Main Character of the Week is a weekly column that tells you the most prominent “main character” online (good or bad). It runs on Fridays in the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter. If you want to get this column a day before we publish it, subscribe to web_crawlr, where you’ll get the daily scoop of internet culture delivered straight to your inbox.
The internet is a stage, and someone unwillingly stumbles onto it weekly. This makes them the “main character” online. Sometimes their story is shocking, like the woman who says her dentist assumed she wanted veneers and shaved down her real teeth without consent; usually it’s a gaffe. In any case, that main character energy flows through the news cycle and turbo-charges debate for several business days.
Here’s the Trending team’s main character of the week.
It’s the viral traveler who missed her flight.
A woman from Los Angeles was in a rush to see her ailing father in Guatemala. But she says the Delta counter workers abused their power and left her and her service dog stranded. The story compelled TikTok because of its divisive, inconclusive nature.
As the woman, Erika Miranda (@musicalridela), alleged in her clip: “Delta employees canceled my flight! My dad was dying of cancer at any minute, and I was flying to Guatemala to go be with him. They discriminated against me, not caring my dad was dying even after I told them several times, they canceled my flight! #Deltaairlines your employees did something cruel and illegal.”
We’ve reached out to Delta and the TikToker about the details, but what followed in the nearly 3-minute video were a series of disagreements at the counter.
She was delayed checking into her flight because of rules violations with her service dog, which didn’t have sufficient vaccination paperwork to board and so was being picked up by a family friend. (Miranda disputed this and claimed to have the vaccine records on-hand.)
Eventually, per the TikTok’s comments, she took a later flight and yes, was able to see her father before he passed away. A family friend bought her a ticket for the following day.
It is a peak travel season, and everyone’s going on vacation with their phones out; emotionally ready to document the horror of administrative gridlock. There seems to be more stress about the strains of getting there in anticipation of our trips. And who can blame us?
Just last week, a woman’s visit to SeaWorld compelled the internet when she was asked to get on a scale at the top of a waterslide.
Travelers are sneaking dogs aboard this summer, Sandals stays are turning suspicious, stranded travelers get stuck in the airport for 24 hours, jet-ski rentals are scamming customers, folks are losing tickets last-minute in nightmare fashion, a dang Diet Coke at Six Flags costs $9, and Southwest Airlines is destroying your luggage.
But it’ll be OK, brothers and sisters. Just remember that you alone are in control of your experience in this life, so set that attitude dial to “positive” and go use that PTO.
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