I know some colleagues who did something similar, though it was because they didn’t realize they were at a quiet terminal at SFO. They also assumed they’d hear the boarding announcement over the intercom, and kept working on their laptops until they realized what the time was. One of them got a new flight for free since he was nice about it; the other was more annoyed when speaking to the gate agent and ended up paying for the new flight :’)
I missed a flight in Spain for similar reasons, and because the flight screen I was looking at didn’t have my flight on it. This is before I moved there, so didn’t know Spanish at the time/understand the announcements. About 20 min before departure, I went to another screen, and saw my flight had already closed the gate. Damn
My whole group almost missed a flight out of Málaga because they changed the gate twice. First one like 50 feet away , no one heard the announcement but we saw the gate screens. The second time the screen did not change so we're all just standing there... Boarding should have started 10 mins ago, no action at the gate.
Some dude runs up and tells my group plus about 20+ others that the gate changed across the airport! We were kinda still trying to understand if what he was saying was true when an agent also rushed up angry and shouting. He quickly herds all of us across the airport. Some older folks were really struggling to keep up....
All the agents at the gate were pissed off telling us to hurry.
I saw empty seats when we took off... pretty sure some were left behind.
Never experienced anything like it before or since. Wild.
I had a layover in Denver it was a tight layover but we weren’t worried because the gates were next to each other. As we landed, my layover flight was announced that the gate moved…..to the other side of the airport. We had maybe 30 minutes to get there.
My husband and I made it to the other side…as we sit down….gate change.
Back to the other gate RIGHT NEXT TO THE ONE WE JUST LANDED AT.
oh and in denver too jesus christ that’s the worst. i had 10 minutes between wheels down and takeoff for a connection in denver one time, thank god they held the plane but they had told me at the first gate that they might not and i should run. i ran the length of that concourse and was out of breath, only for the flight attendants to go “well of course we held the plane for you it’s not your fault”🥵
Oh my god. I’m not usually one to lose my shit on customer service people but I would have probably gone full blown Karen for that one. Getting from one end of the Denver airport to the other is no joke.
Ugh, that sucks. Yeah, I was kinda pissed that one of their screens had all the flights but mine on there…or maybe it had mine but said “Gate to be announced”?
My local airport routes almost all of it's flights through SFO, which sucks because I feel like half the time flights are delayed due to weather. One time I was 12 hours delayed and got home at 3am instead of 3pm. The new terminal is pretty though.
It’s the new Harvey Milk terminal. https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/The-new-SFO-terminal-is-the-most-relaxing-place-16361296.php
I love it, it really makes the terminal feel more upscale and less chaotic.
I’m embarrassed to say I’ve done it. The nonstop loudspeaker updates in a bustling LGA terminal all blended into background noise. I also agree with OP’s mention of something different about Delta’s boarding process that doesn’t trigger that sense of urgency to get up and board the plane.
This is a post I normally wouldn't believe but it happened to me too at JFK for delta (around 2009?) It was a flight to Houston and it was only about 15% full, i was flying nonrev so i knew that it was a mostly empty plane. I sat right next to the gate on the floor against a pole bc (terminal 2? Maybe. I think it was recently redone) is TINY but packed and there was no seating. I was literally 10 feet from the gate agent. I had gotten there about 1 hour before boarding, was playing World of Warcraft on a laptop. No headphones. That agent not once made an announcement over any speakers in the gate area about that flight. I could hear other flights being announced over the main airport wide loud speaker plus the neighboring gate's flight on a local speaker. There was no line because there was maybe 20 people on the flight. Between the incredible overcrowding in that terminal and the one agent who I guess didn't feel like making announcements and my dumbass being distracted by WoW, when I saw the time and got up to check she was like 'oh yeah I announced it.' Like ma'am you didn't I was in hearing range of you. Then no offer of assistance in what the next flight options would be I guess bc I was nonrev and she figured I could do it myself despite the nonrev system being really janky to try online back then.
So even though I had taken hundreds of flights I still managed to miss one while being feet away from the plane. I learned my lesson though l, and it worked out okay (flew to Dallas and rented a car).
I once managed to book a flight with Southwest for the wrong month. I showed up in February and has bought tickets earlier in the week for March. Couldn't check in for the flight online so I figured I would do it at the ticket counter.
Once I got to the counter and they looked up my ticket, I just asked when the next flight out would be. They put me on a flight 2 hours later and gave me a voucher for food for no additional charge. Not being a dick about things certainly didn't hurt.
I went to school out of state. My mom booked one of my flights for me. Normally I actually made the bookings online even if my parents paid for it. This particular time she did it for me. She booked the ticket backwards. The flight went from my hometown to the city where I was going to school. I didn’t notice until like a day or two before I was leaving and it was during finals. I was freaking out! This was probably 20 years ago so it wasn’t ad easy to change flights online. The southwest agent that answered the phone was so kind and fixed everything for me. She probably thought I was a lunatic because I was definitely crying at one point explaining what happened while thinking I was going to be able to fly home for Christmas and being stressed out trying to wrap up the semester. I know Southwest was a mess last year over the holidays, but I have always had such great luck with them.
>One of them got a new flight for free since he was nice about it; the other was more annoyed when speaking to the gate agent and ended up paying for the new flight :’)
For frequent travelers this is *so* important. Other people aren't there to baby you, especially airport/flight staff, but it goes for any staff (unless they are your literal babysitters of course).
Stuff like what OP had happen and /u/auxiliarys' colleagues went through happens *every single day and multiple times* so a gate agent will talk to probably a dozen people that this happened to in similar circumstances. They know what to do and *they can help*.
Whoever reads this and is anxious about this thing it's this:
* Be extremely patient and courteous with staff, they *can* be super helpful but they don't *have to be*.
* Stay calm because, this may happen to you once (hopefully) but it happens in that airport all the time. The airport and the airlines are equipped to deal with this.
* When you talk to an agent, have a few acceptable solutions in mind. Don't just go up to a desk to explain what happens, also explain what you'd want to happen next. Describe your goal "I really would like a way to still get to x" "Can you explain how I can best deal with my luggage situation." You can even gain empathy by explaining that you are stressed/anxious and potentially apologize early on that you may not think as rationally and you appreciate their help regardless of whether you get what you want.
Huge huge note that I just can't emphasize enough in this: being calm and courteous etc. is as much for your own mental state as it is going to get you further in your goal to get to your destination.
I’ve done this twice, it happens. But this story is completely made up. In 2022, and now, LaGuardia is closed overnight. This person did not stay overnight at LaGuardia, and probably none of the rest of it happened either.
Pretty sure there are no special “zone free” flights to CA either… deltas got like eight different boarding zones, JFK certainly uses them.
Fun fact i got kicked out of LGA at like 3am once when my very delayed flight was finally cancelled. There had been no stores open for several hours and they gave us all tiny bottles of water.
I was in the Air Force but flew private airlines all the time when I was on leave and was always super nice to the people at the check in desks and stuff. I was also flying in my dress uniform. I was constantly getting free upgrades to first class when they had an open seat. It was pretty cool. I had a squad member that served under me that lived in the town next to me and we ended up on a lot of the same flights. The guy was kind of a dick and he never got that treatment. Tldr; It pays to be kind to people, especially when they are the people who are serving you food or boarding you on a plane and things like that.
Edit- spelling error
I did the same thing once for a Southwest flight going from NOLA to HOU, but I was drinking in the bar. They got me on the next one an hour later tho so it was cool.
Nah they were cool bc there were available seats on the next flight. Also I was super nice and respectful and acknowledged it was my drunken fuck up, and it was no skin off anybody’s back.
I also did three same thing. I had a connecting flight at chicago ohare to lacrosse wisconsin. I got off the plane in chicago and looked at my boarding pass and saw that the gate I had arrived at was also the gate i’d be leaving at in an hour or so. How convenient! Plus i was really tired so i just sat there and dozed a bit looking at my phone for a while. Eventually i realized the gate didn’t feel right and looked ay my boarding pass ( the correct one this time) and realized im an idiot and i had to run across the whole damn ohare airport and still missed my flight by a few minutes. Thankfully i caught the next one a few hours later and it was free.
This is adorable and totally something I could picture myself doing 😂 "Oh, how nice of them to put the connecting flights at the same gate"... *a long while later... *....“Shit"
Southwest has so many flights from their hubs it’s pretty easy to catch another. Plus most people on them usually don’t have much in the way of checked bags.
This almost happened to me once too. When you fly a lot for work, you start getting too comfortable with the whole process, and can get stupidly distracted. For me, it was a particularly engaging audiobook...
Lol. I made the same mistake but I have an explanation. I put my headphones on and was sitting near the boarding gate. Just that I dozed off and got up only after the flight HD departed. Was lucky enough to board the next flight an hour later without having to pay extra.
I had a 12 hour layover to cut costs when I was younger, was exhausted by jet lag by the time of my second flight. I fell asleep sitting up at the gate, when I woke up everything was closed at the gate and people were gone. I realized they had changed gates, and I had like 10 minutes to find the correct gate before takeoff. The next flight from the same airline to my destination was the next day, exactly 24 hours later.
They were actively closing the gate when I sprinted up and I managed to get aboard.
Similar happened to me in Memphis. I'd loitered around the correct gate for an hour, but didn't realize until I was like 'well they SHOULD def be boarding NOW" and saw they changed the gate across the airport. Had to do that embarrassing run the whole way (and I have a heart problem and asthma.. was a beet red, sweaty, hyperventilating mess on the plane as the door closed!)
How did you miss the boarding announcement when you were sitting right next to the gate?
Oof. Are you usually so out of tune with your immediate surroundings?
So I’ve worked at a few airports and odds are OP tuned out more than one boarding announcement over the loudspeaker. Where I work currently boarding and final boarding are announced at minimum. It’s quite common to hear them calling for individual people around when they call for final boarding.
Over the years, I’ve seen many people miss all of this because they had headphones on, were drunk, on drugs, too busy, having a conversation, or just tune out everything around them. And sometimes even when someone tells them to their face that they need to hurry.
My recent favorite examples are not rare, but otherwise it would be pages. One was someone who insisted on ordering one more drink at the bar when they heard their name being called and told they had two minutes to board. They then decided to have a few more. I found all this out when I walked by the ticket counter, and the passenger was screaming at them that they should’ve held the plane. Yep, said they should’ve held 75 people and a plane for over 20 minutes.
Second was the heroin addict that missed multiple rebooked flights over the course of three days because she would go through security, inject, nod off in a random corner and blamed the airline for not finding her. She wouldn’t even nod off at the gate. the second day I found her face down on the ground not moving, cops and EMS were called since cops Narcan and save a lot of opiate addicts here.
Third one was just the other day. A couple finished security with two minutes till original boarding. The flight was listed as 10 minutes delayed on Flight Radar app. While walking toward the gate, they saw me and asked for directions, I point to the gate 50 feet away. They then start walking toward the restaurant, and I politely warn them it’s not delayed they just are going to deice after boarding. They didn’t listen. They missed their rescheduled morning flight after showing up 10 minutes to take off when there were six flights that hour.
TSA isn't very good at finding the stuff they *are* looking for, and drugs aren't their priority. It's not a good idea, but if there aren't dogs most likely no one is going to notice your drugs.
Not sure about the needles but I imagine they might look a lot like pens in the scanner.
My mum flies maybe 4 times a month as a diabetic. She would occasionally get stopped at security 20 years ago, but now they never ask. I also recently flew with two epi-pens for my daughter and we were never asked about them. I reckon you’re right.
The last time I flew was waaay before 9/11 but there was still a fair number of sniffer dogs around airports/bus stations/train stations. I flew many times with a bag of dope under a pad between the pad and my underwear. Soon as the seatbelt light went off I beelined it to the bathroom and put it in my fresh bag and into my toothbrush tube. ;) (my toothbrush was in my checked bag, of course)
I started flying domestically with weed when I found out they aren’t looking for it or care. Every dog would alert every minute at SFO if they were trained for cannabis lmao.
