My trip from Perth to Los Angeles in September ended up as a 46-hour journey across the world.

Despite flying hundreds of times during my decade as a travel journalist, I still found myself on a journey that was turbulent from beginning to end.

This dreadful experience also reinforced several lessons about flying in the current messy era of travel.

One, always hold airlines to account. Two, never use third-party flight booking websites.

And remember that, no matter how badly an airline lets you down, that is not the fault of the customer service you are dealing with.

It all started in the middle of the night on Aug 31. In Perth, after being woken by my crying toddler son, I checked my phone and saw a shocking e-mail.

Philippine Airlines had just cancelled my flight from Perth to Los Angeles, via Manila, less than four hours before I was heading to Perth Airport.

Desperate to book a seat on its next flight out of Perth, I called the various hotlines of Philippine Airlines, but received no answer.

Eventually, its WhatsApp service responded and booked me on a Perth-Los Angeles flight for the following day on Sept 1.

That night, as I was about to sleep, I received another disturbing message from Philippine Airlines. The Sept 1 flight had been cancelled.

Once more, I spent hours trying to contact the airline’s staff. Finally, I was told that its Perth aircraft had a mechanical issue and it could not guarantee when it would be able to fly me out of Perth.

At this point, I would have aborted the trip had it not been so hugely important, both personally and professionally.

First, my brother was waiting for me in Los Angeles for our once-in-a-lifetime experience of self-driving across nine states in America.

Second, I had meetings in the United States with three senior editors, including one appointment at the Washington, DC headquarters of National Geographic, for which I have contributed for several years.

There simply was no way I could cancel this trip.

In the early hours of Sept 1, I took desperate action. Because the Manila to Los Angeles leg of my Philippine Airlines flight was still going ahead on Sept 2, I just needed to find a way to get to Manila before that plane departed.

So I paid $640 out of my own pocket to fly AirAsia from Perth to Manila, via Kuala Lumpur, on Sept 1.

At 6.30am on Sept 1, I arrived at the Perth airport, pleased with myself for persevering.

Once I arrived at my departure gate, fresh bad news arrived: My AirAsia flight to Kuala Lumpur was delayed by several hours. I would miss my connecting AirAsia flight from Kuala Lumpur to Manila.

Even then, I did not give up. I booked yet another Sept 1 flight at my own expense – this time with Scoot from Kuala Lumpur to Manila, which would still let me catch my Sept 2 Manila-to-Los Angeles flight on Philippine Airlines.

Soon after, my luck ran out again.

My AirAsia flight out of Perth was delayed several more hours, which meant that I would also miss this newly booked Scoot flight from Kuala Lumpur to Manila.

At this point, I was broken. I had been at Perth Airport for seven hours.

That day alone, I had been booked on flights with three different airlines, all of which were now useless.

AirAsia staff offered me a refund. I accepted, retreated through the security gates, and out into the departure hall at Perth Airport, feeling defeated and distressed.  

I called my brother in Los Angeles to deliver the bad news: I would not be coming to the US.

But before I left the airport, he reminded me of something that had slipped my mind, and which all travellers should be mindful of when they find themselves inconvenienced by a flight cancellation. 

Philippine Airlines, he said, should be responsible for booking me on the next available flight from Perth to Los Angeles with another company.

This is why I never book flights through third-party companies, even though they offer cheaper ticket prices. The reality is, when a complication arises, an airline will tell you to contact that booking company. 

On the other hand, if you book directly with airlines, they are more likely to go out of their way to help the traveller, and indeed are often legally required to do so.

For the next three hours, I stood at a check-in desk at the Perth airport.

All the while, very helpful staff from Dnata, the company which represents Philippine Airlines in Perth, tried to negotiate with the airline’s head office in Manila to transfer me to a Singapore Airlines flight to Los Angeles that was scheduled to fly on Sept 1.

Just as check-in for that Singapore service was about to close, Dnata staff succeeded. I gave them a high five, dashed through the airport, and boarded a flight to Singapore.

In the end, it all happened so quickly, I did not even know the specifics of my Singapore Airlines flight to Los Angeles.

As it turned out, it was an arduous flight. On arrival in Singapore, I had to sleep on the airport floor for eight hours. Then I flew with Singapore Airlines to Tokyo, and onwards to Los Angeles.

From arriving at Perth airport to touching down in the City of Angels, 46 hours had elapsed. Combined with the effect of a 15-hour time difference, it took me a full week to recover from this debacle.

I had intended to arrive in Los Angeles on the morning of Sept 1, but eventually arrived there 30 hours later, in the mid-afternoon of Sept 2. With my lost hotel bookings and extra flights booked, this cost me an extra $1,200.

Yet it was worth it. The trip was a great success, both personally and professionally.

My brother and I had an amazing time, meeting family members in San Francisco, completing a scenic drive through the south of the US, exploring the museums of Washington, DC, and witnessing the colossal wonder that is New York City.

In parallel, this proved to be a thoroughly rewarding work trip. I gathered ideas for multiple travel stories, and finally had face-to-face meetings with editors I had long worked with.

It also reminded me why it is so important to be kind and polite to customer service workers.

First, they deserve such respect. Second, treating them in this manner can work in your favour, as I believe it probably did for me at the Perth airport when the staff got me the crucial Singapore Airlines flight.

Although I was so upset that I felt like punching a wall, I somehow maintained my composure.

The Dnata staff trying to find me a new flight to Los Angeles kept at their task for at least three hours. They could easily have given up after 90 minutes or so. 

I would like to think they were partly motivated by the warm appreciation I showed for their efforts.

Should you find yourself in a similar air travel quagmire, stay calm, hold your airline accountable for fixing the problem, but be friendly and thankful to the staff trying to get you to your final destination.

Travel tips

• Book flights directly through the airline, not via a third-party website, which may be cheaper but offers you less protection when the unexpected occurs, such as cancelled or delayed flights.
• When a flight is cancelled or delayed substantially, make the airline accountable. Be aware of your rights, such as being refunded or transferred to the earliest possible flight on another airline. And this is at the airline’s expense, not yours.
• Before you book a hotel, check its cancellation policy. Pick a property that allows free cancellation up to 48 hours before check-in so that, in the event of a flight cancellation, you do not get hit financially.
• To soften the blow of flight cancellations or delays, do not construct a rigid, hectic schedule for your trip that will be difficult to alter.

• Ronan O’Connell is an Australian journalist and photographer who loves doing epic road trips with his brother, in Europe, Asia and the United States.