slo’s WEDNESDAY 3/19 poll - Missing Your Flight ✈️

[slo]

Just the thought of this stresses me out. I have never had this happen to me, but we came pretty darn close this last trip. All I can say, is thank God we travel with DD21 and that she is very observant of her surroundings. We were running behind leaving WDW, due to us doing an extended DVC tour at the Polynesian tower. We started our tour the day before at Bay Lake Tower and then the DVC cast member told us that she would meet us after our Ohana breakfast on Saturday morning to show us the Polynesian tower. Time goes by so fast in Disney World and before I knew it I looked down at my watch and it was 12:30 PM - we wanted to be in our car, pulling out of Disney World at 12:30 PM. We we left soon after at around 12:45 PM and my husband put in Orlando airport in the GPS - he did not put in MCO. He hit GO on the navigation at it was taking us to Sanford airport. Naturally I didn’t notice, because I’m THE WORST at navigation, DH was starting to get doubtful of where we were headed (he didn’t say anything yet) and finally DD21 spoke up and said - this is wrong! She pulled up MCO on her phone map and we were now 30 minutes in the opposite direction. Thank God she is gifted with good navigation skills. So she directed DH to the airport, once we were in the area, DH knew where he was, but we still had to check a bag and return the rental car. I’m not gonna lie, it was kinda stressful. We did get to our flight on time, but not with much time to spare. I’m really going to hope that we don’t have anything like that happen again. I’m sure I’m not the only person with a close call or missed a flight. Share with us today if missing a flight happened to you……..

Have you ever missed a flight?
If yes……was it a direct flight or connecting flight?
If no……..have you ever had a near miss flight?
If yes…….how close were you to missing the flight?
(multiple-choice)



For Me……As I mentioned above, I haven’t missed a flight, but we had a stressful situation this past weekend. I can’t really classify it as a near miss, because even though we were cutting it close, we weren’t running through the airport, contacting someone to ask them to hold the flight, running up to the door, and the plane was already full - we got there about 10 minutes before boarding started, which for us is cutting to close, since we are normally at the airport, and at our gate 45 minutes to an hour before the flight.

This picture cracks me up!

 

[kanerf]

Once over Thanksgiving I was really tired and found out after the flight left that I was at the wrong gate. The airline was able to get me on the next flight around 2 hours later.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I have never missed a direct flight. I remember missing a connecting flight because the first part got in so late that the connecting flight had already left loooong before we arrived. The airline paid for a hotel and we left out the next morning. This was waaaaay back when I was a teenager.

I think the worst was though a lot more recently (within the past 10 years), the flights just getting plain cancelled on us. We were supposed to get home on a Saturday evening. We ended up getting home late Monday night.

 

[WDWEPCOT]

I have ran through the airport dragging two little kids and I mean ran to make a connection they were holding the plane for a bunch of us - not everyone made it I did my family made it but several other people did not make it but I’m telling you I was dead running and I was hoping everybody could keep up we made that connection I think one other family made that connection but not everybody made that connection
I was coming back from Europe the flight was 7 1/2 hours delayed we did not make our connection we almost made it but no we did not so we had to spend the night and take the next morning’s flight
I had a flight got changed in the middle of the night and didn’t get the message lucky for me I am a person who gets to the airport way earlier than I should I made that flight I think one other family made that flight nobody else made the flight Because they changed it at like two in the morning and most people didn’t get the message this is way back in the day when we still had paper tickets that’s how old that flight is
I was sitting in the airport once and it was really crowded so I was sitting around the corner messing with some stuff waiting to board the plane and I don’t know what happened I never heard them call boarding and I said all we oughta go over there and see what’s going on and they were all done loading the plane and I’m like when did this happen I almost missed the flight I was literally 2 feet from it never heard them calling to board the plane I was lucky to make that flight and I was right there
So yeah there’s been several occasions I’ve almost missed a flight missed a flight I’ve learned over the years not to get stressed about it the only issue with me is I usually book the first flight of the morning to go down in the last flight of the night to come home so it’s only an issue on coming home because I always book the last flight of the night so if I have to spend the night at the airport I will
Going to the Orlando airport I’ve also learned over the years you never know how bad security is going to be and I learned recently that they close down the direct TSA security 8 pm so everybody has to go through one line so it doesn’t matter if you have direct or not everybody goes in the same line and it goes at a snails pace so you gotta get there really early or you might miss your flight trying to get through that line and they don’t care if you have TSA pre-check because they close it at 8 PM that made me almost miss my flight trying to get through that line so that was a good lesson to learn and supposedly they do that with every airport across the United States

 

[unrequited23]

I was travelling with some coworkers and our direct flight was delayed 2 hours. We decided to grab dinner in a sit down airport restaurant since we had a chunk of time to kill. Once we go through security again, we make it to our gate only to discover it has been changed to another terminal and we have to go through security for the third time. This was way back in the early 2000's before airline apps and smart phones were the norm.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

I've never missed any sort of flight, connecting or otherwise. However. I was once meeting a friend in I think it was Chicago for a connecting flight to Los Angeles that we were taking together to get to a convention. I got really, *really* lost in the Chicago airport and my social anxiety ramped up so much I couldn't bring myself to ask anyone for help.