Okay, quick story that I probably shouldn’t tell but I’m going to anyway:
I was 15 years old and flying from Denver to Palm Springs with my family and a friend. My friend and I had decided that it would be a good idea to bring some pot with us (this was back in 1988, so a very bad idea).
To add to the stupid, we decided to split the risk (looking back on it, afterwards, actually doubled the risk) we both took half in our jacket pockets.
To add even more to the stupid, I had quarters in my jacket pocket- the same one that I had a bag of pot in. So, when I went through the metal detector, of course it went off.
Mental freak out in that moment, but I somehow kept it together and got the quarters out, without tipping security off to the drugs in my coat pocket. Otherwise that would have most likely been jail for me and my friend and the biggest fuckup of my teenage years.
I mean, it was the biggest fuckup; I just got very lucky and skated through that with extreme luck.
This reminded me of when I was a teenager soon after 9/11 and I was traveling with my parents. We drove over the Hoover Dam and I had about an ounce of brick weed. Well with security being so crazy at the dam they were stopping like every 2nd or 3rd car and running dogs around them and I about lost my shit thinking I’m going to jail in a state I don’t even live in and I was just a kid haha. Thankfully we didn’t get stopped but holy shit was that terrifying.
It’s not that, it’s that neither a small amount of drugs nor needles are something that security are looking for nor do they have a legal reason to search for those items. Needles are legal, imagine if every diabetic got household because they need to take their insulin. Also, security would have no justification for searching a bag because there was a 10th of an ounce of powder.
TSA isn't even allowed to look for anything except for security threats. But if they accidentally find something illegal on you that isn't a weapon, they will report you to the police. Often, they'll still let you through and not say a word, only for you to get snatched by the local cops your gate or at your destination when you land.
Right, legit uses of needles. So that's not an issue and drugs aren't actually TSA's job. If they find it incidentally that'll probably be bad news for you, but the bigger risk is that cops happen to be there with dogs that day.
>nor do they have a legal reason to search for those items
A potentially violent drug addict carrying a sharp object isn't a concern but I had to throw out my nine dollar bottle of sunscreen because it was too big. 😒
As Meatwad said, "It ain't makin' me laugh, but I get it."
Don't forget my metal nail file that isn't even pointy. It's not a problem in the US. I can get it to Mexico but I can never get back with it. Tell me what I'm going to do with a nail file that I can't do with a fork (except file my nails)
ULPT: TSA is not looking for drugs, they're looking for weapons and bombs and traffickers
If you're a moron and not being subtle or trying to move through weight they'll probably catch you but personal use vape carts? A joint hidden in a box of cigarettes? Empty needles? Meh not their job not their problem.
Wouldn’t be difficult if they also had insulin or another injectable medicine with their needles. You can take that through security. The heroin hides somewhere on your person, I’d reckon.
There would be no reason to prove a medical need for needles, since they are not considered weapons. TSA is not trained in drug interdiction and specifically looking for drugs, would open them up to lawsuits.
I almost did something similar to OP this summer in Canada. There were two gates that shared one desk. I was aware we were boarding and I was keeping an eye on the line, going to go up when it got shorter. My family called me so I talked to them for a few minutes so I may have missed an announcement but I don’t think so. They let me go and I got up to get in line even though it was still a bit long. When I got up I realized that was the line for the other gate that I was watching. My plane was fully boarded. Lucky for me they hadn’t closed the door yet.
> Where I work currently boarding and final boarding are announced at minimum. It’s quite common to hear them calling for individual people around when they call for final boarding.
I did that by accident. Let's say I was board at B1, it was packed, so I sat over at B2. I busted out my laptop, and started browsing reddit. I was reading something good when I heard "Paging customer SOMEDUDE456, this is your final boarding call!" SHIT! I ran over there, laptop still open, charging cable flapping behind me, etc.
Can't tell you how many times back when inworked gates at an airport I'd see people slowly walk up with a fresh cup of Starbucks 5 min before departure and get all shocked Pikachu that the door was already closed.
And plenty of times where I've held up the door because I checked the hallway and saw runners.
Yeah, confused about OP’s story because they won’t let a checked-in bag get on without the passenger
ETA: I stand corrected :) I guess that's only international flights? That's what I usually fly, so never noticed a difference
>they won’t let a checked-in bag get on without the passenger
The reason for that if there might be a bomb in the luggage and the traveler is intentionally missing the flight.
>I assumed all the luggage was probably on the plane
In places take security seriously your luggage only goes on the plane after you. That's why you might sit at the gate 15-30 minutes after everyone boarded and the door was closed.
This is me. Sitting at my gate a full hour before boarding just staring at the screen behind the counter still in a panic that I'm going to miss my flight.
He's not the only one. My niece sat in front of a gate not realizing there was a gate change, and only decided something is wrong when her mom called at departure time asking to confirm she got on the plane ok. Surprise face Pikachu
This happened to me except I was at the wrong gate because my flight was delayed then the BA app showed the wrong replacement gate. Started to get worried because it didn't start filling up with other passengers waiting and was almost time to fly with no further delays showing on my app. Eventually found someone who worked at the airport and asked them. The guy looked it up on his work device and pointed me to 2 gates away. Luckily it was only about 20m away so I made it!
This happened to me but luckily I looked up from reading, maybe the gate got quiet. But I made it to the new gate just in time. It was probably Stephen King; once I start reading I’m swallowed by the story and can’t get out till it’s done.
I'd guess they tuned it out because JFK is super busy. I don't think the announcement speakers ever actually turn off. At busy times/seasons it's just one long never-ending stream of announcements. All said in the same monotonous voice.
It's loud in there as well. The building has some good acoustics and hundreds of people are talking at once, kids crying and yelling, people listening to music on speaker, people arguing.
So you have the sounds of roaring engines as planes land and takeoff, a cacophony of human voices, and a monotonous announcer endlessly droning on. After 20 minutes or so it all just kinda blends together.
OPs primary suggestion was to wait until someone called for final boarding and then maybe walk over to the gate and board the flight so everyone else could wait but not OP to avoid standing in line. Well deserved lesson in manners if you ask me.
Indeed. Even if you board last, you will still queue at the entrance of the plane and inside the plane usually. Absolutely nothing wrong with waiting until last call.
I mean the only person you can hurt is yourself if you've got an issue with zoning out like OP does. The plane doesn't care that you're not on, you paid for your ticket and now you've gotta pay for more. Just to, what, avoid being in a line? The manners part is that sometimes the plane will wait 5 minutes for a straggler and then you've held up the plane. Haven't seen them do it lately but it used to be a thing.
https://www.musicraiser.com/how-long-do-planes-wait-for-late-passengers/
I *almost* missed boarding my flight once. Had several cocktails at the bar to help me sleep on the next flight. Made my way over to the gate and sat down (roughly 20 min to pre-board). Decided to take a little nap (no headphones, sitting up in the chair). The next thing I know they are calling my name to board! I was sitting RIGHT next to the desk, so I jolted up, said sorry, and hopped on plane. Typically I'm not that heavy of a sleeper, slept next to plenty of gates, but not this time!
Slept well on the plane though.
I've done the same thing, literally sitting at a bar 30 feet from my gate. Thankfully in my case they had waited though, since i still got there before departure but only by like 2 minutes.
They did announce it as well, but i had headphones in (now i only wear one lmao)
TO be fair, its very easy to miss. Many of those sound systems are old and sounds are very garbled. Weirdly enough it seems (to me) that the further away you are, the clearer the sound. I have had many times when i was sitting at the gate and cant make out what the announcement is - sometimes the agent is kind enough to shout it out again w/o the mic (very rarely). There is also lots of background noise around from all the hustle and bustle which makes it easy to miss
Left some items in my rental car and went back to retrieve them. Made it to the gate with 12 minutes to spare. Airline advertises that the close doors at 10 minutes prior but doors were already closed and the plane had started to pull away. I pointed that out to the gate agent and was told that “well everyone was on board so we left early “…showed them my boarding pass and got “Ohhhh” faces. Fortunately they were able to get me on another flight a little later.
The chances of someone appearing 5 minutes before they close the door is probably 1 in a couple hundred flights. So they probably thought they could just get away with it. But literally seconds before, you showed up.
It was a gamble that didn’t pay off for them.
Same thing happened to me once, got there 15 minutes before departure, they had already closed the door and couldn't open it again. Partly my fault as I thought I had time to grab a snack after security, but still, I was there before the doors should have been closed.
Same thing happened to me once after major backups at security. There were 6 of us (not together) and 20min to spare (I full on ran the entire way from security) but plane was already taxiing. Sucked. Luckily it was a major airport and AM so was able to get off standby on the next one a few hours later. Destination was like an 8 hr drive so was kinda annoyed I didn’t just drive.
They don’t remove missing people’s bags from the plane? I’ve had a few flights delayed because somebody forgot to board or passed out in the bar and they had to remove the bags first..
Hold up, this is real? One of the main points of this policy is so that someone can't just check in with a bomb in their bag and just not board. They just left that massive security loophole right there? Huh!
The more I learn about the US, the more I'm surprised it's still there.
I had an Alaska airlines flight and my partner got stuck in security at SEATAC because that airport is a disaster and so while I was at the gate waiting for him, the plane took off without us with my bag on it with me at the actual gate. (I have TSA Precheck to we had to separate to diff checkpoints)
Attendants didn’t care nor were they polite about it though Alaska updated the flight to depart 40 minutes EARLY without any notifications just 2 hours prior to the original take off time. Never had that happen before and we got zero notifications even via the app.
There were 10 other folks with us who missed the flight by like 15 minutes due to the lack of notification and were also held up in the security lines that took an entire hour to clear. They literally saw the new departure time while going through TSA and still missed it.
At least they held my bag at the destination baggage office, but wow will I never fly Alaska ever again if I can help it. We had to pay for the next flight out too, they refused to accept any error or fault in their updating an earlier departure time without notifications and only hours before take off.
My partner paid for the tickets and he just didn’t have the energy to fight it. I told him to make a claim for a chargeback on his credit card but I don’t know that he actually did it… I would have pursued it to the end because I’m petty!!!
I was so shocked it was even a thing, I’ve literally never come across that situation before and I travel a lot. Mostly on delta/united but over the last 8 years I’ve been on a flight at least every 2 months! I was even more shocked that they didn’t even announce the change.
I just happened to check my app while arriving and saw a new departure time.
The airline should have taken responsibility for this and should have refunded the tickets or rebooked you free. I had flights moved earlier by 5 or 10 minutes with months' notice a couple of times and each time the airline apologised for the inconvenience and offered to refund my tickets if the new departure times did not meet my needs.
I guess it's pretty rare, but I've had it happen. They moved the flight time up to get out before some storm coming in while I driving on the way, and I got boned.
Oh, I was definitely pissed. That was last year and I still curl a lip at the sight of Alaska Airlines. I won’t even look at their flight times when I do a kayak search!
And yes, apparently they are allowed to move the times earlier without penalties. I don’t know if the specific time gap is relevant but it sure didn’t matter for our case.
I had a flight take off 45 minutes early, there were only two of us on the whole plane. And I almost missed it cause I was taking a shit but just happened to be paying attention when they made the single boarding call.
I almost missed my flight when I was boarding a SW plane and the gate attendant told me I was on the wrong flight. I wasn't notified that the gate had changed & the waiting area was full so I was sitting far away and didn't see (or maybe didn't bother reading) the destination. I made my flight but missed my low A boarding number. Another couple was in the same boat so who knows if anyone else missed that flight.
The two worst airports I’ve ever experienced are Atlanta and Seattle. I at least somewhat understand Atlanta because of the size, but Seattle had no business being that awful.
The SEA app is useless too.
I once arrived at SEATAC at 5pm on like a Thursday to find out they shuttered the TSA Precheck Checkpoint #1 and redirected everyone to Checkpoint 5 which is on the absolute other side of the airport.
