13 Strangers Rent a Van Together after a Canceled Flight Leaves Them Stranded

The group drove from Knoxville, Tennessee, to Orlando, Florida. Alanah Story via TikTok

After getting stuck in Orlando, a group of strangers banded together to drive more than 10 hours to Tennessee

A canceled flight is not always a bad thing

A group of strangers left stranded at a Florida airport banded together for a road trip they’ll never forget – and they went viral along the way.

The video from Alanah Story tells the story of 13 people whose Frontier Airlines flight was canceled in Orlando. The flight was delayed twice before it was eventually canceled. As passengers lined up at the ticket counter, a few of them had the idea to rent a van and ride back together to Knoxville, Tenn.

Alanah, whose TikTok videos documenting the experience went mega-viral said that after their flight was canceled, her mom was standing in the customer service line when she heard about the one-of-a-kind road trip.

“She yells over at me and she’s like, ‘Alanah, we’re headed downstairs to get this van with all these people!'” Alanah said. And the rest was history.

“Other people heard the idea and asked if they could join,” she said.

And so began a 10-hour impromptu road trip in a van full of strangers. Alanah filmed amusing updates from each of the passengers along the way and shared them on Tik Tok. One family was headed to the University of Tennessee for a college tour, while others were trying to get to Knoxville to help friends move. Others were just trying to get home.

In the first video she posted, Alanah introduced her travel companions: herself, her mother, her godmother, and a group of 13 strangers who collectively became known as “the gang.”

Since the first video was such a hit, after a few hours it was time for an update.

“Alright, we’re three hours into our impromptu road trip,” Alanah said at the start of the second video. “We are now in Georgia, so I’m going to let everybody give their updates.”

The camera turned first to Carlos Cordero, who was traveling alongside his future stepdaughter, Mikayla Puckering, and her mom Laura — and was very intent on getting to the University of Tennessee in time for Mikayla’s tour the next morning.

Cordero, who was driving, said he wasn’t feeling tired but was “ready to go” for “another five hours.”

“I’m number two, I don’t know what that means but that means I get to sit in the passenger seat, so I’m okay with that,” added another traveler named Seth, who got stranded while visiting friends.

Jokingly pointing out that this kind of scenario doesn’t always turn out well in the movies, another passenger joked, “Y’all know I’m dying first.”

The final update came the next morning when they finally got off the road.

“It’s 8:30 in the morning and we just made it to Knoxville so let’s wrap this story up,” Alanah said at the start of the clip.

Re-introducing himself as “Carlos the Driver,” Cordero shared how grateful he was for the experience.

“My baby girl had her heart set out to make this appointment for the University of Tennessee,” he said, going on to say that “because of a community that got together,” she would be able to make it on time.

Playfully he added, “and to the university, this is the level of commitment that you’re going to get from my family”

13 Strangers Rent Van Together After Canceled Flight

As for his passenger seat buddy? “Honestly, I tried to nap a good bit of it, but I like to think I was good moral support for Carlos, so we’re going to go with that,” said Seth.

Mikayla also gave them “pretty cool” strangers a shoutout on TikTok.

“I was just trying to make it to my college tour and ended up on a road trip in a creepy white van with a bunch of strangers from the airport,” she joked in the post.

However, in the caption, Mikayla wrote that “these strangers were actually pretty cool (well not strangers anymore). Thank you for enabling me to make it to my college visit!!”

As for why their journey went viral, Alanah said it was a dose of “wholesome fun” that showed people coming together in a difficult situation.

“In my video, you can clearly see our differences. And, you know, I feel like we’re so divided right now and to be able to see just a ragtag group of strangers who are totally different from each other, come together and just enjoy a crazy situation together,” she said. “I feel like it resonates with a lot of people.”

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