I ran from gate to gate looking at the flight numbers until by some miracle I found the correct one. The door was closed. I ran up and begged to be let on. They told me they were about to retract the chute and pull away from the gate, and I started to cry because my friend was on the plane already waiting for me. I didn't have a phone to call her and let her know I was there. I just said, "please, PLEASE. My friend is already on the plane!" The gate attendant huffed a lot (and rightly so) but she checked my credentials and opened the door. I ran down the chute and onto the plane. EVERYBODY looked up at me, including my wide-eyed friend who thought she was leaving me behind. I took my seat next to her sheepishly and out of breath and sniffling.

I don't remember if I caused a delay in pulling away from the gate or not.

 

[BrianL]

I would say that I have never missed a flight, but one time I did - it was my sister's fault though! I would never be late for a flight. I have had flights delayed or cancelled on me, but I was there on time otherwise. I got stuck in Dallas once overnight because of that though. Generally, I live by the mantra that you can never be too early to the airport!

 

[Meriweather]

Never missed one, but was close. It was a connecting flight and we landed late due to Air Force one being in the area. Luckily the gate was only one over and I made it just before they were closing the door.

We have missed connecting ones because of the first leg leaving late.
We try to always go nonstop

 

[Moliphino]

I've never missed a direct flight, but I have missed connections because of weather delays.

We just got stuck in Dublin overnight in October because of extreme wind. Our first leg had an aborted landing and we wound up getting in over an hour late, so we missed the connection. We were put on the flight the next day (only one per day from Dublin to Hartford).

 

[bennifer]

I missed a direct flight years ago from Chicago to home. We just lost track of time, had lots of traffic and it was pre 9/11, so my friend came to the gate with me for the next flight and hung out while I was waiting.

 

[fla4fun]

I don’t fly often, but when I do I make sure I am at the airport even earlier than they recommend. I am one of those people that feels on time is late . . .

I have never flown anything except a nonstop flight, because I know I would either need to book extremely long layovers to give me peace of mind or I would be panicking through the first leg about being late.

 

[leebee]

IIRC, the only time I've missed a connecting flight was due to a delay in my arriving flight. We often travel later in the day and SW has been pretty good about holding connecting flights. They'd rather pay delayed gate costs than figure out how to put up X number of people overnight.

We almost missed a flight once. You can't predict the weather in Maine in the winter, and even if there's nothing going on in our neck of the woods, it doesn't guarantee what will be happening an hour or so south of here. The airport is 2 hours from our house and I like to be there 2 hours in advance, so always leave a big cushion for getting to the flight. However, one time, we were late. Can't remember why, could be a combination of weather and/or traffic. With a 4 hour cushion it's hard to believe, but we were LATE. The airline was paging us, by name, as we were waiting for our carry-ons to come thru TSA. I sent DD ahead, told her to run to the gate, let them know I was on my way, and to GET ON THE PLANE. Figured it'd be easier to reschedule one person instead of 2. Fortunately, I made it, but the gate agent was standing in the walkway, LOOKING for me to come running down to the gate.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Year ago, I missed a direct flight because I jotted the wrong departure day in my calendar. I literally showed up at the airport to check in just to find out I had missed my flight by a day. It was a costly error.

I have missed my connection a few times. The one that stands out the most occurred right after 9/11. I was flying up to NJ exactly 2 weeks after and I had a connection in Dallas. I ran and the door was literally closing as I was running up. By the time they could hear me and realize I was running for that specific flight, it was too late. Considering how raw things still were and I was flying an impacted airline, there was no budging in letting me on the flight. I was booked on another flight about 3 hours later.

I've come close a few times by no fault of my own. We've had the airline hold our connecting flight a couple of times. We've also had a couple of near misses with direct flights where weather or mechanical issues were in the mix and regulations concerning time windows for flight crews put things in jeopardy.

 

[Wood Nymph]

This is a good poll.