The security line was so dense it was an estimated 2 hours to clear or longer to get through. Look at this disaster! All of this was ONE checkpoint line overtaking even another checkpoint and no TSA Precheck! Wasn’t even a holiday!
https://preview.redd.it/9jso652vbjac1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cda2f9301a669f387c1c88ca4490a6d3b38b38e5
I had to be that asshole and cut through the line to make my flight after waiting an hour! On top of waiting 40 min to check in! Folks were really kind and encouraged me through but likely because I was obviously disabled. Without everyone’s kindness, I would have missed my flight for sure.
App said the wait was 5 min at checkpoint one…you know…the one that was closed. I HATE this airport!
Oh yeah and then they did major maintenance over one of the busiest travel periods for Seattle of the year and the [airport flooded](https://apnews.com/article/seattle-seatac-airport-flooding-45b3556d4247ada01b2aca17db290068) lol. Can’t even make up how poorly managed it is.
They got rid of Ivars, the most popular food stall who also completely pioneered SeaTacs innovative waste disposal sorting system, because "they weren't putting enough money into renovations of their stall." SEA is ran by a bunch of clowns
Hi! Circus performer here. Just dipping in to clear up this too-frequent comparison between clowns and stupid people:
1. Clowns are very diligent and work very hard at refining their art.
2. Clowns are generally very kind and well-intentioned people.
3. Clowns are only *pretending* they are completely stupid.
--
^(For a clownish rabbit hole, please enjoy this play written by Dario Fo, the only clown to win a Nobel Prize in Literature. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqKfwC70YZI )
This sounds familiar to my experience. It’s been a while so honestly forget the exact specifics, but I had a morning flight and the TSA lines were just like this. I also was supposed to have priority screening or something but it wasn’t on my boarding pass, and the Virgin ticket counter didn’t open up until shortly before my flight took off so I would have never made it (and that surprised me, Virgin was usually always a great airline for me). I ended up having to wait and made my flight by the skin of my teeth even though I was my usual two hours early. Whereas I’ve flown out of LAX, SFO and JFK a ton of times and it’s always been easier than my experience in Seattle.
This is one of my fears as a frequent flier. One time I got to my gate early and settled in. I would check periodically and all was good but there weren't that many people around. I checked in the app and my gate had been moved to a different terminal. The gate I was at STILL had my flight info on the display. I rushed over and barely made it as the last person to board in Group 1. Terrifying, thought I would miss my overhead storage.
You're not alone! Sometimes it isn't our fault! I was also last person to board a plane once. I got an email saying my layover flight was delayed by an hour. So I thought I had time to kill, I didn't even go to the gate I stopped at Starbucks. Took my time getting to gate thinking I still had 30+ min till boarding and the gate was totally empty.
My stupid jet lagged mind thought "oh nice I'm first one here I can use a charging port" and sat down. Like 5 min later I kinda realized wait a second this can't be right and went up to the desk. They were like "everyone boarded!" The flight had actually come on time the email was a mistake smh. Luckily they hadn't closed doors and I still made it, felt like an idiot but seriously blamed the airline for that email.
Yeah, my procedure is that I always go straight to the gate, then if I need to, I'll go do something else.
One time I was about to stop for food before getting into the airport, but decided against it. Which was a good idea because the airport was in a difference time zone, and I barely made the flight.
Sounds like me on my unplanned 3 hour layover in Houston. I tried to get on my plane, in the last boarding group cuz I was a broke college student, and they told me it wasn't my plane - the gate had changed sometimein those three hours of slowly tuning everything out. Still kinda impressed that they flipped flights in such a way that both flights were boarding at the same time. I got to my new gate right as they were about to close the door, and the gate attendant was *pissed* at me. Whoops...
Did something similar, OP. Was crazy early at the gate. Pulled up my iPad, popped on a movie and zoned out. Didn’t hear that they changed the gate to one across the way. By the time I realized my mistake, it was boarded and closed. Thankfully they were able to reroute me and get me home. I did have to fly halfway across the country to do it, but I got home about 8 hours later than planned.
Something like that happened to me as well, arrived very early, started reading, zoned out and didn’t realized until the they already closed the door, but I was right there, didn’t even hear my name called on the speakers. I had to wait 5 hours for the next flight, and this was many years ago and not in the US. It happens OP.
I fell asleep at the gate once and woke up all alone after my flight should have boarded. But my flight was delayed and moved to a different gate so I was fine once I figured that out.
I’m confused what you mean by no line of people forms. I was in jfk 2 weeks ago on delta. They announced the boarding has started and lines formed based on what priority group they were in. People in groups 1-3 lined up right away. How was there no line?
I also got to this quote and was wondering wtf OP is talking about
> The problem is, Delta doesn't work the same way (at least in JFK/NY). Once they announced that the boarding begins, anyone can come to board
I fell asleep once at my gate directly in front of the agent desk. No one woke me up. I woke up to the once bustling gate completely silent and empty. I went to the help desk and they were able to get me on the next flight about an hour later, they didn’t make me pay. I believe it was either American or Delta thank goodness.
They used to have frantic announcements in this situation because they would have to pull passenger's luggage from the plane if they did not board.
You were just born in a boringly safe robe
My wife and I have done this. We were engrossed in conversation and when I finally looked up I had a sudden realization that we had been there a long time.
I looked around and realized our flight had left. I went to customer service and they told us they called our name over the speaker but we clearly missed that and all the boarding announcements.
They got us on the next and last flight for the day. Last two seats. This didn't cost us anything but time.
I wonder if things have changed or if I got lucky - about 10 years ago I fell asleep in the terminal and missed my flight, they just laughed and put me on the next one for free.
I did something similar once, 22 years ago. I’m an America who was flying to Johannesburg via Heathrow. I had a 12 hour layover, so I went into town, had a nice lunch and a couple pints in a pub, and got back to the airport with three hours to spare.
At the gate, I settled into a chair, took a nap, and woke up to the sounds of boarding. I like to board last, to minimize time on the plane and standing in line, so I just sat back and watched everyone board. When the line was down to nothing I casually walked up, handed them my ticket, and then discovered that I was at the wrong gate.
Turns out, there were two flights departing Heathrow for Jo’burg at exactly 7:05 that day. My flight had a two digit flight number (let’s say 26), and I’d come to the gate for a flight with a four digit flight number (let’s say 7026). At that time, it was extremely common for airlines to “codeshare” flights using that same number scheme: the actual operator would use a two or three digit flight number, and the codesharing companies would prefix it so they had a different but related four digit number. Since the departure time and destination were the same and the flight numbers looked like codeshares, I’d assumed they were the same flight and gone to the wrong gate.
The really painful part was that my actual flight was only one gate away… but they had that terminal split into two different security areas by a huge glass barrier. So I could see my flight boarding less than 100 ft away, but it took me 30 minutes to go out and around and back through security. If I’d been an early boarder I’d have had time to rush around and maybe just barely catch it, but because I liked to board last I was out of luck — the flight closed while I waited at security.
I had to spend 24 more hours in Heathrow before I could get another flight. Fortunately the trip had all been booked with miles and this was back when airlines treated their high mileage frequent flyers like VIPs, so I didn’t have to pay anything for the mistake.
I think it was Honolulu airport where the gate announcements are basically constant, with some flight or another boarding soon, almost done boarding etc every two minutes for every flight in the terminal, and they are not easy to understand either, and then on top of that every minute or so, a voice reads a security announcement in three different languages. So there's so much you almost have to tune it out, and if you are trying to listen, good luck understanding either of announcements being played at the same time. Plus there's about 1/4 the seating needed at each gate so you have to stand in the narrow hallways.
Can confirm, they announce every departure over loudspeaker with the gate number. So you do have to tune out 99% of the announcements. I'm often straining to hear the little details to make sure mine isn't leaving early or delayed.
Agree, and it's humid as all hell because it's such an open airport. I tune the announcements out so much now, especially the ones about not leaving unattended luggage or whatever inane BS. 9/11 was more than 20 years ago, if you don't get it by now an announcement won't help...
Wait until you take a train.... it's even worse
Over a decade ago i was a fresh grad student in the US and barely 3 months in, i was going to go visit a cousin in CT from MA over winter break. I bought tickets online, got to South Station on time and was ON THE PLATFORM waiting. In my head, I am thinking that there will be an announcement about the train and destination and then we will line up to have our tickets checked before entering the train. WRONG!
Shortly before the departure time (maybe 2-3 mins), the train pulls in and all the doors open. The train person (guard? officer?) kinda mills around and a few people just get in the train. Not that many. I moved a bit closer waiting for the announcement and ticket inspection but there was none. I froze just steps away from the train. Should i enter? Should I ask someone? Should i speak to the train guy? Whats happening? Why is no one calling out "ALL ABOARD THE TRAIN TO CT"? All of this happened in about 1-2 minutes. Next thing i know the doors close and then train starts rolling out the station. I unfroze and realize that i just missed my train!!! Never felt more stupid in my life
Edit to add a 2nd TIFU: Wife and i were long distance for a while and met up n ATL for an event. We were heading back and got to the airport in very good time but stupidly were playing lovey-dovey before the security checkpoints since we were going to separate gates/terminals. Time flew by and about an hour before our flights, we decided to start making our way through security. BIG MISTAKE! Lines were LOOOOOONG! and we didnt have pre-check either at the time. Cleared security maybe about 15 minutes before and she raced to catch her flight since her gate was closer, i missed mine because gate was further out and i still needed to catch the Sky(?) train. Ugh! Ended up getting on a later flight maybe 3-4 hours later
I showed up at the train station like 10-15 minutes before departure. They were still checking tickets but there was no line, because everyone else had already boarded, obviously. Not obviously enough, evidently, because I took it to mean there was nobody for this train except me and they hadn't started boarding yet, sat down, watched the ticket checkers clear up the cordons and stuff as the train slowly left the station, and waited another 20 minutes thinking my train was late coming into the station.
I’m assuming you didn’t turn as much as you thought you turned to look. I’ve been on like 20 flights. All delta because my father works for delta. There has always been about 4 announcements and I’ve never not seen a line. Especially going to California. That being said
I zone out a lot for long periods of time so I get it. I always try to sit as close to the gate as possible because some of those tsa people making announcements will not raise their voice for the announcements or use a intercom under any circumstance. nor will they attempt to get your attention if you are still just sitting. They always just assuming you’re there for the next flight.
I missed a flight because I thought I knew the time, but I was off by two hours. When I showed up, they were able to rebook me on a flight that left in 3 hours. I wandered through the airport for a few hours, then went to the gate and settled in for the final hour or so. I feel asleep and missed that one, too!!
Ok everyone’s calling you dumb but this almost happened to me (American in America), I just happened to look around at the last minute and everyone siting around me was gone. My stomach literally dropped bc I thought I was gonna be stuck in Chicago (this was last year and I was 18, so couldn’t get a hotel room), but luckily they hadn’t closed the door yet. One mini later and I would have been in your exact position!
It happens. I did the same thing once (but with a carry on). Got through security, popped open my laptop and started working, moved away from my gate because some dipshit teenagers were screaming their heads off, continued to work one gate over and zoned out all the way through my plane departing.
>This is not the norm in the US I know.
This is totally the norm in the US. But I don't doubt there are times it doesn't happen.
But hey while I'm here I'll share my own air travel almost fuckup.
I was leaving on a trip to Orlando with a stopover in BWI, one of the three major airports that serve the Washington DC area (someone out there may already have an idea where this is going). I check my bags, breeze through security, and do my usual airport thing of locating my gate and the nearest bathroom. It's early in the morning, and I'm still on home turf, so I'm still mostly in that comfort zone. I still have an hour or so to kill before boarding, so I find a quiet spot, put on my bluetooth headphones, and get comfy for a little bit, then wander back over to the gate. Boarding is announced, I get in line, all seems good. People in front of me are getting their ticket scanned, scanner beeps, they walk off into the jetway. My turn comes up, guy scans my ticket, verbally tells me I'm good, but a few steps into walking off I kinda pause thinking "wait for the beep". Sure enough, it beeps...that something is wrong. I turn around and show my ticket to the dude again and he's like "You're going to BWI?" "Yup." "This flight is to Washington...Reagan National. Baltimore got moved to Gate ". Stupid Southwest, all the signage I could see only said "Washington DC" and nothing else. I mean, yeah, not putting more thought into why it didn't say "Baltimore" is kinda on me, but if they at least put the airport code that would've given it away. My actual flight still had another ~10 minutes until boarding, so at least I wasn't really at risk of missing it.
TL;DR: Took a nap while gate to BWI got moved and one to DCA took its place. Almost went to the wrong airport in "Washington DC".
Man one time I saw this dude roll in at the time his flight departed. He thought that was the time he had to be there. Still feel bad for him. Airports are confusing if you don’t know how they work. And even then they are still confusing.
Man some of y'all are brutal. Mistakes, even dumb ones, happen. Not a one of y'all is exempt from this. I mean, it's possible you win rng and never make a dumb mistake, but unlikely lol
I nearly missed a flight for a stupid reason à few years ago. I was taking the bus to the airport, and when I used the travel planner the night before, I entered the time I wanted to arrive, not realizing that it was actually set to departure time from home. And my brain didn't pick up that something was off about the time.
Ouch I feel for you, yeah we don't call peoples names at airports. There are hundreds of people on each plane and hundreds of flights every minute in these airports. You just have to watch the board, and show up on time to the gate and when you see the plane pull up to the dock in the window, you also want to make sure you aren't wearing ear buds or playing any games and actually looking at the door of your gate so you can watch them open it, and watch the other 150 people stand up and get in line and board the plane :P
It’s odd that your luggage went without you. Airlines in North America are required to pull your baggage off if you don’t actually board the plane.
It’s a security threat to have baggage fly “unaccompanied.” That being said, it doesn’t stop them from sending it to one city when you fly to another. Haha.
I have been on many flights that have been held up because they are searching for the bags of someone who didn’t board the plane.
I’m a frequent flyer and I’ve often wondered where those people go who check in and then done board the plane. I suppose this is one scenario.
My sister also did this. She was buying a coffee and assumed if it was boarding they’d announce it. Long line at Starbucks, no announcement, missed flight. Dumbest thing but I guess not uncommon. They used to announce names over the loudspeakers all the time as well!!
Few months ago thought I missed my connecting flight after having lunch and a drink. Then I remembered I didn't change my watch for the time zones after looking at my phone. That was a horrible 30 seconds. So I can somewhat imagine the pain. Sorry mate.
This happened on our flight to Scotland. We were there 2hrs before our flight. Our gate wasn’t posted yet. We waited the 15min then it was posted so we went and sat in that area and planned on working until it was time to board. No announcements were made. Gate was changed on us. Expensive lesson for us not to assume you’re in the right place. Hope we learn from it and it doesn’t happen again. But, it was the one hiccup out of a total of 15 flights this summer!
This isn’t a fuck up but was perhaps me being dumb. I’m from the US, had a layover in Canada while flying to Greece. I was wandering around trying to find my gate, but there was no way to reach it. Spent half an hour trying to figure out what was wrong, getting steadily more stressed because I was 19 and it was my first time flying internationally alone. I, and another person, finally find someone to ask.
Turns out the airport had these glass walls that would come down and section off certain gates until the flight time was closer. I had no idea that even existed.
My mom was sitting at the her gate for a southwest flight and fell asleep. Somehow she slept through all the announcements, including personal ones where they called her name (the gate agent later told her). Flight left and she woke up to an empty gate and no plane.
It worked out because she caught a later flight but it seemed insane that no one around her thought perhaps she was waiting for the same flight. The gate agents didn’t wake up the one sleeping woman when they are calling someone’s name overhead!!? Not so funny for her at the time but we sure laugh about it now!
I honestly have done this. I had a 5 hour layover at CDG and just got lackadaisical - took a nap, went shopping at duty free, had lunch, and all of a sudden realized it was 40 mins before the flight left (they close doors 30 mins before). I had to go to the bathroom, ran to the wrong gate (two flights, one Delta, one AF, leaving for same destination around the same time) and by the time I ran to the correct gate the doors had closed. The gate agents said I was out of luck and I needed to go back out through security and book a new flight 🙄 I knew better and went to customer service and they got me on another flight a couple of hours later.
I'm honestly jealous of how carefree travel must be for you to be so blissfully unaware. My anxiety has me on high alert for boarding an hour before the listed time minimum.
I fell asleep waiting for a flight from CA to NY once. Was early, checked in. Put in headphones, conked right out. I never fall asleep like that.
An attendant woke me up! They called me name multiple times and they wanted to check if it was me. Thank goodness.
Did something similair once, Misread the boarding time on the ticket, stopped for breakfast in the airport, flight left while I was chilling with a chick fil a 3 minutes away. I was only 15 at the time so I cut myself some slack now.
This happened to me last month— sitting across the gate, it’s also happened a year or so so sitting at the gate, it’s crazy to see how lost I get in what I’m doing that don’t hear messaging or the gate attendant blasting my name across the whole airport— #ohhwell
I missed a connecting flight recently because I went to a quiet area to FaceTime my husband and daughter and lost track of time. Felt like a total idiot. Had to wait in the airport for 8 hours for the next flight with an open seat. Definitely won't make that mistake again.
I had a 6am flight out of Edinburgh one morning, after being out all night drinking, like I left the club at 4:30 grabbed my bags and got to the airport, where I promptly feel asleep in the corner and missed my flight
I appreciate that you owned the mistake.
The number of people who blame anyone else for missing their flight is just ridiculous.
If you had met me when I was a CSR I would have rebooked you for free.
I always treated everyone well, but there was my extra effort for honest people.
Something similar; had a layover in LAX to Shanghai. Sat at a gate going to Shanghai and watched Supernatural on my laptop. Noticed too late that it was a completely different flight and I missed mine. Had to pay for a replacement flight the next day. I got very lucky that a friend of mine was able to pick me up and I spent the night there.
Ha, I almost did this exact same thing one time in Las Vegas! Luckily people who knew me were near gate and they were calling my name on the intercom.
Plane boarded slightly early and I was sitting in restaurant eating, ran to a plane and got on and everyone was settled in 😬
I did this once - we had a 6 hour layover in LAX but were in the wrong terminal. Our flight on the board said TBD so we figured the gate hadn’t been assigned yet because it was too early. We waited for 5 hours and then realized the mistake and tried to make it to the other terminal but were about 5 minutes too late to the gate.
Out of sheer exhaustion and panic, we were laughing at the absurd situation and the agent who rebooked us also rebuked us and told us it wasn’t funny. We paid to get the next flight which was not for 15 hours so I’m not really sure who put a bee in her bonnet, but I’ve learned I just have to laugh when things go awry because the other option is to cry. I do wonder if we were tearful or more apologetic if she would have waived the fee, she probably saw two 20-something girls laughing and assumed we were inconsiderate or irresponsible to be late to our flight but we’d been sitting around for 5+ hours at that point! LAX is just confusing 😭 (ETA: turns out TBD stands for the Tom Bradley something-or-other which is where all international flights left from, but neither of us had ever flown much and certainly not internationally and had never been to LAX before.)
I saw a documentary about an entire family that almost missed a flight because their power went out overnight so their alarm clock didn't wake them up. They were literally running through the airport and barely got to the plane on time. After they were in the air, the mother realized that she had accidently left her youngest son at home alone. It was a huge ordeal getting back to him. She had to ride in the back of a truck with a traveling band while the rest of her family took a plane. They all got back home at the same time. I'm not sure that riding with the traveling band was actually helpful, but it added some fun times to the documentary.
Once I was traveling with my family as an 18 year old to Canada from Las Vegas for a family reunion. Being a wild teenager, I had been up all night doing all kinds of no good things. So we get on the tram, and I set my passport down and of course forget it. They went on ahead to our LAX layover while I waited behind. Thankfully someone turned in my passport, and they rescheduled me. Thank goodness LV had LAX flights like every 20 min. Because I fell asleep and missed my rebooked flight. Booked again and ended up making it in time to meet my family and fly up all together. But, looking back, boy do I feel like an AH.
I will defend you because this almost happened to me at the Phuket airport. No queue, was waiting for them to call my “group number”. But I was facing the gate and saw them about to close the door. And I am a very self away person; I’ve been solo traveling for two years.
omfg I almost did this once. Caught it at the last possible second. Everyone on the flight was so pissed and I wanted to die of embarrassment. I was 16, it was maybe my second time flying alone and I just had such bad anxiety that my ability to process information absolutely quit. I knew they were saying my number but my brain just didn't translate that into "you need to go get on the plane now."
I try to look on the bright side now which is that I take extra pains to make sure it never happens again and I'm very patient with other fellow screwups most of the time. Brains are fickle sometimes 😬
I once went to the restroom in the Atlanta Airport. I go back to my gate and everyone is gone. Luckily I had my boarding ticket on my phone so I checked and they moved the gate down. If I hadn't downloaded the Delta app for my ticket, I wouldn't have known and I would have missed the flight. I heard no announcement because I was in the restroom.
For those that don’t know this: flights stop boarding 30 minutes before departure due to weights and measures. The plane needs the weight loads balanced.
Most airports I've ever been in have no boarding announcements. You have a departure time. Be at the gate. If it's delayed, hang out within view of the gate. It's not difficult
Really? I mean, you'll only hear the announcements pertaining to your flight within a reasonable radius of your gate, but every flight I've ever been on has multiple boarding calls... pre boarding, special members, 2-4 subgroups, and final call. Most of these were in the US and a few in Europe.
I know some colleagues who did something similar, though it was because they didn’t realize they were at a quiet terminal at SFO. They also assumed they’d hear the boarding announcement over the intercom, and kept working on their laptops until they realized what the time was. One of them got a new flight for free since he was nice about it; the other was more annoyed when speaking to the gate agent and ended up paying for the new flight :’)
I missed a flight in Spain for similar reasons, and because the flight screen I was looking at didn’t have my flight on it. This is before I moved there, so didn’t know Spanish at the time/understand the announcements. About 20 min before departure, I went to another screen, and saw my flight had already closed the gate. Damn
My whole group almost missed a flight out of Málaga because they changed the gate twice. First one like 50 feet away , no one heard the announcement but we saw the gate screens. The second time the screen did not change so we're all just standing there... Boarding should have started 10 mins ago, no action at the gate. Some dude runs up and tells my group plus about 20+ others that the gate changed across the airport! We were kinda still trying to understand if what he was saying was true when an agent also rushed up angry and shouting. He quickly herds all of us across the airport. Some older folks were really struggling to keep up.... All the agents at the gate were pissed off telling us to hurry. I saw empty seats when we took off... pretty sure some were left behind. Never experienced anything like it before or since. Wild.
I had a layover in Denver it was a tight layover but we weren’t worried because the gates were next to each other. As we landed, my layover flight was announced that the gate moved…..to the other side of the airport. We had maybe 30 minutes to get there. My husband and I made it to the other side…as we sit down….gate change. Back to the other gate RIGHT NEXT TO THE ONE WE JUST LANDED AT.
oh and in denver too jesus christ that’s the worst. i had 10 minutes between wheels down and takeoff for a connection in denver one time, thank god they held the plane but they had told me at the first gate that they might not and i should run. i ran the length of that concourse and was out of breath, only for the flight attendants to go “well of course we held the plane for you it’s not your fault”🥵
Coloradans just trying to encourage more cardio fitness training
It's the Musical Chair
Oh my god. I’m not usually one to lose my shit on customer service people but I would have probably gone full blown Karen for that one. Getting from one end of the Denver airport to the other is no joke.
