I managed to find a far cheaper one-way ticket home ($157) than the one I got last minute to get to Montana ($427). Instead of flying out of Billings (45 minutes to the east with a plane change in Denver), my return flight would be out of Bozeman (2 hours west, changing planes in New Jersey).

My flight was scheduled to leave midday Wednesday, and I was eager to get home and fall back into the routine of my life in the woods with my family and the dog.

I really miss the dog.

So when I got the email from United warning me that there was no guarantee I’d be getting home on Wednesday (due to predicted dangerous flying conditions) and that I could change my flights without incurring any additional fees, I weighed my options as I pictured getting stuck in Bozeman: first, for countless hours at the airport; then, overnight on scratchy sheets in a cheap motel.

As a person who’s always been reluctant to change set plans, my initial response to United’s email was “they’re wrong about the weather as often as they’re right,” i.e., it’ll be fine.

On further reflection, here was a large commercial carrier offering to let me change my cheap ticket at no cost to me.

For a moment, I felt like United was putting people (and their safety) before profits, since it seemed United would be taking a financial hit by letting travelers like me (on the cheap) switch flights—an option I (as well as other back-of-the-bus travelers) was told I did not have, under any circumstances whatsoever, along with United’s tacit don’t-be-an-idiot sales-pitch to “upgrade my flight.”

Then again, maybe United didn’t want to get sued by the loved ones of those killed on June 26, 2024, when United Flight 468 crashed on approach to Newark, an avoidable multi-million-dollar risk.

Or perhaps United just didn’t want the headache that comes from passengers complaining about delays while at the airport, only to send them off with vouchers to one of the two hotels nearby (a Holiday Inn Express, charging $324/night or a La Quinta at $245/night).

Undoubtedly, United calculated the financial implications of 40-mph winds, severe thunderstorms, and hail (as forecast to occur over the Midwest and on the East Coast on Wednesday) before sending its Tuesday we-care-about-your-safety email.

Whether it was passenger safety or corporate care-taking that led to the encouragement to make other plans, I decided to heed this advice and will arrive home 22 hours later than I’d initially thought, which is fine by me because Tara has really nice sheets on the guest bed.

And I get to see one more big-sky sunset:

And one more Montana sunrise: