Drat! Missed my flight...

[jimimac 0]

Yes, I know some of the responses would be of the sort that I am a tw*t and that I should not have missed the flight in the first place especially given what was at stake - but I am just wondering if anyone else has missed their flight before

 

Never missed a flight I am good like that get to the airport well early. Only dickheads miss flights, you see them all the time on those airline programs on TV complaining.

[valentinoxxx 4]

There seems to be an inordinate amount of dickheads on this thread.

[Zeus 56]

I for one have learned that leaving early just brings peace of mind.

 

I live 10 mi.(15 min) from LAX, and often leave to give a minimum of time waiting in the airport. However, even for a short trip there is nothing worse than sitting in rush hour traffic - and your car/bus/taxi is not moving. Usually when this happens it is only temporary, but adding an extra hour to the departure time does eliminate a lot of anxiety.

 

Now I allow 1 hr at the gate, 1 hr for checkin/luggage/security lines, and 30 min transit to the airport. Add an extra hour for an international flight, and I am leaving my home 3.5 hours prior to wheels up. No worrys. I am happy to sit at the gate for a bit longer knowing that the logistics of getting there have been completed.

 

Zeus

[Sybarite 1]

I'm glad I started this thread.

 

Although this was the first time that I have ever missed my flight, and it came as a monsterous shock at the time, there have been many occasions before when I was in serious danger of doing so but things just happened to work out somehow and I scraped on to the plane just in time.

 

I can remember the first time that I went to Thailand and I cut things really fine and I was sprinting down corridors with the public address system calling for the one remaining passenger to report to the gate as the plane was leaving. The guys had to re-open the gate as they had closed it one minute before and told the plane that they could take off without me.

 

There have been other close calls since then but 11 flights to Thailand later I still had not missed a flight. This just made me complacent and perhaps I was in need of a wake up call.

 

Yes, I know that I should report to check in 2 to 3 hours before the flight as a minimum but people don't always play safe and follow the guidance to the letter - this is properly a bad example but if people did not take silly risks then no one would bare back.

[ThaiLearner 18]

I'm glad I started this thread.

 

Although this was the first time that I have ever missed my flight, and it came as a monsterous shock at the time, there have been many occasions before when I was in serious danger of doing so but things just happened to work out somehow and I scraped on to the plane just in time.

 

I can remember the first time that I went to Thailand and I cut things really fine and I was sprinting down corridors with the public address system calling for the one remaining passenger to report to the gate as the plane was leaving. The guys had to re-open the gate as they had closed it one minute before and told the plane that they could take off without me.

 

There have been other close calls since then but 11 flights to Thailand later I still had not missed a flight. This just made me complacent and perhaps I was in need of a wake up call.

 

Yes, I know that I should report to check in 2 to 3 hours before the flight as a minimum but people don't always play safe and follow the guidance to the letter - this is properly a bad example but if people did not take silly risks then no one would bare back.

 

 

So your one of the idiots who always delay the plane then.

[henryski 6]

who s a silly boy

[Eneukman 1]

Have to disagree with the reasoning here. I think you should think this from a different direction, and then reject or accept it.

 

The main purpose of arriving 2 or 3 hours before the flight is to ensure you get on that flight. Never mind that I haven't booked a seat at the aiport for... hmmm, 10 years because of agent/online ease in doing that. The truth is that all seats depart and arrive at the same time. In the worst case, you'll get a "lousy seat" and still arrive at the same time as the people in the wonderful seats anyhow. Even shoehorned into a middle seat, you'll still get to the far-end immigration before the guy in the window seat, eh?

 

I wouldn't arrive at the airport one MINUTE early to choose a seat. But I'd arrive an hour early to make sure I get on the flight I've spent money and time planning to last the next 24 hours of my life leading to a new place I want to go.

 

I don't PLAN to arrive at the airport 15 minutes before check-in cutoff. But if I get a flat tyre or there is a lane-blocking accident between me and the airport, I should have time to arrive by then, in a pinch, and make the flight I have spent a fair amount of gelt plus planning time on. In fact, that hour-early airport arrival *IS* part of my planning.

 

Compared with a drive followed by a 16-hour or 24-hour flight time (or more) and a wait for luggage and immigration followed by another wait and a drive at the OTHER end, an hour or even (horrors!) two hours sitting in the airport reading or browsing the duty-free money trees is close to nothing. My flights often involve three, four, five hours sitting at an airport in transit anyhow.