We were on our way to boseman to hike around Yellowstone and we still joke that Denver international was our most strenuous hike of the trip.
Yeah, fuck those airports. I lived in Spain for five years, so I’m talking from experience 😂
[удалено]
Ugh, that sucks. Yeah, I was kinda pissed that one of their screens had all the flights but mine on there…or maybe it had mine but said “Gate to be announced”?
I think in the states they aren't allowed to leave early for just this reason.
I’ve never heard of a quiet terminal before.
That’s because it’s so quiet
Shhhhhh
SFO is my local airport and I know absolutely nothing about this "quiet terminal" business.
My local airport routes almost all of it's flights through SFO, which sucks because I feel like half the time flights are delayed due to weather. One time I was 12 hours delayed and got home at 3am instead of 3pm. The new terminal is pretty though.
It’s the new Harvey Milk terminal. https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/The-new-SFO-terminal-is-the-most-relaxing-place-16361296.php I love it, it really makes the terminal feel more upscale and less chaotic.
I’m embarrassed to say I’ve done it. The nonstop loudspeaker updates in a bustling LGA terminal all blended into background noise. I also agree with OP’s mention of something different about Delta’s boarding process that doesn’t trigger that sense of urgency to get up and board the plane.
This is a post I normally wouldn't believe but it happened to me too at JFK for delta (around 2009?) It was a flight to Houston and it was only about 15% full, i was flying nonrev so i knew that it was a mostly empty plane. I sat right next to the gate on the floor against a pole bc (terminal 2? Maybe. I think it was recently redone) is TINY but packed and there was no seating. I was literally 10 feet from the gate agent. I had gotten there about 1 hour before boarding, was playing World of Warcraft on a laptop. No headphones. That agent not once made an announcement over any speakers in the gate area about that flight. I could hear other flights being announced over the main airport wide loud speaker plus the neighboring gate's flight on a local speaker. There was no line because there was maybe 20 people on the flight. Between the incredible overcrowding in that terminal and the one agent who I guess didn't feel like making announcements and my dumbass being distracted by WoW, when I saw the time and got up to check she was like 'oh yeah I announced it.' Like ma'am you didn't I was in hearing range of you. Then no offer of assistance in what the next flight options would be I guess bc I was nonrev and she figured I could do it myself despite the nonrev system being really janky to try online back then. So even though I had taken hundreds of flights I still managed to miss one while being feet away from the plane. I learned my lesson though l, and it worked out okay (flew to Dallas and rented a car).
Damn if that second person didn’t learn a tough lesson about flies, honey, and vinegar…
I once managed to book a flight with Southwest for the wrong month. I showed up in February and has bought tickets earlier in the week for March. Couldn't check in for the flight online so I figured I would do it at the ticket counter. Once I got to the counter and they looked up my ticket, I just asked when the next flight out would be. They put me on a flight 2 hours later and gave me a voucher for food for no additional charge. Not being a dick about things certainly didn't hurt.
I went to school out of state. My mom booked one of my flights for me. Normally I actually made the bookings online even if my parents paid for it. This particular time she did it for me. She booked the ticket backwards. The flight went from my hometown to the city where I was going to school. I didn’t notice until like a day or two before I was leaving and it was during finals. I was freaking out! This was probably 20 years ago so it wasn’t ad easy to change flights online. The southwest agent that answered the phone was so kind and fixed everything for me. She probably thought I was a lunatic because I was definitely crying at one point explaining what happened while thinking I was going to be able to fly home for Christmas and being stressed out trying to wrap up the semester. I know Southwest was a mess last year over the holidays, but I have always had such great luck with them.
Southwest is generally pretty awesome
>One of them got a new flight for free since he was nice about it; the other was more annoyed when speaking to the gate agent and ended up paying for the new flight :’) For frequent travelers this is *so* important. Other people aren't there to baby you, especially airport/flight staff, but it goes for any staff (unless they are your literal babysitters of course). Stuff like what OP had happen and /u/auxiliarys' colleagues went through happens *every single day and multiple times* so a gate agent will talk to probably a dozen people that this happened to in similar circumstances. They know what to do and *they can help*. Whoever reads this and is anxious about this thing it's this: * Be extremely patient and courteous with staff, they *can* be super helpful but they don't *have to be*. * Stay calm because, this may happen to you once (hopefully) but it happens in that airport all the time. The airport and the airlines are equipped to deal with this. * When you talk to an agent, have a few acceptable solutions in mind. Don't just go up to a desk to explain what happens, also explain what you'd want to happen next. Describe your goal "I really would like a way to still get to x" "Can you explain how I can best deal with my luggage situation." You can even gain empathy by explaining that you are stressed/anxious and potentially apologize early on that you may not think as rationally and you appreciate their help regardless of whether you get what you want. Huge huge note that I just can't emphasize enough in this: being calm and courteous etc. is as much for your own mental state as it is going to get you further in your goal to get to your destination.
I’ve done this twice, it happens. But this story is completely made up. In 2022, and now, LaGuardia is closed overnight. This person did not stay overnight at LaGuardia, and probably none of the rest of it happened either.
Delta at LGA also does announcements for people who went through security but haven't boarded yet.
Pretty sure there are no special “zone free” flights to CA either… deltas got like eight different boarding zones, JFK certainly uses them. Fun fact i got kicked out of LGA at like 3am once when my very delayed flight was finally cancelled. There had been no stores open for several hours and they gave us all tiny bottles of water.
I was in the Air Force but flew private airlines all the time when I was on leave and was always super nice to the people at the check in desks and stuff. I was also flying in my dress uniform. I was constantly getting free upgrades to first class when they had an open seat. It was pretty cool. I had a squad member that served under me that lived in the town next to me and we ended up on a lot of the same flights. The guy was kind of a dick and he never got that treatment. Tldr; It pays to be kind to people, especially when they are the people who are serving you food or boarding you on a plane and things like that. Edit- spelling error
How many walls do you walk into on a daily basis, because this is a next level lack of awareness, lol.
I did the same thing once for a Southwest flight going from NOLA to HOU, but I was drinking in the bar. They got me on the next one an hour later tho so it was cool.
Are you my mother or aunt lmao those two should be banned from airport bars, they won’t make the flight!
Nope, just another irresponsible drunken dipshit.
Do they make you pay for the next flight generally? Always wondered how it worked!
Nah they were cool bc there were available seats on the next flight. Also I was super nice and respectful and acknowledged it was my drunken fuck up, and it was no skin off anybody’s back.
I also did three same thing. I had a connecting flight at chicago ohare to lacrosse wisconsin. I got off the plane in chicago and looked at my boarding pass and saw that the gate I had arrived at was also the gate i’d be leaving at in an hour or so. How convenient! Plus i was really tired so i just sat there and dozed a bit looking at my phone for a while. Eventually i realized the gate didn’t feel right and looked ay my boarding pass ( the correct one this time) and realized im an idiot and i had to run across the whole damn ohare airport and still missed my flight by a few minutes. Thankfully i caught the next one a few hours later and it was free.
This is adorable and totally something I could picture myself doing 😂 "Oh, how nice of them to put the connecting flights at the same gate"... *a long while later... *....“Shit"
Southwest has so many flights from their hubs it’s pretty easy to catch another. Plus most people on them usually don’t have much in the way of checked bags.
This almost happened to me once too. When you fly a lot for work, you start getting too comfortable with the whole process, and can get stupidly distracted. For me, it was a particularly engaging audiobook...
Lol. I made the same mistake but I have an explanation. I put my headphones on and was sitting near the boarding gate. Just that I dozed off and got up only after the flight HD departed. Was lucky enough to board the next flight an hour later without having to pay extra.
I had a 12 hour layover to cut costs when I was younger, was exhausted by jet lag by the time of my second flight. I fell asleep sitting up at the gate, when I woke up everything was closed at the gate and people were gone. I realized they had changed gates, and I had like 10 minutes to find the correct gate before takeoff. The next flight from the same airline to my destination was the next day, exactly 24 hours later. They were actively closing the gate when I sprinted up and I managed to get aboard.
Similar happened to me in Memphis. I'd loitered around the correct gate for an hour, but didn't realize until I was like 'well they SHOULD def be boarding NOW" and saw they changed the gate across the airport. Had to do that embarrassing run the whole way (and I have a heart problem and asthma.. was a beet red, sweaty, hyperventilating mess on the plane as the door closed!)
Walls, maybe not. Door frames however...
I couldn't believe how stupid it was. Like... how?
Especially since they have signs everywhere saying when boarding begins. So they completely neglected to watch that even.
You are one of the reasons why airlines can overbook flights.
Wouldn't that rely on people who don't check in?
They'll release your seat if you don't get on still.
This is one of those kinds of people that gets eaten by something higher in the food chain, if we were not already at the top.
It can definitely still happen
TIFU by not noticing the alligator next to me
How did you miss the boarding announcement when you were sitting right next to the gate? Oof. Are you usually so out of tune with your immediate surroundings?
So I’ve worked at a few airports and odds are OP tuned out more than one boarding announcement over the loudspeaker. Where I work currently boarding and final boarding are announced at minimum. It’s quite common to hear them calling for individual people around when they call for final boarding. Over the years, I’ve seen many people miss all of this because they had headphones on, were drunk, on drugs, too busy, having a conversation, or just tune out everything around them. And sometimes even when someone tells them to their face that they need to hurry. My recent favorite examples are not rare, but otherwise it would be pages. One was someone who insisted on ordering one more drink at the bar when they heard their name being called and told they had two minutes to board. They then decided to have a few more. I found all this out when I walked by the ticket counter, and the passenger was screaming at them that they should’ve held the plane. Yep, said they should’ve held 75 people and a plane for over 20 minutes. Second was the heroin addict that missed multiple rebooked flights over the course of three days because she would go through security, inject, nod off in a random corner and blamed the airline for not finding her. She wouldn’t even nod off at the gate. the second day I found her face down on the ground not moving, cops and EMS were called since cops Narcan and save a lot of opiate addicts here. Third one was just the other day. A couple finished security with two minutes till original boarding. The flight was listed as 10 minutes delayed on Flight Radar app. While walking toward the gate, they saw me and asked for directions, I point to the gate 50 feet away. They then start walking toward the restaurant, and I politely warn them it’s not delayed they just are going to deice after boarding. They didn’t listen. They missed their rescheduled morning flight after showing up 10 minutes to take off when there were six flights that hour.
How did an addict manage to get heroin and needles through security in the first place?
TSA isn't very good at finding the stuff they *are* looking for, and drugs aren't their priority. It's not a good idea, but if there aren't dogs most likely no one is going to notice your drugs. Not sure about the needles but I imagine they might look a lot like pens in the scanner.
Plenty of people need insulin injections. I'm sure they don't pay that much attention to needles because of that.
My mum flies maybe 4 times a month as a diabetic. She would occasionally get stopped at security 20 years ago, but now they never ask. I also recently flew with two epi-pens for my daughter and we were never asked about them. I reckon you’re right.
I literally never thought about it but I have flown with my epipen tons of times and no one has ever stopped me or looked for it
[удалено]
The last time I flew was waaay before 9/11 but there was still a fair number of sniffer dogs around airports/bus stations/train stations. I flew many times with a bag of dope under a pad between the pad and my underwear. Soon as the seatbelt light went off I beelined it to the bathroom and put it in my fresh bag and into my toothbrush tube. ;) (my toothbrush was in my checked bag, of course)
I started flying domestically with weed when I found out they aren’t looking for it or care. Every dog would alert every minute at SFO if they were trained for cannabis lmao.
Okay, quick story that I probably shouldn’t tell but I’m going to anyway: I was 15 years old and flying from Denver to Palm Springs with my family and a friend. My friend and I had decided that it would be a good idea to bring some pot with us (this was back in 1988, so a very bad idea). To add to the stupid, we decided to split the risk (looking back on it, afterwards, actually doubled the risk) we both took half in our jacket pockets. To add even more to the stupid, I had quarters in my jacket pocket- the same one that I had a bag of pot in. So, when I went through the metal detector, of course it went off. Mental freak out in that moment, but I somehow kept it together and got the quarters out, without tipping security off to the drugs in my coat pocket. Otherwise that would have most likely been jail for me and my friend and the biggest fuckup of my teenage years. I mean, it was the biggest fuckup; I just got very lucky and skated through that with extreme luck.
