ever missed your flight?

[stacy6552]

Anyone ever missed your flight? what happened? howd the airline handle it?

 

[ducklite]

They used to just rebook you onto the next flight with available seats. Now some of the carriers will charge you a flight change charge ($100 per ticket!) on non-refundable fares to get you back home. It's within their right to do so.

Moral of the story, get to the airport early and don't miss your flight.

Anne

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Yep, Dee set the alarm for 5pm not am and we slept right through the flight. ;( We called Delta and they said, No problem, we can get you on another flight. Well, to complicate things, Hurricane Floyd was on its way and they cancelled the flights into Orlando, so they put us on a flight to Cincin which connected to Tampa. I canged the Alamo rental (they were very good about that, btw) and got to Tampa, ONLY to have to get to MCO where my kids were waiting for us. It was quite a day!!!
Moral of the story, get there early.

 

[lsyorke]

The only time we missed a flight was during a horrible rain storm with a equally horrible limo driver. We got to EWR to find out we had already been bumped due to overbooking!! Long story short free breakfast, and $900.00 in travel certificates and an upgrade to first class on the flight down!! Gotta love those bad limo drivers!

 

[dcfromva]

stacy6552,

Anyone ever missed your flight? what happened? howd the airline handle it?

You should check with your individual airline because each airline has it's own procedures. (And now-a-days, airlines will charge you for stuff they didn't used to charge you for)....
United Airlines used to have what they called their "flat tire" policy where they would put you on the next available flight at no extra charge. This applied to flights going on the same day as you were originally scheduled. I have never used that for going on a later flight, but if I arrived at the airport way early, they would put me on an earlier flight at no extra charge.
I have also done earlier on Northwest (on the same day as I was originally scheduled).
I figured it probably made good sense for the airline to put your on a earlier flight if they had a seat available because airline seats are a "perishable" commodity--If they get you on an earlier flight, they have opened up you seat on the later flight to someone else.
On the other hand, SWA will not let you get on an earlier flight at no extra charge (unless you are paying full fare, anyway) . They will charge you the difference. I haven't ever missed a flight from SWA, but I figure they probably do the same thing for a late flight...(unless it wasn't your fault like a missed connecting flight or something like that).
So, anyway, it would probably be best to check with your airline for their specific policy just to be sure.
-DC

 

[Beast fan]

DW has missed flights 3 times in the past 6 years (yikes!). Each time, Northwest has put her on the next available flight.

 

[inkkognito]

This happened to us, but it was prior to 9/11 and to all the changes so it probably no longer applies:
We actually missed our flight even though we were at the airport and sitting at the gate! It was VERY early in the morning, and I am not a morning person so I was half asleep. Hubby convinced me that our gate was the wrong gate, so we sat there wondering why our plane never started boarding while it pulled out without us. They had been paging us, but we were both dozing. I still razz hubby about this!
It was American Airlines, and they were very understanding. We explained that we had a cruise ship to catch (one of our few RCCL cruises). There was one seat on the next flight, so they actually paid someone to give one of us their seat so we could both go. I was really impressed, since missing the flight was our fault.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[peg2001]

I've never missed the initial leg of a flight but I've missed connecting flights several times, usually due to weather or mechanical difficulties delaying the first leg. Since this is truely outside the control of the passenger, they have always just put me on a later flight. . .sometimes much later if the weather has been bad and they are trying to arrange LOTS of people's flight plans.

Peggy