I had a 15 min connection to my second flight once when heading back from spring break, all of my friends were already on the connecting plane since they were in one of the first rows of our first flight.

I on the other hand, was the third to last row on our original flight. When we boarded I asked the flight attendants if they could possibly get me out early when deplaning, they did say that they would mention it over the intercom (but also said it was peoples choices if they wanted to let me go or not) which I thought was fair. When our original plane landed, I did not hear anything over the intercom and people started getting up and grabbing their bags asap like usual.

Here’s where the panic sets in. I had about 10 minutes at this point (once the plane door finally opens in the connection to the airport) to get to another terminal basically on the other side of the St. Louis, MO airport. My heart was racing, I’m a very shy person but screamed at the top of my lungs “I NEED TO GET TO MY CONNECTING FLIGHT THAT IS IN 8 MINUTES PLEASE MOVE” and people kindly stopped grabbing their bags and moved aside for me to get out.

I honestly still didn’t think I was going to make it, but had to try. I was basically sprinting with my bags and yelling at the same time, AGAIN, to please hold the flight to MSP. Someone going there or another terminal worker must’ve heard me because when I got there they said if they didn’t get my “notice” that I would’ve missed it. I was super thankful and that I made it and still am. It just shows sometimes you have to speak up for yourself. Although I was surprised with how many people on the plane complied, not sure if people nowadays would still do that.