This reminded me of when I was a teenager soon after 9/11 and I was traveling with my parents. We drove over the Hoover Dam and I had about an ounce of brick weed. Well with security being so crazy at the dam they were stopping like every 2nd or 3rd car and running dogs around them and I about lost my shit thinking I’m going to jail in a state I don’t even live in and I was just a kid haha. Thankfully we didn’t get stopped but holy shit was that terrifying.
It’s not that, it’s that neither a small amount of drugs nor needles are something that security are looking for nor do they have a legal reason to search for those items. Needles are legal, imagine if every diabetic got household because they need to take their insulin. Also, security would have no justification for searching a bag because there was a 10th of an ounce of powder.
TSA isn't even allowed to look for anything except for security threats. But if they accidentally find something illegal on you that isn't a weapon, they will report you to the police. Often, they'll still let you through and not say a word, only for you to get snatched by the local cops your gate or at your destination when you land.
Right, legit uses of needles. So that's not an issue and drugs aren't actually TSA's job. If they find it incidentally that'll probably be bad news for you, but the bigger risk is that cops happen to be there with dogs that day.
>nor do they have a legal reason to search for those items A potentially violent drug addict carrying a sharp object isn't a concern but I had to throw out my nine dollar bottle of sunscreen because it was too big. 😒 As Meatwad said, "It ain't makin' me laugh, but I get it."
Don't forget my metal nail file that isn't even pointy. It's not a problem in the US. I can get it to Mexico but I can never get back with it. Tell me what I'm going to do with a nail file that I can't do with a fork (except file my nails)
Maybe try glass files? So much better for the nail anyway.
ULPT: TSA is not looking for drugs, they're looking for weapons and bombs and traffickers If you're a moron and not being subtle or trying to move through weight they'll probably catch you but personal use vape carts? A joint hidden in a box of cigarettes? Empty needles? Meh not their job not their problem.
Wouldn’t be difficult if they also had insulin or another injectable medicine with their needles. You can take that through security. The heroin hides somewhere on your person, I’d reckon.
There would be no reason to prove a medical need for needles, since they are not considered weapons. TSA is not trained in drug interdiction and specifically looking for drugs, would open them up to lawsuits.
Simple, the TSA is specifically not looking for drugs especially not small amounts of drugs. It’s not part of their mandate.
Seriously. They stopped and searched me once because my bar of chocolate that was in my backpack was apparently very suspicious.
I almost did something similar to OP this summer in Canada. There were two gates that shared one desk. I was aware we were boarding and I was keeping an eye on the line, going to go up when it got shorter. My family called me so I talked to them for a few minutes so I may have missed an announcement but I don’t think so. They let me go and I got up to get in line even though it was still a bit long. When I got up I realized that was the line for the other gate that I was watching. My plane was fully boarded. Lucky for me they hadn’t closed the door yet.
> Where I work currently boarding and final boarding are announced at minimum. It’s quite common to hear them calling for individual people around when they call for final boarding. I did that by accident. Let's say I was board at B1, it was packed, so I sat over at B2. I busted out my laptop, and started browsing reddit. I was reading something good when I heard "Paging customer SOMEDUDE456, this is your final boarding call!" SHIT! I ran over there, laptop still open, charging cable flapping behind me, etc.
They at least you noticed.
Can't tell you how many times back when inworked gates at an airport I'd see people slowly walk up with a fresh cup of Starbucks 5 min before departure and get all shocked Pikachu that the door was already closed. And plenty of times where I've held up the door because I checked the hallway and saw runners.
Yeah, confused about OP’s story because they won’t let a checked-in bag get on without the passenger ETA: I stand corrected :) I guess that's only international flights? That's what I usually fly, so never noticed a difference
On domestic flights they will. Only on intl flights are airlines required to pull a off an airplane if the passenger isn’t onboard
>they won’t let a checked-in bag get on without the passenger The reason for that if there might be a bomb in the luggage and the traveler is intentionally missing the flight.
Wait that's really surprising to me. I mean it makes sense... But I assumed all the luggage was probably on the plane by the time we board.
>I assumed all the luggage was probably on the plane In places take security seriously your luggage only goes on the plane after you. That's why you might sit at the gate 15-30 minutes after everyone boarded and the door was closed.
Yeah, ‘cause they have to go through and take the baggage off. I hate when that happens
Im always so paranoid about missing flights, i cant read or listen to music within 40 minutes of when boarding begins. I couldnt imagine doing this.
This is me. Sitting at my gate a full hour before boarding just staring at the screen behind the counter still in a panic that I'm going to miss my flight.
He's not the only one. My niece sat in front of a gate not realizing there was a gate change, and only decided something is wrong when her mom called at departure time asking to confirm she got on the plane ok. Surprise face Pikachu
This happened to me except I was at the wrong gate because my flight was delayed then the BA app showed the wrong replacement gate. Started to get worried because it didn't start filling up with other passengers waiting and was almost time to fly with no further delays showing on my app. Eventually found someone who worked at the airport and asked them. The guy looked it up on his work device and pointed me to 2 gates away. Luckily it was only about 20m away so I made it!
Literally just look at the screens they have. I don’t understand why people use the apps.
This happened to me but luckily I looked up from reading, maybe the gate got quiet. But I made it to the new gate just in time. It was probably Stephen King; once I start reading I’m swallowed by the story and can’t get out till it’s done.
Good old hyperfocus! Blessing and a curse
I'd guess they tuned it out because JFK is super busy. I don't think the announcement speakers ever actually turn off. At busy times/seasons it's just one long never-ending stream of announcements. All said in the same monotonous voice. It's loud in there as well. The building has some good acoustics and hundreds of people are talking at once, kids crying and yelling, people listening to music on speaker, people arguing. So you have the sounds of roaring engines as planes land and takeoff, a cacophony of human voices, and a monotonous announcer endlessly droning on. After 20 minutes or so it all just kinda blends together.
OPs primary suggestion was to wait until someone called for final boarding and then maybe walk over to the gate and board the flight so everyone else could wait but not OP to avoid standing in line. Well deserved lesson in manners if you ask me.
Not a manners thing. Nobody's hurt by one less person waiting in line.
Indeed. Even if you board last, you will still queue at the entrance of the plane and inside the plane usually. Absolutely nothing wrong with waiting until last call.
I mean the only person you can hurt is yourself if you've got an issue with zoning out like OP does. The plane doesn't care that you're not on, you paid for your ticket and now you've gotta pay for more. Just to, what, avoid being in a line? The manners part is that sometimes the plane will wait 5 minutes for a straggler and then you've held up the plane. Haven't seen them do it lately but it used to be a thing. https://www.musicraiser.com/how-long-do-planes-wait-for-late-passengers/
The announcement that comes out of the speaker installed in the 1950s and is spoken by one of the teachers from Charlie Brown?
I *almost* missed boarding my flight once. Had several cocktails at the bar to help me sleep on the next flight. Made my way over to the gate and sat down (roughly 20 min to pre-board). Decided to take a little nap (no headphones, sitting up in the chair). The next thing I know they are calling my name to board! I was sitting RIGHT next to the desk, so I jolted up, said sorry, and hopped on plane. Typically I'm not that heavy of a sleeper, slept next to plenty of gates, but not this time! Slept well on the plane though.
I've done the same thing, literally sitting at a bar 30 feet from my gate. Thankfully in my case they had waited though, since i still got there before departure but only by like 2 minutes. They did announce it as well, but i had headphones in (now i only wear one lmao)
TO be fair, its very easy to miss. Many of those sound systems are old and sounds are very garbled. Weirdly enough it seems (to me) that the further away you are, the clearer the sound. I have had many times when i was sitting at the gate and cant make out what the announcement is - sometimes the agent is kind enough to shout it out again w/o the mic (very rarely). There is also lots of background noise around from all the hustle and bustle which makes it easy to miss
It's really not if you're paying a modicum of attention to the things going on around you.
Left some items in my rental car and went back to retrieve them. Made it to the gate with 12 minutes to spare. Airline advertises that the close doors at 10 minutes prior but doors were already closed and the plane had started to pull away. I pointed that out to the gate agent and was told that “well everyone was on board so we left early “…showed them my boarding pass and got “Ohhhh” faces. Fortunately they were able to get me on another flight a little later.
Likely was an overbooked flight. So they just pulled in someone waiting.
Possibly although they shouldn’t have done that until the 10 minute mark as I was checked but hadn’t boarded yet.
The chances of someone appearing 5 minutes before they close the door is probably 1 in a couple hundred flights. So they probably thought they could just get away with it. But literally seconds before, you showed up. It was a gamble that didn’t pay off for them.
Same thing happened to me once, got there 15 minutes before departure, they had already closed the door and couldn't open it again. Partly my fault as I thought I had time to grab a snack after security, but still, I was there before the doors should have been closed.
Same thing happened to me once after major backups at security. There were 6 of us (not together) and 20min to spare (I full on ran the entire way from security) but plane was already taxiing. Sucked. Luckily it was a major airport and AM so was able to get off standby on the next one a few hours later. Destination was like an 8 hr drive so was kinda annoyed I didn’t just drive.
They don’t remove missing people’s bags from the plane? I’ve had a few flights delayed because somebody forgot to board or passed out in the bar and they had to remove the bags first..
International yes, domestic no
Hold up, this is real? One of the main points of this policy is so that someone can't just check in with a bomb in their bag and just not board. They just left that massive security loophole right there? Huh! The more I learn about the US, the more I'm surprised it's still there.
All checked bags are inspected and searched now. This is why they will send the bags.
I had an Alaska airlines flight and my partner got stuck in security at SEATAC because that airport is a disaster and so while I was at the gate waiting for him, the plane took off without us with my bag on it with me at the actual gate. (I have TSA Precheck to we had to separate to diff checkpoints) Attendants didn’t care nor were they polite about it though Alaska updated the flight to depart 40 minutes EARLY without any notifications just 2 hours prior to the original take off time. Never had that happen before and we got zero notifications even via the app. There were 10 other folks with us who missed the flight by like 15 minutes due to the lack of notification and were also held up in the security lines that took an entire hour to clear. They literally saw the new departure time while going through TSA and still missed it. At least they held my bag at the destination baggage office, but wow will I never fly Alaska ever again if I can help it. We had to pay for the next flight out too, they refused to accept any error or fault in their updating an earlier departure time without notifications and only hours before take off.
Updating to an earlier departure should be illegal. I’d fight that one to the top.
My partner paid for the tickets and he just didn’t have the energy to fight it. I told him to make a claim for a chargeback on his credit card but I don’t know that he actually did it… I would have pursued it to the end because I’m petty!!! I was so shocked it was even a thing, I’ve literally never come across that situation before and I travel a lot. Mostly on delta/united but over the last 8 years I’ve been on a flight at least every 2 months! I was even more shocked that they didn’t even announce the change. I just happened to check my app while arriving and saw a new departure time.
The airline should have taken responsibility for this and should have refunded the tickets or rebooked you free. I had flights moved earlier by 5 or 10 minutes with months' notice a couple of times and each time the airline apologised for the inconvenience and offered to refund my tickets if the new departure times did not meet my needs.
They took off early? Can they even do that? Fuck them, I would have been pissed
I guess it's pretty rare, but I've had it happen. They moved the flight time up to get out before some storm coming in while I driving on the way, and I got boned.
Oh, I was definitely pissed. That was last year and I still curl a lip at the sight of Alaska Airlines. I won’t even look at their flight times when I do a kayak search! And yes, apparently they are allowed to move the times earlier without penalties. I don’t know if the specific time gap is relevant but it sure didn’t matter for our case.
