Getting home from Philadelphia on Friday was one of the most frustrating experiences I've had in a long, long time.

I was scheduled to leave Philadelphia around 10 a.m., change planes at Dulles Airport and be home by 2:30 p.m. -- in plenty of time to go to the Hollywood Bowl Friday night.

My flight from Philadelphia took off with no problems. Once I landed at Dulles I learned my nonstop to LAX at noon had been cancelled.

I was rebooked through Denver on flights that would get me home by 6:45 p.m. -- it would be tight, but I could still make the Hollywood Bowl.

That is until my 2:20 p.m. flight to Denver was delayed by an hour because the pilots hadn't shown up.

Sometime after 3:30 p.m. I left Dulles for Denver. I was uncertain if I'd make my connection in Denver. Fortunately when I landed in Denver my flight to LAX was still there. I quickly walked from one airplane to another.

In Denver we taxied to the runway and sat there for a long time. Finally the pilot came on and explained there was weather west of Denver which would force us to take a longer route and the plane had insufficient fuel. So we taxied back towards the gates. Unfortunately, all the gates were taken so we had to wait for one to open up.

We finally made it to a gate, but by then lightening was threatening the airport and all the ground crews had left the tarmac and no one was available to fuel the plane.

That's when the hail started. For a few minutes the plane was pounded by heavy hail. It finally cleared up and someone came out to fuel the plane.

But then the pilot announced we couldn't leave until a maintenance crew checked to make sure the plane hadn't been damaged by the hail.

Once cleared we taxied again towards the runway and the pilot made the announcement that by now the weather west of the airport had cleared, we could fly straight towards LAX and the extra fuel wasn't necessary after all.

For good measure, as we were nearly on the ground in Los Angeles the plane started to climb again. The pilot came on the loudspeaker to inform us the landing gear hadn't functioned properly and we had to do a "go around." He assured us an alternative procedure had lowered the landing gear and 20 minutes after flying over the ocean and then circling back around downtown we were on the ground at 9:45 p.m. -- exactly 15 hours after I boarded my first flight in Philadelphia.

On a positive note, the Red Carpet Club at the Dulles Airport (photo above) switched from Pepsi to Coke on Thursday so I was able to enjoy a few Diet Cokes while waiting for my second flight of the day.