Thelife- A TikToker went viral this week with a storytime about how she missed three consecutive flights in a day.
- She told audiences that this incident in 2019 was her first time flying alone.
A TikToker has gone viral with a wild and perplexing storytime about how she missed not one, not two, but three consecutive flights in a single day. Her video has amassed 1.3 million views in two days, but the reactions are split between sympathy and scorn, with some commenters insulting her intelligence.
The creator is a 26-year-old accountant and part-time face painter and balloon artist from New Jersey named Sara Poskonka. While she shared her story publicly for the first time on Monday, she told Insider the incident took place in the fall of 2019. She said she was flying via United Airlines at Newark Airport, and praised the company for being "very accommodating and helpful during this horrible experience."
@facecination Anyone else? #putafingerdownchallenge #putafingerdown #missedflights #missedthreeflights #fypシ #storytime #flight #airport #airportstories #helpless #visitingsister #vacation #plane #planedelay #missedmyflight ♬ original sound - Sara
In Poskonka's video, told using the second-person "put a finger down" narrative, she described how this was the first time she was ever flying by herself, and that she was traveling to visit her sister in Charleston, South Carolina.
She said she missed the first flight because she didn't understand that boarding and departure times were different. She sat at a bar in the airport while her flight was boarding because she thought she had more time.
After customer service rescheduled her for a flight that same day, leaving four hours later, she said she missed that one, too. According to Poskonka, the gate had been changed, but she did not hear this announcement as she had her headphones on the entire time.
"You start running over to the other gate, which is actually really far away from the gate that you were at, and you ended up missing the second flight, and basically none of your family believes you," she recalled.
Poskonka said she got scheduled on a third flight, this one once again scheduled to take off in four hours. She said she was so anxious to make this one that she sat in total silence — without headphones or any distractions — waiting to board.
But then chaos struck again.
"Right before you were supposed to board, you get a phone call from your sister saying that they actually changed terminals, which you would have to take a shuttle bus in order to get to the next terminal, and so you don't even attempt that," she said in her storytime.
Poskonka told Insider that because her sister purchased the ticket, all of the updates and notifications about flight changes were sent to her phone and email.
"She was actively monitoring the flight because I was extremely upset over missing the first two so she was trying to ease my anxiety as much as she could," Poskonka said.
In her video, Poskonka recalled sprinting to the customer service desk to plead if they could call the gate and ask them to hold the plane while she traveled over to the other terminal, but they said no.
At this point, Poskonka said she was so upset that she sat on the floor and cried.
Despite the misfortunes of the day, the TikToker did make the fourth plane. Responding to a commenter, Poskonka added that she was so traumatized by the experience that she opted to drive 13 hours to visit her sister the next time.
The reactions to the video have been visceral, with many viewers stunned by the farcical chain of events, and comparing it to the iconic episode of "SpongeBob" called "Rock Bottom" where the titular sponge continually misses his bus.
"This story will always amaze me," one top comment with over 4,000 likes said.
@facecination Replying to @pnkysparkles lmk if you guys want me to tell you how I fixed all my excel issues at work using VLOOKUP cause I can #missedflights #missedthreeflights #fypシ #storytime #flight #airport #airportstories #missedmyflight #entrainement #entertainingstories #boringstory #boring #foryou ♬ original sound - Sara
"How did every part of this go so wrong?" another commenter wrote. "This was such a chaotic story lmao."
But there was also a torrent of harsh backlash, which Poskonka said she was shocked to see. She expected more people to find "humor in the experience" because of how ridiculous and unrelatable it was, she told Insider.
Many commenters insulted her intelligence, and said her misfortunes were a "skill issue."
"How old are you," one top commenter quipped. Some suggested that she needed a "babysitter" to navigate life, and that they found it "horrifying" that she could be allowed to vote or drive.
Poskonka thinks these hateful remarks are crossing a harmful boundary online.
"The comments are definitely taking it too seriously, and a few comments specifically have really gotten out of hand," she said. "Some people are 'diagnosing' me with mental issues and others are saying I'm a 'threat to society.' All I did was share a story that didn't harm anyone and only wasted my own time."
Despite the toxicity, Poskonka said she also received some sweet and helpful comments from strangers with useful flying tips that she will forever pocket.