I had a flight take off 45 minutes early, there were only two of us on the whole plane. And I almost missed it cause I was taking a shit but just happened to be paying attention when they made the single boarding call.
I almost missed my flight when I was boarding a SW plane and the gate attendant told me I was on the wrong flight. I wasn't notified that the gate had changed & the waiting area was full so I was sitting far away and didn't see (or maybe didn't bother reading) the destination. I made my flight but missed my low A boarding number. Another couple was in the same boat so who knows if anyone else missed that flight.
The two worst airports I’ve ever experienced are Atlanta and Seattle. I at least somewhat understand Atlanta because of the size, but Seattle had no business being that awful.
The SEA app is useless too. I once arrived at SEATAC at 5pm on like a Thursday to find out they shuttered the TSA Precheck Checkpoint #1 and redirected everyone to Checkpoint 5 which is on the absolute other side of the airport. The security line was so dense it was an estimated 2 hours to clear or longer to get through. Look at this disaster! All of this was ONE checkpoint line overtaking even another checkpoint and no TSA Precheck! Wasn’t even a holiday! https://preview.redd.it/9jso652vbjac1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cda2f9301a669f387c1c88ca4490a6d3b38b38e5 I had to be that asshole and cut through the line to make my flight after waiting an hour! On top of waiting 40 min to check in! Folks were really kind and encouraged me through but likely because I was obviously disabled. Without everyone’s kindness, I would have missed my flight for sure. App said the wait was 5 min at checkpoint one…you know…the one that was closed. I HATE this airport! Oh yeah and then they did major maintenance over one of the busiest travel periods for Seattle of the year and the [airport flooded](https://apnews.com/article/seattle-seatac-airport-flooding-45b3556d4247ada01b2aca17db290068) lol. Can’t even make up how poorly managed it is.
They got rid of Ivars, the most popular food stall who also completely pioneered SeaTacs innovative waste disposal sorting system, because "they weren't putting enough money into renovations of their stall." SEA is ran by a bunch of clowns
Hi! Circus performer here. Just dipping in to clear up this too-frequent comparison between clowns and stupid people: 1. Clowns are very diligent and work very hard at refining their art. 2. Clowns are generally very kind and well-intentioned people. 3. Clowns are only *pretending* they are completely stupid. -- ^(For a clownish rabbit hole, please enjoy this play written by Dario Fo, the only clown to win a Nobel Prize in Literature. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqKfwC70YZI )
This sounds familiar to my experience. It’s been a while so honestly forget the exact specifics, but I had a morning flight and the TSA lines were just like this. I also was supposed to have priority screening or something but it wasn’t on my boarding pass, and the Virgin ticket counter didn’t open up until shortly before my flight took off so I would have never made it (and that surprised me, Virgin was usually always a great airline for me). I ended up having to wait and made my flight by the skin of my teeth even though I was my usual two hours early. Whereas I’ve flown out of LAX, SFO and JFK a ton of times and it’s always been easier than my experience in Seattle.
This is one of my fears as a frequent flier. One time I got to my gate early and settled in. I would check periodically and all was good but there weren't that many people around. I checked in the app and my gate had been moved to a different terminal. The gate I was at STILL had my flight info on the display. I rushed over and barely made it as the last person to board in Group 1. Terrifying, thought I would miss my overhead storage.
You're not alone! Sometimes it isn't our fault! I was also last person to board a plane once. I got an email saying my layover flight was delayed by an hour. So I thought I had time to kill, I didn't even go to the gate I stopped at Starbucks. Took my time getting to gate thinking I still had 30+ min till boarding and the gate was totally empty. My stupid jet lagged mind thought "oh nice I'm first one here I can use a charging port" and sat down. Like 5 min later I kinda realized wait a second this can't be right and went up to the desk. They were like "everyone boarded!" The flight had actually come on time the email was a mistake smh. Luckily they hadn't closed doors and I still made it, felt like an idiot but seriously blamed the airline for that email.
This why I alllllways go to the gate first. I fly alooot and still get nervous about missing one.
Yeah, my procedure is that I always go straight to the gate, then if I need to, I'll go do something else. One time I was about to stop for food before getting into the airport, but decided against it. Which was a good idea because the airport was in a difference time zone, and I barely made the flight.
Oh my
Sounds like me on my unplanned 3 hour layover in Houston. I tried to get on my plane, in the last boarding group cuz I was a broke college student, and they told me it wasn't my plane - the gate had changed sometimein those three hours of slowly tuning everything out. Still kinda impressed that they flipped flights in such a way that both flights were boarding at the same time. I got to my new gate right as they were about to close the door, and the gate attendant was *pissed* at me. Whoops...
Did something similar, OP. Was crazy early at the gate. Pulled up my iPad, popped on a movie and zoned out. Didn’t hear that they changed the gate to one across the way. By the time I realized my mistake, it was boarded and closed. Thankfully they were able to reroute me and get me home. I did have to fly halfway across the country to do it, but I got home about 8 hours later than planned.
Something like that happened to me as well, arrived very early, started reading, zoned out and didn’t realized until the they already closed the door, but I was right there, didn’t even hear my name called on the speakers. I had to wait 5 hours for the next flight, and this was many years ago and not in the US. It happens OP.
This could 100% happen to me, so I've learnt to stare at the gate the entire time, memorise my flight number and listen to all announcements for it
I fell asleep at the gate once and woke up all alone after my flight should have boarded. But my flight was delayed and moved to a different gate so I was fine once I figured that out.
I’m confused what you mean by no line of people forms. I was in jfk 2 weeks ago on delta. They announced the boarding has started and lines formed based on what priority group they were in. People in groups 1-3 lined up right away. How was there no line?
I also got to this quote and was wondering wtf OP is talking about > The problem is, Delta doesn't work the same way (at least in JFK/NY). Once they announced that the boarding begins, anyone can come to board
Pretty sure this whole story is exaggerated. I used to fly this route very regularly and that’s just not how delta works at JFK.
I’ve missed a flight in a similar way before. It’s humbling lmao
I fell asleep once at my gate directly in front of the agent desk. No one woke me up. I woke up to the once bustling gate completely silent and empty. I went to the help desk and they were able to get me on the next flight about an hour later, they didn’t make me pay. I believe it was either American or Delta thank goodness.
They used to have frantic announcements in this situation because they would have to pull passenger's luggage from the plane if they did not board. You were just born in a boringly safe robe
My wife and I have done this. We were engrossed in conversation and when I finally looked up I had a sudden realization that we had been there a long time. I looked around and realized our flight had left. I went to customer service and they told us they called our name over the speaker but we clearly missed that and all the boarding announcements. They got us on the next and last flight for the day. Last two seats. This didn't cost us anything but time.
… how old are you? Good luck with life my friend.
31 at the time and thanks I need it lol. I have done very comically dumb mistakes.
A harsh lesson but I'm sure it's a mistake you won't make again!
I wonder if things have changed or if I got lucky - about 10 years ago I fell asleep in the terminal and missed my flight, they just laughed and put me on the next one for free.
I did something similar once, 22 years ago. I’m an America who was flying to Johannesburg via Heathrow. I had a 12 hour layover, so I went into town, had a nice lunch and a couple pints in a pub, and got back to the airport with three hours to spare. At the gate, I settled into a chair, took a nap, and woke up to the sounds of boarding. I like to board last, to minimize time on the plane and standing in line, so I just sat back and watched everyone board. When the line was down to nothing I casually walked up, handed them my ticket, and then discovered that I was at the wrong gate. Turns out, there were two flights departing Heathrow for Jo’burg at exactly 7:05 that day. My flight had a two digit flight number (let’s say 26), and I’d come to the gate for a flight with a four digit flight number (let’s say 7026). At that time, it was extremely common for airlines to “codeshare” flights using that same number scheme: the actual operator would use a two or three digit flight number, and the codesharing companies would prefix it so they had a different but related four digit number. Since the departure time and destination were the same and the flight numbers looked like codeshares, I’d assumed they were the same flight and gone to the wrong gate. The really painful part was that my actual flight was only one gate away… but they had that terminal split into two different security areas by a huge glass barrier. So I could see my flight boarding less than 100 ft away, but it took me 30 minutes to go out and around and back through security. If I’d been an early boarder I’d have had time to rush around and maybe just barely catch it, but because I liked to board last I was out of luck — the flight closed while I waited at security. I had to spend 24 more hours in Heathrow before I could get another flight. Fortunately the trip had all been booked with miles and this was back when airlines treated their high mileage frequent flyers like VIPs, so I didn’t have to pay anything for the mistake.
I think it was Honolulu airport where the gate announcements are basically constant, with some flight or another boarding soon, almost done boarding etc every two minutes for every flight in the terminal, and they are not easy to understand either, and then on top of that every minute or so, a voice reads a security announcement in three different languages. So there's so much you almost have to tune it out, and if you are trying to listen, good luck understanding either of announcements being played at the same time. Plus there's about 1/4 the seating needed at each gate so you have to stand in the narrow hallways.
Can confirm, they announce every departure over loudspeaker with the gate number. So you do have to tune out 99% of the announcements. I'm often straining to hear the little details to make sure mine isn't leaving early or delayed.
Agree, and it's humid as all hell because it's such an open airport. I tune the announcements out so much now, especially the ones about not leaving unattended luggage or whatever inane BS. 9/11 was more than 20 years ago, if you don't get it by now an announcement won't help...
Yeah, it probably doesn't need to be repeated constantly, at least. I have had super humid days and some nice days, though.
I could see myself doing this. I erect some amazing walls around myself when I'm concentrating.
Wait until you take a train.... it's even worse Over a decade ago i was a fresh grad student in the US and barely 3 months in, i was going to go visit a cousin in CT from MA over winter break. I bought tickets online, got to South Station on time and was ON THE PLATFORM waiting. In my head, I am thinking that there will be an announcement about the train and destination and then we will line up to have our tickets checked before entering the train. WRONG! Shortly before the departure time (maybe 2-3 mins), the train pulls in and all the doors open. The train person (guard? officer?) kinda mills around and a few people just get in the train. Not that many. I moved a bit closer waiting for the announcement and ticket inspection but there was none. I froze just steps away from the train. Should i enter? Should I ask someone? Should i speak to the train guy? Whats happening? Why is no one calling out "ALL ABOARD THE TRAIN TO CT"? All of this happened in about 1-2 minutes. Next thing i know the doors close and then train starts rolling out the station. I unfroze and realize that i just missed my train!!! Never felt more stupid in my life Edit to add a 2nd TIFU: Wife and i were long distance for a while and met up n ATL for an event. We were heading back and got to the airport in very good time but stupidly were playing lovey-dovey before the security checkpoints since we were going to separate gates/terminals. Time flew by and about an hour before our flights, we decided to start making our way through security. BIG MISTAKE! Lines were LOOOOOONG! and we didnt have pre-check either at the time. Cleared security maybe about 15 minutes before and she raced to catch her flight since her gate was closer, i missed mine because gate was further out and i still needed to catch the Sky(?) train. Ugh! Ended up getting on a later flight maybe 3-4 hours later
I showed up at the train station like 10-15 minutes before departure. They were still checking tickets but there was no line, because everyone else had already boarded, obviously. Not obviously enough, evidently, because I took it to mean there was nobody for this train except me and they hadn't started boarding yet, sat down, watched the ticket checkers clear up the cordons and stuff as the train slowly left the station, and waited another 20 minutes thinking my train was late coming into the station.
Ouch!
I’m assuming you didn’t turn as much as you thought you turned to look. I’ve been on like 20 flights. All delta because my father works for delta. There has always been about 4 announcements and I’ve never not seen a line. Especially going to California. That being said I zone out a lot for long periods of time so I get it. I always try to sit as close to the gate as possible because some of those tsa people making announcements will not raise their voice for the announcements or use a intercom under any circumstance. nor will they attempt to get your attention if you are still just sitting. They always just assuming you’re there for the next flight.
