Team Fly Monterey has to set sights on Denver, not Dallas, for new MRY route.

Traveling can be frustrating at times. Showing up at the airport only to find out the flight was cancelled. Or getting rerouted to a different city for an emergency landing.

Count the local officials behind Team Fly Monterey as frustrated over a possible route change out of Monterey Regional Airport from Dallas to Denver.

Last spring, the group was excited over a plan to pursue a $500,000 federal grant to establish a new route from MRY to Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport, via American Airlines.

The were so excited they convinced local cities, businesses and tourism agencies to throw down promises for some big cash to back the potential route, to the tune of nearly $200,000.

The board of directors of the Monterey County Convention and Visitors Bureau pledged $100,000, while more than a dozen others like Visit Carmel, Folktale Winery, Monterey Bay Aquarium and Cannery Row Company promised smaller amounts totaling another $95,000.

The money is a pledge, a way to show federal officials that the community is serious about supporting the new destination. It's used to cover costs only if the route fizzles.

In May, skies looked clear for Dallas, but somewhere along the way things got cloudy.

American Airlines leadership changed, and the company made plans to deploy its aircraft to other regions, says Mike La Pier, executive director of MRY.

“They ended up having to take the aircraft that could have potentially been used for Monterey service and use it somewhere else this year,” he says.

American let MRY know that it was still committed to a Dallas route, but possibly not until 2019.

In the meantime, United spoke up and said it was interested in establishing a route to Denver International Airport and could make it happen in 2018.

“It would be on a first-come, first-serve basis,” La Pier says. If MRY gets the grant and both airlines come calling, airport officials would negotiate with both. The contract chosen would be the one “most advantageous for the community.”

At a Visit Carmel board meeting on Nov. 2, the disappointment on the faces of innkeepers was evident when an airport representative told them they might not get a Dallas route. (The nonprofit agency, made up of hotels in Carmel’s hospitality improvement district, pledged $10,000 toward the grant.)

Dallas is seen as a good market for Carmel and the Monterey Peninsula in general. In May, La Pier said there’s already of presence of people from Dallas who visit the area.

The most recent version of the grant is written to reflect both possibilities. It’s due by mid-December, and it could take 60 to 90 days to find out if MRY will receive the money.