We've never missed a direct flight, but we did miss our connecting flight when flying to Hawaii. We had to pick up a connecting flight in Los Angeles and were delayed landing due to rain in the area. LA is not used to rain. Anyway, we were able to get on a flight three hours later.

I once had to run to my flight home at MCO. I was delayed getting through TSA because the airport decided to bring in a dog to search the crowd and it took forever before the dog came to our line. Anyway, everyone was already sitting on the plane when I got there and I was one of the last people to board. My husband was already sitting there. That was our incentive to get TSA precheck.

 

[lovin'fl]

I've only ever flown like a dozen or so times, well 2 dozen since most were round trip. And like only once was not a direct flight. I am a 'get to airport super early' kind of person so, nope, never missed a flight...knock wood.

 

[soccerdad72]

I've missed connections and been really close to missing connections, but nothing (that I can think of) regarding direct flights.

The most stressful one we had was years ago when we were going to Athens, Greece for my wife's new partner meeting. The original flight plan was to fly into LaGuardia (NYC) and transfer over to JFK for our connecting flight. We had something like a 3 hour layover in NYC, so we figured we'd have enough time. We get to our home airport and find out that the flight to LGA was delayed by at least a couple hours, so we knew that wasn't going to work. My wife (pre-Internet days) got on the phone with her corporate travel agents, who came up with an alternative plan, where we fly to Cincinnati and connect to JFK in time for our flight to Athens. Problem was, for some reason, nobody would check us all the way through, so we needed to go to the gate at JFK to check in for that flight (again, this is before the days of apps and the internet). More minor delays occur and we find ourselves sprinting through JFK as they were about to close the flight. We figured we just made it on time, but then come to find out they gave away our seats because we never checked in for that flight. I thought my wife was going to kill someone. Luckily, they figured out two seats that they had open, but we ended up doing that flight to Athens in two different rows, so we weren't together. Not the end of the world, but a really stressful travel day.

 

[The Mayor]

Never on a direct flight but I have missed several connecting flights when flying for work.

I had one flight in Bangalore, India where I caught the gate agent as she was getting ready to close the door and had to beg to get on as it was 1:00 AM in India and the next out wasn't until mid day and I would have missed my connection in Paris, which meant an additional day there. She relented and let me on!!

Had to run like hell once in the Minneapolis airport to catch a connecting flight. Landed at Gate F and connecting flight was at Gate A. That airport is huge but I made it!!

I've missed connecting flights in:
China
South Korea
Dubai
England
Scotland

I always leave in plenty of time to catch all flights from home or wherever we're vacationing. I don't relax until I'm sitting at the gate so I don't care how early I get to the airport.

 

[hertamaniac]

I missed a connecting flight from San Antonio to Atlanta on my way to home/Florida. It was weather delay related and the airline got me onto the next flight to Atlanta with a very small percentage that I would be able to make the last flight from there to GNV. I got to Atlanta and sure enough missed the connection to GNV. I had to spend the night "sleeping" on hard plastic chairs with the blasting sounds of cleaning equipment running through the gate/terminal.

On no sleep, I got to GNV around 9:30 AM the next AM and went to the office to tell my boss what happened and am going hope to sleep. Of course, he wanted a quick trip report (a few sentences) which was understandable.

But the worst flying experience topped that one....it was a 1/1000 chance of missing a connector and then getting it. Again, got into ATL late and had to take the last flight to GNV. But this time, everything was fine until the captain said that there is a fog bank sitting over GNV (and nowhere else in the state of FL) and isn't allowing us to land. So, they diverted us to MCO around 1:00 AM. No car, no flight to GNV at that hour, no hotel offered. They commandeered a bus at 5:30 AM and drove us to GNV to arrive around 7:30 AM. Again, no sleep, informed my boss what had happened, but this time I went straight home instead of stopping at my office.

 

[Disnsyncey]

I have missed connecting flights due to the airlines AND the airport....

But the best was when I MADE a connecting flight through Munich to Frankfurt, coming in from Naples.....they stopped the plane in the MIDDLE of the tarmac, pulled up the stairs, got on and asked for 5 people by name.....we got off, hopped in a van and they took us to our next plane....didn't even set foot in the airport.....bags didn't make it, OF COURSE

 

[lynxstch]

We missed a direct flight to Orlando for our honeymoon, it was the airlines issue. We were to fly out of our local airport, and 2 hours before the flight we got a phone call that our flight was cancelled due to weather conditions. No idea why, as the weather was perfect. They told us if we could get to Pittsburgh in an hour and a half we would be put on the next plane. Due to rush hour and traffic, we arrived 5 minutes after the plane left. They booked us on the next flight and upgraded us to first class. Everything went smoothly from there, but it wasn't a great start.