What Are They Thinking About?!!!

[Mike Jones]

... we recently flew easyJet to Belfast and the flight was delayed for 30 minutes while they tracked down a couple who had checked in and loaded baggage, then disappeared! They had "been having a coffee and looking through the shops and just lost track of time" (*****!?) I know this will have been observed by EVERYONE at some time, both on domestic and international flights, but my brain just can't cope with the implications, namely that, (especially for a mega-bucks, orlando trip) the punters have booked the hol/flight, paid for it, turned up at the airport to check in and then.... FORGOTTEN WHAT THEY ARE THERE FOR! Once our luggage is checked, we also take coffee, do duty free etc, walk the kids to see the planes taking off, but we watch the boards to track our flight and we keep looking at our watches! Are we weird? Is it strange to focus on the flight as being more important than anything else that day? And while I'm on one, how the hell can you get to the airport without your tickets or passports? I cry laughing at these morons on 'Airport' etc each week on TV! I sleep with our documents the night before and take them in the shower, zip-locked in poly bags! Even then, I check them about every 10 minutes from leaving the house/hotel until boarding, obtaining witnesses from the family confirming where I've put them (inside, mesh (viewable!) pocket of document pouch, hung round neck, under jacket!).

Phew! That feels better! Any experiences? Am I too hard on the rest of my fellow travellers? Anyone care to admit that they travelled to Belfast on easyJet recently and forgot the time?

Mike.

 

[Goofyish]

Tickets and Passport - they nve leave my sight on the day we fly. I check I have them avery couple of mins. and my DW keeps asking me 'have you got the tickets', 'have you got the passports' LOL

I loved the one on Airport or Airline the othe month where someone had booked to fly on holiday to the med. and then turned up 2 days late for the flight! Aparently they had forgotten what day they had booked to go!

 

[WDWfan uk]

We have been all set in an aircraft ready to fly out on time when they discovered that two check-in passengers hadn't boarded more than once! In one case they had been shopping and lost track of time - well thanks very much! We had to sit on a stuffy aircraft and lose our flight window and consequently just sit there for nearly an hour.

Two passengers who had checked in for our American Airlines flight didn't board the plane - after 30 minutes they then had to offload all the luggage to remove their bags. Possibly they had an emergency of some sort but we just wished they'd decided not to fly before they checked in!

Actually I really don't mind if the reason they don't board is because of some unforseen emergency/accident/whatever, but being irresponsible and holding up a flight because of shopping and losing track of time does irritate!

 

[Olaf]

How incredibly rude and thoughtless.

I'm like the rest of you, I obsess about all of my documents when on vacation. I'm constantly checking to be sure I haven't lost anything. Drives DH nutty.

 

[Sue & Co.]

I'm obsessive-compulsive about things like this. We invariably get to the airport hours too early because i want to 'allow' for emergencies on the way (which then don't happen)! I also check frequently that we have all passports, tickets etc - and get my poor DH to check with me. I must admit I can't understand these people who turn up at the wrong time/with the wrong passports - it's just not me.....

 

[floridalol]

Mike - this is getting scary. I've agreed with just about every post you have submitted for the last few weeks! I'm starting to think I've got a long lost twin brother!

How anyone can turn up at the airport without passports, tickets, visas, wrong time, wrong day etc etc is beyond comprehension. Also the arrogance of those who turn up late and start shouting that the plane hasn't left the tarmac yet really infuriate me.

We were held up on a flight to Malta once because a family of 4 didn't board after checking in luggage, flight officials were trying to search for their luggage to offload when they were admitted to the aircraft (to save time locating for the luggage), their excuse was that the son was playing Space Invaders and was on a record score! During the flight one of the passengers accidently spilled a can of Coke over the father - what a shame!

Best wishes

FloridaLol

 

[Beth__WDW23/6/02]

I agree, Dp looks after everything, Tickets,Passports,Insurance etc,he checks on them Every minute of the day,until we board the plane,then he will relax a tad! Until we land!!

Watching Airline,I cant help but wonder why these stupid people turn up minutes/hours late for a VERY IMPORTANT flight, they have to be there TODAY they always say? but why couldnt they make the effort to be on time!!,then they wouldnt have the stress of it all, and they would make that very important flight. It cant be that important if they cant make the effort to be there on time? i mean if they did have a valuable excuse fair play...but jeez they arent the only people on them flights.!! Its all silly.
Luckily we've never been on a plane with people missing etc.

Last thing you want to do is be late/forget something for that all important sun therapy!!

Beth (Rant over)!!

 

[Mike Jones]

... heartening to hear that it's not just me!! We always leave earlier than necessary, such that we have occaisionally been at the airport 4 hours before scheduled flight time!! (only when my dad's been with us... he's worse than me!!) I really think there should be some sort of intelligence/aptitude test levied when you book a flight (" can you walk and chew gum at the same time, sir?" or similar ) ... Beth.. I wholeheartedly agree with yr Airline observations.. the essential point made by all these idiots is " I'm stupid, and it's your fault! Compensate me NOW for being a moron"!!! Sterilisation may be better than compensation in the long run! (Isn't it funny how the Scouser staff at L'pool airport don't seem to subscribe to the 'customer is always right' policy? Love it!)

Floridalol - we should start a Victor Meldrew appreciation club!

Mike

 

[SandraM]

Hey Mike -
Are we related???!!!
My mantra from about 24 hours before departure is "Tickets, Money, Passports, Tickets, Money, Passports, Tickets, Money, Passports ..."
We recently had a holiday in Menorca - departure was from Shannon (we live in Dublin so had to drive down the night before to keep hubby happy - he was worried we'd have a delay if we left on the day of the flight - however we stayed in the local Radisson SAS at a great price and it was really nice) and the airline was LTE.
Flight left on time, crew was the most humourless I've ever experienced and there was one madam who was the rudest, most aggressive person I have ever met in any way related to the airline industry. People got spoken to throughout the flight in a way I haven't been spoken to since I was in school. The landing in Mahon was the hardest I've experienced outside of a thunderstorm landing. People were terrified. Weather conditions were perfect. No explanations given.
My 16 y.o. DD was in horror at the thought of the return journey. I had to dose her with Kwells to get her on the plane. Flight was actually not too bad, unsmiling staff and dirty plane notwithstanding.
Having accepted our return trip was going to be a long one as it was via Belfast (I was going to get out and wave to jj and Jules!), we got excited when we landed early as we thought our drive home from Shannon would finish earlier. We were told to stay put after the Belfast people disembarked as we would be taking off in 20 minutes, then people arrived on board and were confused because their seats were already taken - no one had told them to take whatever seats were free until Shannon when they could then take their assigned seats. Dirty looks were shooting all over the plane! The grim faces of the LTE staff didn't help, I could go on for hours about this one.
What really killed us though was that we ended up sitting on the plane for over an hour and a half as apparently no one was available to reverse the plane into a position to move on to the runway!
All the passengers had been on time, checked in, had the correct documentation etc. Still, there we were, stuck.
My 13 year old son did a review of LTE, which, as he says leaves out more than it leaves in - you can read it if you look at "Shannon to Mahon" on this site:
www.carsurvey.org/air/airline_LTE+International+Airways.html
Cheers everyone,
Sandra
Whoops, sorry that ended up long! Moderators, let me know if I should delete most of this and start a new thread? Sorry again.

 

[Mike Jones]

Sandra... great review by your DS!! I've never suffered from rude or inattentive aircrew, (fortunately, by the sound of it!).. but when you combine the issues raised on this thread, namely moron co-passengers and the lack of organisation/ ill-manners shown by the companies, it's a wonder we get anywhere! It's probably worth it though! (... I reserve the right to change this opinion after our marathon at xmas (Mcr to Philly, Philly to Tampa and back!)