Have you ever missed a flight

[Gumbo4x4]

Not so far. I remember one time a coworker sneaked on just as they were closing the door. Same trip, we almost missed our flight home due to the same coworker insisting we had time to stop for ice cream LOL

 

[shinysparklybubbles]

I'm scared to answer this out of jinxing myself.

 

[Andtototoo]

Many years ago -- 1986 -- I missed a flight because they'd rebooked me on an earlier flight and I didn't know about it until I got to the airport and they told me, "You missed your flight!"



I lived two hours from the airport. So I'd left 3 hours before my flight. About 2 hours before my flight was to leave, they'd called my home to say they'd rebooked me on a flight leaving in one hour.

Not only was I en route and therefore not at home to get the phone call (and this was before cell phones), I lived two hours away. So even IF I'd been home, giving me one hour's notice wasn't going to cut it.

It was a freaking nightmare. A two hour flight turned into a twelve hour extravaganza. Best part -- I was flying to go to a job interview. Even better -- on one of those legs of that 12 hours extravaganza, a so-called two year old sitting on his mother's lap (the size of 4 year old), who'd been hitting and kicking me for the better part of an hour, spilled OJ all over my suit. You know, THE suit you wear to an important job interview? That suit. So when I finally got off the flight and was met by the Grand Pooba, it was the NEXT DAY and not only was my suit wrinkled, I REEKED of sour OJ.

I wasn't surprised when I didn't get the job. It's hard to overcome the negatives of reeking of sour OJ during a job interview or not having slept the night before.

More recently, we came close a couple of times due to tremendous delays getting through security.

 

[DVC-Don]

Once. We had to fly standby but got out only a couple of hours late.

 

[Mom_Rides]

I have never missed a flight. I have had AirTran cancel us out of a flight because they had one person working the counter and the line was 3 miles long. Even though we had 45 minutes until our flight after we checked in, they told us we would not make it through security in time.

My sister and I almost missed our connecting but that was our own stupidity. We didn't have a lot of time between flights but enough to use the restroom and make it to the gate. We got to the gate and there were a ton of people sitting there. We took a seat and time passed and it was nearing our flight time. I said I wonder why they're not boarding. My sister looks out the window and said there are people on the plane. I went to the counter and asked and she said we're in final boarding. Ooops! We were the last ones on the plane and they literally closed the door behind us!

 

[DeltaDiamond001]

I've never actually missed a flight, but I have come unbelievably close.

I do a lot of travel between Atlanta and Milwaukee. Flying out of Atlanta is super easy. I get to the airport an hour before my flight is scheduled to take off, and I've always been at the gate with at least 10 minutes before boarding begins. Of course I leave a lot of extra time during busy periods, holidays, etc., and I always leave an hour before I usually would if I'm going to be driving in rush hour.

Flying out of Milwaukee is a different story. I can't tell you what a nightmare that airport is. The highways and access roads surrounding the airport have been torn up for years, and the detours are so convoluted and overly complicated. I always leave a lot of time just for the sake of road construction.

Security is horrible as well. There is usually one, and sometimes two, security lines open for each terminal, and the line has been known to snake back to the main part of the airport! I always end up behind someone who hasn't been on a plane since 9/11 and is unfamiliar with security procedures. Needless to say, I've done the whole Home Alone thing, running to the gate as the door is closing. Awful.

I have to fly out of the Milwaukee airport in a few hours. Wish me luck...

 

[rszdtrvl]

Almost.

Our junior high trip to NYC last summer.

We made it to the airport only an hour before departure. Our entire group of38. Only two TSA checks were open. And it was dinnertime.

They ended up holding the plane for us. It departed 45 minutes late.

It was a disaster.

Needless to say, when we travel as a family and *I* make the arrangements, we are ALWAYS on time. Normally we stay at a park and ride hotel next to the airport the night prior to travel. It is equal to, if not cheaper, than paying for parking at the airport.