 

If time is REALLY money, then the only way to make money is not to fly on long international flights at all. Come on. How much money do you make during the flight? If an hour of your time is REALLY important money, then save the REAL hour - the one you spent booking and planning the flight. Don't do it. Use that hour to make money, plus the day going to and the day returning.

 

Like I say, I think you're using the wrong logic. In the end, it's entirely Up To You. But I'm the one bitxhing about the hot weather and my late-night hangover in Thailand today and you're not, so at least have a think about the revised logic.

 

I always like to be at the airport in time for the check-in desks opening, especially on long haul flights as that gives me more time in the airline lounge to sample their free champagne or whatever.

 

Also, if I have a connecting flight, I never ever cut the connection time to less than 2 hours. Too much can go wrong. Your connecting flight can be an hour (or more) late - this has happened to me. The plane may park at the farthest point from the terminal building and it can take up to half an hour to reach the building plus when you arrive at the terminal the queues for security are almost out the door (both happened to me on the same flight, which wasn't helped by the incoming flight being half an hour late)!

 

Alan

[CheshireTom 1,377]

I can remember the first time that I went to Thailand and I cut things really fine and I was sprinting down corridors with the public address system calling for the one remaining passenger to report to the gate as the plane was leaving. The guys had to re-open the gate as they had closed it one minute before and told the plane that they could take off without me.

 

The plane wouldn't take off 'without' you. They'd have to open up the holds, find the bin that contained your bag(s) and then find your bags before offloading them. And then reload the aircraft again.

[Emil 0]

The plane wouldn't take off 'without' you. They'd have to open up the holds, find the bin that contained your bag(s) and then find your bags before offloading them. And then reload the aircraft again.

 

Tom that's assuming that he had checked luggage, he's stated earlier that he takes 1 week trips. This guy really is a slow learner, even after his 1st trip close call he still believes in cutting it close. I like to get to the gate early especially on my return trip final leg. This past trip and another 1 about 2 years back, I was in the gate area when they began the anouncement for volunteers to give up their seat because they were overbooked. I was the first one to the desk and both time received a $600 voucher. Time is money.

[CheshireTom 1,377]

Tom that's assuming that he had checked luggage, he's stated earlier that he takes 1 week trips. This guy really is a slow learner, even after his 1st trip close call he still believes in cutting it close. I like to get to the gate early especially on my return trip final leg. This past trip and another 1 about 2 years back, I was in the gate area when they began the anouncement for volunteers to give up their seat because they were overbooked. I was the first one to the desk and both time received a $600 voucher. Time is money.

 

I just sort of assumed that his mum would have packed his bags for him. Don't know why.

[Sybarite 1]

The plane wouldn't take off 'without' you. They'd have to open up the holds, find the bin that contained your bag(s) and then find your bags before offloading them. And then reload the aircraft again.

My very first trip was a four day excursion from India so I only took a small bag and carried it on the plane.

 

I just hope that there is no one who comes on this forum to confess that they have caught herpes from unprotected sex or have been hospitalised because of a motor cycle crash and god forbid they weren't wearing a helmet. I can just imagine the outcry from the 'I told you so' brigade.

 

If you take risks and nothing happens then you are liable to keep doing so until something does happen. It's human nature.

 

I know plenty of experienced travellers who say to me, forget about those official check in times - you don't really need all that time at the airport in in practise. They turn up for all flights with 90 minutes or less to go and they have never missed a flight - yet.

 

Lots of guys don't wear a helmet or a condom and nothing has ever happened to them - yet.

 

If you know that guys thousands of guys regularly take risks with their lives in that way why do you find it so hard to believe that someone could take the risk and not follow to the letter the advice about getting to the airport with 3 hours to spare?

[MC_Ldop 40]

I know plenty of experienced travellers who say to me, forget about those official check in times - you don't really need all that time at the airport in in practise. They turn up for all flights with 90 minutes or less to go and they have never missed a flight - yet.

 

That's a pretty big range there. 90 minutes is fine. "10 minutes after check-in had closed" is moronic.

[Obsession 571]

So your one of the idiots who always delay the plane then.

Thats what I thought. Glad to hear of one of them missing a flight

[jacko 8,813]

Thats what I thought. Glad to hear of one of them missing a flight I was once sat on a plane for ages due to one such dope. The Captain made various announcements...

 

'We are waiting for the last remaining passengers'....

 

'We are awaiting the one remaining passenger'

 

''We are removing the suitcases of a missing passenger''

 

But the best and most well received in the cabin was....

 

'He turned up but I won't let him on the plane and we are off now'....

Edited October 31, 2008 by jacko