Learn Spanish (Latin America): Tuve que buscar otra aerolínea para mi viaje. - I had to look for another airline for my trip.

Tuve is the yo (I) form of tener (to have) in the preterite tense. Tener is highly irregular in this tense. Its stem completely changes to tuv- and it uses a special set of endings, which is why it becomes tuve instead of following the regular rules for -er verbs.

Does tuve que mean "I had to"?

Exactly! Just like tener que plus an infinitive verb means "to have to" in the present, putting tener in the past tense makes it "had to". Using the preterite form tuve que buscar implies that you not only had to look, but you actually completed the action of looking.

Why isn't there a word for "for" after buscar?

The verb buscar inherently means "to look for" or "to search for" all on its own. Adding a preposition like para or por right after it is a common mistake for English speakers, but it would actually translate to something like "to look for for".

Why is it just otra aerolínea and not una otra aerolínea for "another airline"?

In Spanish, the word otro (and its feminine form otra) translates directly to "another" or "other." You never put un or una (a/an) in front of it. Just otra is all you need!