 

[Pakey]

I am a frequent flier. I have missed flights, especially connecting flights. On my trip to Central America earlier this year I was supposed to have 2 flights with total travel time of 7 hours. Instead it took 6 flights and 30 hours to get there.

This is why I never check luggage. It's just one less headache when trying to wing it at the airport.

 

[tvguy]

Missed a connection because of how the idiots at Southwest booked it. 20 minutes between flights in Phoenix. I questioned it, and the Southwest agent said the computer wouldn't let them book it if it wasn't possible. Checked with a supervisor, said, never been a problem. WRONG. Didn't have a choice, it was a family emergency, and had to fly in and back quickly. Our flight was 10 minutes late coming in, and our connecting flight left 10 minutes early.
So here I am, at 7 pm in Phoenix, with no way home and I have to be at work at 11 pm in Sacramento. And since Southwest had trade agreements with no other airlines, and no more flights to Sacramento, the best they could do was write me a check for my air fare and wish me luck with another airline! Managed to get on another flight for the same air fare, landed, dropped my wife off at home, and made it to work 15 minutes late!

 

[mickeysgal]

Missed a connection when my flight originating out of Philadelphia was very late on taking off. Landed in the connecting airport with my connecting flight long gone. We pretty much sat in the airport all day (me alone with my three little at the time kids) until they could get us on a flight with enough space for all of us. They tried to get us on each flight available, but when those flights are booked, they're booked and they won't bump anyone because you missed your flight regardless of the reason. We finally got out on the last flight of the day. Miserable day overall. I really try to avoid connections at all costs now. Even if it means paying more.

 

[tvguy]

I really try to avoid connections at all costs now. Even if it means paying more.

It is almost impossible anymore to get a direct flight if the flight is longer than about 800 miles, at least out of our airport. Everything has to go through the airlines hub city, so unless that hub city is your final destination, you have to use connections.

Some of connections are nuts now. I have family in the area of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, used to be able to go into Vancouver then across, or into Calgary and across, or into Salt Lake and over. Now you have to go to Minneapolis, 800 miles east, and 800 miles back, 1600 extra miles to get there.

 

[mickeysgal]

It is almost impossible anymore to get a direct flight if the flight is longer than about 800 miles, at least out of our airport. Everything has to go through the airlines hub city, so unless that hub city is your final destination, you have to use connections.

True and depending on the specific airline, it may result in flights with more direct flights or flights with a higher likelyhood of more connections. We find, based on where we live, that flying Southwest will most likely mean a connection for us, whereas flying Delta we stand a good chance of finding a direct flight. Granted, Delta tends to be a bit more expensive, but that is the tradeoff we're willing to make.

Also, some airports are notorious for late arrivals/departures more than others. We now try to research that as well when making a flight decision and plan accordingly.

 

[tasha99]

In 1989, on my way back from a tour in Korea, I sat in a bar at San Fransisco airport waiting for my connecting flight to Monterey. I had a couple of hours to kill, and I met an older gentleman and started talking with him. It turned out he was a retired officer and had been the commander of 3rd MI, the unit I'd been stationed at in Korea. At first I thought he was BSing me, but he knew all the "places" and was clearly military, so I think he was telling the truth. A few hours later, I realized my flight had gone without me. It was the 80's, so they just put me on another plane.

DS22 missed his flight to Japan this year. He had flights on different tickets, and was given some bad information about waiting for lost luggage. Ticket 2 (Malaysia airlines) didn't care, and he had to buy a new ticket.

 

[jodifla]

Missed my first flight this year! We got stuck in a 2-hour traffic jam on the way to the airport. JUST missed the flight.

They put us on another one the next morning for 50 bucks a ticket change fee. We had to get a hotel room for the night....we just tried to make the best of it.

 

[Katy Belle]

I've missed many. All but one were connecting flights that we missed because our previous flight was delayed. Only once did we have to spend a night in a hotel, paid for by the airline. That flight couldnt land in chicago due to a tornado...so they eventually landed in Madison WI. Spent the night there and were able to fly out the next day.

