CMK10

It's only happened to me once. Back in 2005 I went to Cleveland to see the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame and as I was exiting, I ran into my brother's best friend who I really disliked at the time. For some reason, even though he rarely spoke to me when I saw him around my hometown, he wanted to chat and I wanted to leave. Awkward experience all around.

VT_hawkeye

Best story of this sort I've got:

About 10 years ago, on a weekend IKEA run about 2 hours from my hometown and 4 from where I went to school, I'm about halfway up the entry escalator when someone shouting from behind me cuts through the mental fog. Turns out it's the mother of a college friend. So I scramble down (sorry, fellow shoppers) and try to figure out what she's doing there, since my friend's parents live 5 hours the other side of the store. At which point my friend herself appears, and mentions that if she's here, picking up small stuff at my local IKEA is cheaper than hers.

My friend lived in Paris at the time.

mandolino

Walking through a big company lobby in Mumbai, I was surprised to hear someone shout my name. It was an Indian-Australian friend from Melbourne who was over on a short-term contract. Scanning the crowd for familiar faces (as one does) I just hadn't noticed him among the Indian faces. He took great pleasure in my embarrassment.

top987

I've run into neighbors, friends and coworkers a number of times, usually at my home airport, but a couple times at hubs. Most were uneventful, wave hello types of encounters. But there was one that stands out to me:

Once at PIT I went to the ATM and noticed a scruffy looking character eyeing me curiously and possibly following me. Long hair, bushy beard, heavy coat, etc. I'm naturally suspicious by nature, some use the word paranoid to describe me. So I decided not to use that ATM.

As I walked away he approached and said "don't I know you?"

I replied, I don't think so, and started to continue walking away. He then told me his name, which I recognized, but he didn't remember mine. It turns out we were in the Marine Corps together and were in the same platoon for a while. I still wear a flat top hair cut and carry about the same weight so I was easily recognizable to him, but he was not only scruffy, he had put on a few extra pounds and I had no idea who he was at first hiding behind all that hair.

We had a good laugh, and went on our separate ways.

shiba

I've run into ex coworkers and clients from my former company at JFK/EWR/ORD checkin counter, concourse, lounge etc at least 5 times. A few months back I randamly sat next to an ex coworker on a flight from NRT-JFK that I hadn't seen in years. It was nice to catch up as I used to work closely with him and he told me then was relocating to Chicago a few weeks later. Also a few months back I was seated next to my former bosses at a Conrad hotel bar while on an international business trip.

shmuey

Can't recall it actually happening at my home airport but JFK seems to be a hotspot for me. Also was waiting to board a connection at Midway and saw a high school friend and her family waiting as well. My favorite though is randomly meeting Americans in foreign cities and learning that they live in the same city as you or have common friends.

powerlifter

One time I was in Moscow when I called a colleague of mine in the states. His wife answered the phone,and told me he was out of town. I then went to a cafe to get something to eat, and there sat my colleague.

sethb

Not counting cases where other people I know are traveling to or from the same event (which is quite common, sometimes a noticeable fraction of the entire plane).

Flying out of MSP, I didn't get upgraded. Then the GA comes on board with a pile of boarding passes and upgrades a lot of us; it turns out that another plane diverted, taking most of the occupants of F with it. The person who ended up sitting next to me lived in my building (but I hadn't previously met her).

Calusin

Two times my neighbors. First time at JFK after security and the second time was not at an airport but in the city center of Bangkok.

safigan

I befriended a fellow traveler while vacationing in France. She's from Australia. I'm from the U.S. We met at random on the streets of Auckland, New Zealand.

CApreppie

I ran into a friend of mine a IAD this last November with my mother. We were connecting to Europe and he was returning to the SF Bay Area for work. Chatted for a few minutes. We actually live in the same city in the SF Bay Area and we meet in the airport. I need to give him a call to catch up not in the airport.

canadiancow

I was flying YYZ-YVR, and texting a friend and former colleague. I turned off my phone, and when I turned it back on upon landing, I had one more message: "I think Bob might be on your flight."

So I sent a text to Bob. Sure enough, he was. I waited for everyone to deplane (he was at the very back), and then we walked through US pre-clearance together, and I guested him into the lounge. Without that text, I wouldn't even have noticed him, because I would have been long gone.

I randomly ran into maradori at SFO before a mileage run last year.

I ran into a colleague on a SFO-YYZ flight when I was coming back from a vacation and he was coming back from a work trip.

I've also arranged to meet up with several FTers at various airports/flights, but I don't think pre-arranged meetups count

CMK10

Wait a minute...what was this so called "friend" doing with your Mother???

CEB

Happens to me at least four or five times per year. Likely because I frequently am on the way to a conference somewhere in Asia or Europe where colleagues form other countries or companies are headed as well. Before about 2005 it was even more frequent. Sometimes I find them on the flight, other times we meet in passing at airports. Most frequent encounters at NRT, SIN, DEN and FRA though occasionally at TPE as well.

Does not seem to be particularly unusual to me.

msiamsia

I was taking a snap shot of my kid at the gate and without knowing it, one of our relative (a distant uncle) whom I haven't seen for, like 10 years, was in the background of the photo. Naturally, aunt was also there and we chat all the way home.
I had no idea that the uncle & aunt were on the same flight home.