal'' is basically this trope: TheMovie. The main character is stuck in an airport after his [[{{Ruritania}} home country]] breaks out in civil war. His passport is revoked and he isn't allowed to leave the airport or fly home.
* The entire film ''Unaccompanied Minors'' is about this trope: an airport is SnowedIn, and while most of the people were moved to a nearby hotel, the main characters - all children - sneak away and end up having to stay at the airport.

Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease! This plot has happened to '''''[=FAR=]''''' too many [[RealLifeWritesThePlot real travelers]] to entertain the idea of listing even a fraction of the RealLife examples.

* An important part of the ''TabletopGame/{{Fiasco}}'' scenario "Last Night At O'Hare" is, well, that the characters are stuck at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, on New Year's Eve, because of a snow storm... [[CollidingCriminalConspiracies while one or more of them]] [[GambitPileup are scheming a plot]]... and at least one of them is probably on his [[TheLastDance Last Dance]]... or TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt is pretty much hours away. [[BlackComedy As is expected of the game]], HilarityEnsues.

* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': Tony is at [[CaliforniaDoubling Dulles Int'l Airport]] waiting for his father's flight to arrive. Bishop and her husband (We finally get to see him!) are also there to catch a southbound flight. Gibbs calls Tony with news about some important intel at about the same time as Bishop sees somebody she thinks she recognizes and the snow outside closes the runways.

* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT07TX9vBzo this cell phone commercial]], the singer on an opera scene turn out to be a phone, with the microphone on its direction. It communicate with the cell phone of the Prima Donna, stuck in an airport due to a [[SnowedIn snow storm]]. This does not prevent her to sing her part, though.

* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT07TX9vBzo this cell phone commercial]], the singer on an opera scene turn out to be a phone, with the microphone on its direction. It communicate with the cell phone of the Prima Donna, stuck in an airport with the whole orchestra, due to a [[SnowedIn snow storm]]. This does not prevent her to sing her part, though.

* In the ''Literature/{Relativity}}'' story "Let It Snow", Michael and Yule are stuck at an airport in France due to a snowstorm - The delay threatens to prevent them from spending Christmas with Sara. They pass the time by [[WholeEpisodeFlashback reminiscing about previous Christmases.]]

Airports are busy places. [[CoolPlane Flying machines]] of all sizes defy gravity on their way in and out. Passengers come and go on errands of [[RoadTripPlot business and/or pleasure]]. Dozens, hundreds or even thousands of airport employees keep things moving in countless different ways.

[[AC: Literature]]
* ''Literature/TheLangoliers'': The pilot and a fraction of the original passengers are the only people to be found at Bangor International, but they're still stuck due to a lack of fuel.
* The basis of the plotline for ''The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight'', by Jennifer Brown.

[[AC: Film]]
* ''Film/DieHard2'': John [=McClane=] is at Dulles Int'l Airport on a very snowy Christmas Eve, waiting for his wife's flight to arrive when a Central American drug lord hijacks the plane carrying him.
* ''TheTerminal'' is basically this trope: TheMovie. The main character is stuck in an airport after his [[{{Ruritania}} home country]] breaks out in civil war. His passport is revoked and he isn't allowed to leave the airport or fly home.
* The entire film ''Unaccompanied Minors'' is about this trope: an airport is SnowedIn, and while most of the people were moved to a nearby hotel, the main characters - all children - sneak away and end up having to stay at the airport.