One I missed was completely my fault. We had just moved overseas, the kids and I had to leave Qatar and re-enter, to renew our visitor visas. Some people fly to Bahrain or Abu Dhabi and turn around an hour later and fly home. We had friends in Abu Dhabi, so we planned to spend one night. A travel agent at DHs company booked it for us. I looked at flight times, but not dates! When my 3 little kids and I arrived Friday night, we learned oyr tckets were for Thursday night! I was so upset! A few hours later they told us another airline had 4 seats, go ahead and board. We did! No extra cost, i dont think we even had boarding passes! I was just so relieved it worked out.

 

[lynxstch]

YES! We were going to WDW for our honeymoon, all set to fly out of our small hometown airport to go to Pittsburg for the flight to FL. Our flight out of MD was supposed to be at 8 am. We got a phone call at 7, that our hometown flight was cancelled 'for weather issues'..(btw..it was clear and sunny!)..that we would have to get to PA by 9 for our flight. No way we could make it..we jumped in the car, drove to PA, found a long term parking lot, got to the ticket counter, and the flight had left 5 minutes earlier.
They knew it was their fault, since they tried telling us that it was a weather issue in PA also, but it was also clear and sunny there, so no idea what really happened..we think that we might have been the only 2 people scheduled on our home town flight and they didn't want to bother!..

This was US Airlines, btw....and they put us on the next flight they had, in first class (the ONE and only time I flew like that) , we landed in FL and the rest of our trip was event free. They also gave us $500 worth of vouchers for future flights.

 

[Rainman415]

Haven't missed any, but my sister works for a major airline so we fly non-rev alot. Last year, early June, going Phoenix Chicago with my son and daughter, there were empty seats, but we couldn't get on because it was so hot, 117, they had to keep the weight of the aircraft down. So we missed 3 flights one day, then on the 4th flight, they had one seat. So I sent my daughter, she was 16 at the time, and my son and I had to stay another night. We finally got out on the 1st flight the next morning, 6am, before it heated up for the day. At least it was first class.

 

[disykat]

A few years ago our family of four was on vacation and got to the airport to come home and were told our flight had been rescheduled for an hour and a half earlier. It wasn't gone yet, but was leaving too soon for us to get through security and get on.

They were able to rebook us on another flight pretty easily, but we had quite a bit of trouble with the standby flights from our connecting airport since we'd missed that as well. I think it was Chicago/Seattle so there were lots of flights. Three of us ended up getting on the third flight we tried for. DH had to work the next day so he went with the kids on ahead and I stayed behind to wait for another flight. I got home a couple of hours later and took an airport shuttle bus to our town.

Our kids were young teens (13 and 15) so we'd done all the figuring on who could if there was one seat open, two seats open, three seats, etc. The flights were all so full that we were afraid that we'd be going one by one. It would have been a real problem if they were younger! As it was, we were planning on sending DH first then he'd wait at the airport and meet all the flights coming from that airport until he had our sons! They ended up all getting on the same flight, but it started with them taking one, then the next, then the next right before they shut the doors!

 

[crz4mm2]

Connecting flight, yes.
Had to wait til the next day to get the connecting flight. Airline put us up in hotel.

Went to the wrong airport once But still managed to get on a flight.

 

[shellybaxter]

I've missed two connecting flights due to weather delays. Both times they just put us onondaga different flights. The first one was from Chicago to Orlando. That was a straight flight. We arrived about three hours late - no biggie. The second time we were just ahead of a big storm, but our flight had to take off late out of Reno due to pilot hour rules (while I understood-I didn't really make a lot of sense because the pilot wasn't "resting" he was sitting in the **** pit waiting for the time to expire). We landed late in Phoenix, a big hub for U.S.Air, sense we we first class they put us on a flight leaving almost immediately to North Carolina with a quick layover to Orlando. The agent said we needed to "get out now before you get stuck for two days". We took it. I think we were only two hour later that trip. Not bad really.

We have never missed an originating flight. I'm too much of a nervous flier for that.