Trivia: In the scene after the plane lands in Wichita, Kansas, when the announcer comes over the loudspeaker look at the destination on the flight info display. It says "nowhere".
Trivia: Just after Dell sells his shower curtain rings as earrings, he and Neal are eating lunch. Look between the two men and slightly out of focus, is a woman wearing Dell's curtain rings as earrings.
Trivia: When Neal's wife is watching TV in bed, she is impossibly viewing the John Hughes film "She's Having a Baby," which didn't even premier in theaters until February of 1988, three months after "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" premiered in November 1987. John Hughes (who directed both films) used his own unreleased "She's Having A Baby" footage/soundtrack and a cameo by Kevin Bacon as teasers for the upcoming 1988 film. There's still some speculation that the plots of the two films actually intersect, and that Kevin Bacon (who is credited as the Taxi-Racer in "Planes, Trains and Automobiles") was playing his character, Jake, from "She's Having a Baby."
Trivia: There is a short scene after the credits. You may have to go back to the beginning of the movie to understand the joke.
Trivia: The owner of the former Braidwood Inn featured in this film (now called the Sun Motel) was arrested in March 2019 on charges of promoting prostitution on the premises; the motel had also recently been the site of two drug overdose-related deaths.
Answer: The reason was that the snowbank was on his side (the passenger side) when it should have been on the driver's side if they were driving in the right direction. Also and I'm not sure if you could see this in the film but the deflecters on the road which separate the lanes if you are going in the right direction shine yellow and if you are going the wrong way shine red.
Tobin OReilly