[[AC: LiveActionTV]]
* ''Series/TheFactsOfLife'': Blair and Jo get stuck in a podunk town bus station. Blair is pleasantly surprised to discover that the newspaper stand sells French and Italian ''Vogue'' among others.
* One ChristmasEpisode of ''Series/FullHouse'' has the Tanners snowed in at the airport on Christmas Eve, with Stephanie worried that Santa won't know where they are and not deliver their presents.
* ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'' had a {{Flashback}} in one episode where Rose is stuck in the train station on Christmas and talks to another stuck lady. They talk about holiday memories and in the the end, it's revealed that the other woman's daughter was dead; she was going to visit her at the cemetery.
* ''Series/HouseMD'': In "Failure to Communicate", a snowstorm gets House and Stacy (ex-girlfriend, the hospital's chief lawyer) stranded in an airport unable to fly back from a mandatory out-of-town meeting with medical insurance officials. Highlights include House writing ideas on walls instead of the usual whiteboard, [[SherlockScan instadiagnosing]] other people around, talking about personal things with Stacy, causing authority problems in his team by being absent and hard-to-reach. He's still the one who solves the Medical Mystery of the Week.
* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': Tony is at [[CaliforniaDoubling Dulles Int'l Airport]] waiting for his father's flight to arrive. Bishop and her husband (We finally get to see him!) are also there to catch a southbound flight. Gibbs calls Tony with news about some important intel at about the same time as Bishop sees somebody she thinks she recognizes and the snow outside closes the runways.
* The ''Victoria Wood'' episode "We'd Quite Like To Apologize" was about Victoria stuck in a departure lounge with a bunch of bizarre and terrible people, while representatives of the airline, the airport and the package holiday company all insist it's someone else's job to know what's going on. It ends with the plane finally ready to take off and Victoria realizing she's now going to spend a week with these people. The final scene shows her relaxing at a sidewalk cafe ... which turns out to be outside a shopping center in Britain.
-->'''Victoria''': Well, of course I didn't go. I might be mad, but I'm not stupid.

[[AC: WesternAnimation]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' episode "Happy Hank's Giving" has this happening to the Hills, the Gribbles, the Souphaniousinphones along with Bill and Boomhauer over Thanksgiving (which involves the destruction of Hank's propane-smoked turkey when a bomb-sniffing dog barks at his luggage). After everyone misses their flights, the families eventually settle with eating dinner at the airport with whatever they can scrape together.

[[AC: TabletopGames]]
* An important part of the ''TabletopGame/{{Fiasco}}'' scenario "Last Night At O'Hare" is, well, that the characters are stuck at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, on New Year's Eve, because of a snow storm... [[CollidingCriminalConspiracies while one or more of them]] [[GambitPileup are scheming a plot]]... and at least one of them is probably on his [[TheLastDance Last Dance]]... or TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt is pretty much hours away. [[BlackComedy As is expected of the game]], HilarityEnsues.

[[AC: Radio]]
* In the third season of ''Music/MitchBenn's Crimes Against Music'' (where the theme was that he was supposed to be on a world tour) the third episode was about being trapped for months at London Stansted Airport while trying to get to Australia. The song "[[http://www.mitchbenn.com/music-stuff/81/vodka_and_toblerone.html Vodka and Toblerone]]" is from this episode. Eventually Mitch and his retinue get on board; unfortunately their seat numbers are [[ArcNumber 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42]], so the final episode is about them being [[Series/{{Lost}} trapped on an island]].

Suddenly our heroes are stuck in an airport. Now the real story begins. Now the real drama and/or action begins. This is where a Type 2 [[RoadTripPlot Road Trip Episode]] goes screaming off the rails.

If the character(s) is/are readily able to leave the airport to wait for the flight to resume, or simply bail on the entire trip and return home, it's not this trope. If they are only inconvenienced by a delay, it's not this trope. However, if the sudden onset of extreme weather is what's inconveniencing them, it may be a BigStormEpisode.

Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease! This plot has happened to '''''[=FAR=]''''' too many [[RealLife real]] travelers to entertain the idea of listing even a fraction of the RealLife examples.

If the character(s) is/are readily able to leave the airport to wait for the flight to resume, or simply bail on the entire trip and return home, it's not this trope. If they are only inconvenienced by a delay, it's not this trope.

[[TropesAreFlexible This trope is not limited to airports]]. The kinds of chaos that can close an airport or ground flights can leave buses and trains parked. It can even happen to the occasional [[SinisterSubway subway]].

If the character are readily able to leave the airport to wait for the flight to resume, or simply return home, it's not this trope. If they are only inconvenienced by a delay, it's not this trope.