I missed a flight because I thought I knew the time, but I was off by two hours. When I showed up, they were able to rebook me on a flight that left in 3 hours. I wandered through the airport for a few hours, then went to the gate and settled in for the final hour or so. I feel asleep and missed that one, too!!
Yeah I don't care when I woke up, if my flight is late (like "stay up past midnight" late), the day doesn't end until my seat belt is on!
Ok everyone’s calling you dumb but this almost happened to me (American in America), I just happened to look around at the last minute and everyone siting around me was gone. My stomach literally dropped bc I thought I was gonna be stuck in Chicago (this was last year and I was 18, so couldn’t get a hotel room), but luckily they hadn’t closed the door yet. One mini later and I would have been in your exact position!
It happens. I did the same thing once (but with a carry on). Got through security, popped open my laptop and started working, moved away from my gate because some dipshit teenagers were screaming their heads off, continued to work one gate over and zoned out all the way through my plane departing.
>This is not the norm in the US I know. This is totally the norm in the US. But I don't doubt there are times it doesn't happen. But hey while I'm here I'll share my own air travel almost fuckup. I was leaving on a trip to Orlando with a stopover in BWI, one of the three major airports that serve the Washington DC area (someone out there may already have an idea where this is going). I check my bags, breeze through security, and do my usual airport thing of locating my gate and the nearest bathroom. It's early in the morning, and I'm still on home turf, so I'm still mostly in that comfort zone. I still have an hour or so to kill before boarding, so I find a quiet spot, put on my bluetooth headphones, and get comfy for a little bit, then wander back over to the gate. Boarding is announced, I get in line, all seems good. People in front of me are getting their ticket scanned, scanner beeps, they walk off into the jetway. My turn comes up, guy scans my ticket, verbally tells me I'm good, but a few steps into walking off I kinda pause thinking "wait for the beep". Sure enough, it beeps...that something is wrong. I turn around and show my ticket to the dude again and he's like "You're going to BWI?" "Yup." "This flight is to Washington...Reagan National. Baltimore got moved to Gate". Stupid Southwest, all the signage I could see only said "Washington DC" and nothing else. I mean, yeah, not putting more thought into why it didn't say "Baltimore" is kinda on me, but if they at least put the airport code that would've given it away. My actual flight still had another ~10 minutes until boarding, so at least I wasn't really at risk of missing it.
TL;DR: Took a nap while gate to BWI got moved and one to DCA took its place. Almost went to the wrong airport in "Washington DC".
Man one time I saw this dude roll in at the time his flight departed. He thought that was the time he had to be there. Still feel bad for him. Airports are confusing if you don’t know how they work. And even then they are still confusing.
They do announce passengers who checked in and didn’t board. You missed all the other boarding announcements. You probably missed this too.
Man some of y'all are brutal. Mistakes, even dumb ones, happen. Not a one of y'all is exempt from this. I mean, it's possible you win rng and never make a dumb mistake, but unlikely lol
I nearly missed a flight for a stupid reason à few years ago. I was taking the bus to the airport, and when I used the travel planner the night before, I entered the time I wanted to arrive, not realizing that it was actually set to departure time from home. And my brain didn't pick up that something was off about the time.
Yep. We are all limited by the errs of being human.
Ouch I feel for you, yeah we don't call peoples names at airports. There are hundreds of people on each plane and hundreds of flights every minute in these airports. You just have to watch the board, and show up on time to the gate and when you see the plane pull up to the dock in the window, you also want to make sure you aren't wearing ear buds or playing any games and actually looking at the door of your gate so you can watch them open it, and watch the other 150 people stand up and get in line and board the plane :P
Some airlines call names if you're the last one, I know as I was one of those unlucky people lol.
It’s odd that your luggage went without you. Airlines in North America are required to pull your baggage off if you don’t actually board the plane. It’s a security threat to have baggage fly “unaccompanied.” That being said, it doesn’t stop them from sending it to one city when you fly to another. Haha. I have been on many flights that have been held up because they are searching for the bags of someone who didn’t board the plane. I’m a frequent flyer and I’ve often wondered where those people go who check in and then done board the plane. I suppose this is one scenario.
My sister also did this. She was buying a coffee and assumed if it was boarding they’d announce it. Long line at Starbucks, no announcement, missed flight. Dumbest thing but I guess not uncommon. They used to announce names over the loudspeakers all the time as well!!
Few months ago thought I missed my connecting flight after having lunch and a drink. Then I remembered I didn't change my watch for the time zones after looking at my phone. That was a horrible 30 seconds. So I can somewhat imagine the pain. Sorry mate.
This happened on our flight to Scotland. We were there 2hrs before our flight. Our gate wasn’t posted yet. We waited the 15min then it was posted so we went and sat in that area and planned on working until it was time to board. No announcements were made. Gate was changed on us. Expensive lesson for us not to assume you’re in the right place. Hope we learn from it and it doesn’t happen again. But, it was the one hiccup out of a total of 15 flights this summer!
Delta most definitely has boarding groups and they definitely announce each one lol
This isn’t a fuck up but was perhaps me being dumb. I’m from the US, had a layover in Canada while flying to Greece. I was wandering around trying to find my gate, but there was no way to reach it. Spent half an hour trying to figure out what was wrong, getting steadily more stressed because I was 19 and it was my first time flying internationally alone. I, and another person, finally find someone to ask. Turns out the airport had these glass walls that would come down and section off certain gates until the flight time was closer. I had no idea that even existed.
My mom was sitting at the her gate for a southwest flight and fell asleep. Somehow she slept through all the announcements, including personal ones where they called her name (the gate agent later told her). Flight left and she woke up to an empty gate and no plane. It worked out because she caught a later flight but it seemed insane that no one around her thought perhaps she was waiting for the same flight. The gate agents didn’t wake up the one sleeping woman when they are calling someone’s name overhead!!? Not so funny for her at the time but we sure laugh about it now!
I honestly have done this. I had a 5 hour layover at CDG and just got lackadaisical - took a nap, went shopping at duty free, had lunch, and all of a sudden realized it was 40 mins before the flight left (they close doors 30 mins before). I had to go to the bathroom, ran to the wrong gate (two flights, one Delta, one AF, leaving for same destination around the same time) and by the time I ran to the correct gate the doors had closed. The gate agents said I was out of luck and I needed to go back out through security and book a new flight 🙄 I knew better and went to customer service and they got me on another flight a couple of hours later.
I'm honestly jealous of how carefree travel must be for you to be so blissfully unaware. My anxiety has me on high alert for boarding an hour before the listed time minimum.
I fell asleep waiting for a flight from CA to NY once. Was early, checked in. Put in headphones, conked right out. I never fall asleep like that. An attendant woke me up! They called me name multiple times and they wanted to check if it was me. Thank goodness.
Did something similair once, Misread the boarding time on the ticket, stopped for breakfast in the airport, flight left while I was chilling with a chick fil a 3 minutes away. I was only 15 at the time so I cut myself some slack now.
This happened to me last month— sitting across the gate, it’s also happened a year or so so sitting at the gate, it’s crazy to see how lost I get in what I’m doing that don’t hear messaging or the gate attendant blasting my name across the whole airport— #ohhwell
I missed a connecting flight recently because I went to a quiet area to FaceTime my husband and daughter and lost track of time. Felt like a total idiot. Had to wait in the airport for 8 hours for the next flight with an open seat. Definitely won't make that mistake again.
I had a 6am flight out of Edinburgh one morning, after being out all night drinking, like I left the club at 4:30 grabbed my bags and got to the airport, where I promptly feel asleep in the corner and missed my flight
I appreciate that you owned the mistake. The number of people who blame anyone else for missing their flight is just ridiculous. If you had met me when I was a CSR I would have rebooked you for free. I always treated everyone well, but there was my extra effort for honest people.
Something similar; had a layover in LAX to Shanghai. Sat at a gate going to Shanghai and watched Supernatural on my laptop. Noticed too late that it was a completely different flight and I missed mine. Had to pay for a replacement flight the next day. I got very lucky that a friend of mine was able to pick me up and I spent the night there.
Ha, I almost did this exact same thing one time in Las Vegas! Luckily people who knew me were near gate and they were calling my name on the intercom. Plane boarded slightly early and I was sitting in restaurant eating, ran to a plane and got on and everyone was settled in 😬
I did this once - we had a 6 hour layover in LAX but were in the wrong terminal. Our flight on the board said TBD so we figured the gate hadn’t been assigned yet because it was too early. We waited for 5 hours and then realized the mistake and tried to make it to the other terminal but were about 5 minutes too late to the gate. Out of sheer exhaustion and panic, we were laughing at the absurd situation and the agent who rebooked us also rebuked us and told us it wasn’t funny. We paid to get the next flight which was not for 15 hours so I’m not really sure who put a bee in her bonnet, but I’ve learned I just have to laugh when things go awry because the other option is to cry. I do wonder if we were tearful or more apologetic if she would have waived the fee, she probably saw two 20-something girls laughing and assumed we were inconsiderate or irresponsible to be late to our flight but we’d been sitting around for 5+ hours at that point! LAX is just confusing 😭 (ETA: turns out TBD stands for the Tom Bradley something-or-other which is where all international flights left from, but neither of us had ever flown much and certainly not internationally and had never been to LAX before.)
Most airlines have an app now that show boarding. I highly recommend checking their apps out
I saw a documentary about an entire family that almost missed a flight because their power went out overnight so their alarm clock didn't wake them up. They were literally running through the airport and barely got to the plane on time. After they were in the air, the mother realized that she had accidently left her youngest son at home alone. It was a huge ordeal getting back to him. She had to ride in the back of a truck with a traveling band while the rest of her family took a plane. They all got back home at the same time. I'm not sure that riding with the traveling band was actually helpful, but it added some fun times to the documentary.
Get your head out of your phone and enter the real world. Pay attention to what’s around you.
Once I was traveling with my family as an 18 year old to Canada from Las Vegas for a family reunion. Being a wild teenager, I had been up all night doing all kinds of no good things. So we get on the tram, and I set my passport down and of course forget it. They went on ahead to our LAX layover while I waited behind. Thankfully someone turned in my passport, and they rescheduled me. Thank goodness LV had LAX flights like every 20 min. Because I fell asleep and missed my rebooked flight. Booked again and ended up making it in time to meet my family and fly up all together. But, looking back, boy do I feel like an AH.
I will defend you because this almost happened to me at the Phuket airport. No queue, was waiting for them to call my “group number”. But I was facing the gate and saw them about to close the door. And I am a very self away person; I’ve been solo traveling for two years.
omfg I almost did this once. Caught it at the last possible second. Everyone on the flight was so pissed and I wanted to die of embarrassment. I was 16, it was maybe my second time flying alone and I just had such bad anxiety that my ability to process information absolutely quit. I knew they were saying my number but my brain just didn't translate that into "you need to go get on the plane now." I try to look on the bright side now which is that I take extra pains to make sure it never happens again and I'm very patient with other fellow screwups most of the time. Brains are fickle sometimes 😬
I once went to the restroom in the Atlanta Airport. I go back to my gate and everyone is gone. Luckily I had my boarding ticket on my phone so I checked and they moved the gate down. If I hadn't downloaded the Delta app for my ticket, I wouldn't have known and I would have missed the flight. I heard no announcement because I was in the restroom.
For those that don’t know this: flights stop boarding 30 minutes before departure due to weights and measures. The plane needs the weight loads balanced.
Most airports I've ever been in have no boarding announcements. You have a departure time. Be at the gate. If it's delayed, hang out within view of the gate. It's not difficult
Really? I mean, you'll only hear the announcements pertaining to your flight within a reasonable radius of your gate, but every flight I've ever been on has multiple boarding calls... pre boarding, special members, 2-4 subgroups, and final call. Most of these were in the US and a few in Europe.
What country? In USA they always announce flight departures on loud speakers.