- A TikToker went viral this week with a story about how she missed three consecutive flights in one day.
- She told the public that this incident in 2019 was her first time flying solo.
- She told Insider that she received a ton of discouraging and insulting comments from strangers.
A TikToker has gone viral with a wild and perplexing tales about how he missed not one, not two, but three consecutive flights in a single day. The video of him has amassed 1.3 million views in two days, but reactions are divided between sympathy and contempt, with some commenters insulting his intelligence.
The creator is a 26-year-old accountant, face painter, and part-time balloon artist from New Jersey named Sara Poskonka. While he first shared his story publicly on Monday, he told Insider the incident occurred in the fall of 2019. He said he was flying United Airlines at the Newark airport and praised the company for being “very accommodating and helpful throughout this horrible experience.”
In the Poskonka video, told in the second person “put a finger down” narrative, she described how this was her first time flying solo and that she was traveling to visit her sister in Charleston, South Carolina.
He said he missed the first flight because he didn’t understand that the boarding and departure times were different. She sat in an airport bar while they boarded his flight because he thought he had more time.
After customer service rescheduled her for a flight later that day and left four hours later, she said she had missed that too. According to Poskonka, the door had been changed, but she did not hear this announcement because she had her headphones on all the time.
“You start running to the other gate, which is actually a long way from the gate you were at, and you end up missing the second flight, and basically no one in your family believes you,” he recalled.
Poskonka said that she was programmed in a third flight, is again scheduled to take off in four hours. She said that she was so anxious to do this that she sat in total silence, without headphones or distractions, waiting to board.
But then chaos struck again.
“Just before you were supposed to board, you get a phone call from your sister saying that they actually changed terminals, so you’d have to take a shuttle bus to the next terminal, so you don’t even try.” that,” he said in his story hour.
Poskonka told Insider that because her sister bought the ticket, all updates and notifications about flight changes were sent to her phone and email.
“She was actively monitoring the flight because she was extremely upset about missing the first two, so she was trying to ease my anxiety as much as she could,” Poskonka said.
In her video, Poskonka recalled running to the customer service desk to beg if they could knock on the door and ask them to hold the plane while she traveled to the other terminal, but they said no.
At that time, Poskonka said that she was so upset that she sat down on the ground and cried.
Despite the misfortunes of the day, the TikToker did make the fourth plane. responding to a commentatorPoskonka added that she was so traumatized by the experience that she opted to drive 13 hours to visit her sister the next time.
Reactions to the video have been visceral, with many viewers stunned by the farce of the chain of events and comparing it to the iconic “SpongeBob” episode called “Rock Bottom” where the titular sponge continually loses his bus.
“This story will always surprise me,” said one of the top comments with more than 4,000 likes.
“How come every part of this went so wrong?” wrote another commenter. “This was such a chaotic story, lmao.”
But there was also a torrent of harsh backlash, which Poskonka said she was surprised to see. She hoped more people would find “humor in the experience” because of how goofy and ornery she was, she told Insider.
Many commentators insulted his intelligence, calling his misfortunes a “skill issue”.
“How old are you?” joked one of the main commentators. Some suggested that she needed a “nanny” to navigate life, and that they found it “horrible” to be allowed to vote or drive.
Poskonka believes that these hateful comments are crossing a harmful line online.
“The comments are definitely taking it too seriously, and some comments in particular have really gotten out of hand,” he said. “Some people are ‘diagnosing’ me with mental problems and others are saying I’m a ‘threat to society.’ All I did was share a story that didn’t hurt anyone and just wasted my time.”
Despite the toxicity, Poskonka said he also received some kind and helpful feedback from strangers with helpful flying tips he’ll keep forever.
