Karen2

Happens to me a lot, not necessarily at airports. BUT, at Osaka airport, just ahead of me boarding was Gil Amelio (yes, the one from Apple) whose house I had purchased some years before and whose son lives in my neighborhood. We chatted briefly.

In Mexico City, I ran into my former boss at GE. And in SFO, I boarded with Kathy Wldrf of flyertalk. We had gone to many DOs together so we signed the Hemispheres magazine so we could say we found a flyertalk name there.

In Delhi, my husband and I entered a temple, sat down to take off our shoes, when a woman shouted my name and asked what I was doing there. We had been in a meeting at the Mayor's office in San Jose the week before.

I boarded a bus in London and right up front was a woman I had chatted with the week before at the dry cleaner's. We both did a double take!

And, finally, this month my family of 18 took a cruise of the Caribbean and, to my amazement, my brother and his wife were on the same cruise. Neither of us had any idea that the other was even going on a cruise. What are the chances? At dinner the first night, over half of us had run into my brother already and were teasing the rest with the fact that a mystery guest was on board.

So, it is not just at a cafe along the Champs Elysees that you will eventually see everyone you know.

MMinFWonAA

Did a DFW-LGW mileage run several years ago. Cleared customs and took shower in AC. Ran into couple who lived down the street while walking thru terminal. They were on a 3-week trip in Europe and just happened to be in LGW during the couple of hours I was there.

Boraxo

This happens to me frequently. A month ago I ran into a manager at my former employer in the LAX UC (fka RCC). He was very friendly as I now work for a client of his new firm.

A year ago I ran into a high school/college classmate at SFO. Also flying on the same flight.

SBFlyerUA

It happens to me quite frequently. A few examples.

Ran into a guy I work with sometimes walking down the corridor in SFO. I am based in SBA, him DCA.

Flight from DEN to AUS recently, ran into a client, we were on the same flight.

Ran into the family of one of my daughter's friends in DEN at the Mexican restaurant upstairs in Terminal B.

Pretty regularly see people I know on my flights in and out of SBA, as it's a small town and the flights are not too numerous.

Non-airport sightings include running into a college teammate at the Princeton Club in NYC a couple years ago. We didn't go to Princeton.

Amelorn

It was a relatively frequent occurrence when I studied at St Andrews. The Americans by and large transited LHR, though I did hear of chance encounters at AMS and FRA.

Binagirl

I ran into friends of my ex husband (from 20 years ago). They were on the same flight I was taking home from meeting my soon to be new husband in a part of the country where it was totally unexpected.

StuckinITH

Not in an airport, not on a plane and not even me. But my wife.

When she was a teenager, she lived in Buenos Aires and was going every year for the summer vacation to Punta del Este, Uruguay. There, they were always meeting a family living in Montevideo. After her University graduation, my father in law took my wife on a trip to Mexico. And who did they meet in a museum in Mexico City? Their friends from Uruguay. The whole family.

For me, every time I go to my local airport or come back to it from PHL, there's somebody I know on the plane. That's what happens when you live in a small town. There's no hiding.....

pinniped

I used to occasionally run into people I knew at ORD when I was connecting through there 2x a week. Random old high-school friends, people I'd worked with, etc. I'm not from Chicago, nor were most of the people I'd bump into.

Weird non-airport ones: I've had three.

- When I was 20, standing outside the Sistine Chapel, I bumped into a guy with whom I'd attended third grade. He moved to another city that year and we hadn't seen each other since. Yet we instantly recognized each other. He joined us for dinner and beers that night, and I have not seen him since.

- In '09, in a coffeeshop in the center of Cairo's sprawling Khan el-Khalili souk, I bumped into a person with whom I'd trained for a marathon a couple years earlier in Kansas.

- On the London Underground at midnight, coming back to the hotel from a night out, I ran into an old college buddy. This guy was actually a pretty good friend in college, so we got together the next night for dinner and exchanged updated information. I still keep in touch with him via email and Linkedin, whereas we'd been in college just prior to the ubiquity of email so hadn't really been in touch. The random meeting on the Tube is to thank for the re-connection.

LAX2Anywhere

I can recall two airplane / airport cases.

1) Sitting on the plane at KOA a few years back, a former co-worker came down the aisle. Only had time for a quick conversation - "What are you doing here?". "Vacation".

2) At LHR Star Alliance Club maybe 5 years ago. I was connecting DUB-LHR-LAX. Walking through the lounge I noticed somebody familar looking walking next to me. Took us a minute to figure it out, but we had met while sail boat racing with a mutual friend.

uclalum

Non-flying related:

1. Spring Break as a 5 year old (1985). Family drove 750 miles to the Grand Canyon. Walking from the restroom to our campsite, I run into a Kindergarten classmate and his family.

2a. On family vacay to England. Bump into neighbors from down the street that we know, but aren't necessarily close to.

2b. On a getaway to N'awlins (not during Mardi Gras) several years later, run into the same neighbors on Bourbon Street.

3. Searched some sporting goods on Craiglist. Low-ball offer sent, and after some haggling and sob story about my wife wearing the pants and controlling the funds, he comes around to my price. I am not sure it is technically haggling when we didn't meet in the middle, but he came down to my original offer. Go to meet and turns out it is a fellow board member from the same youth sports organization that I had become initiated as a new board member just a couple weeks prior. Here I am, just met the guy, and now he has already seen my cheap side.

Ancien Maestro

My wife when she was a tweenie, went to Hawaii for Christmas Break and met up with two other local farm families, whose classmates she was going to school with at the time. They ended up hanging out with one another during and throughout the holidays, since all families were considered friends.

That was the only time she went to Hawaii as a child.

CApreppie

Well not much hopefully because I set him up with his current partner (he) on a "blind date."

TMOliver

Running into folks at airports or elsewhere while traveling is not unusual, but can be a bit quaint as described below....

Istanbul, 1963, my ship anchored out. A group of us had come ashore on a "Liberty Boat" and walked from the "Fleet Landing" up the hill to the Hilton's bar, ordered drinks and began to survey the crowd. I turned and next to me at the bar was a high school classmate and once close friend. involved in a conversation with several men. When he didn't respond to my greeting, I was a bit miffed. The next morning, back on the ship, a note from him, brought aboard from the Shore Patrol station at the Fleet Landing, conveyed that his current employment and "Non-presence" in Istanbul prevented our "reunion". I later learned that he was in his first years of a career at "The Agency" as we then called it. Sadly, his career and life went downhill soon after.

eman13

In life ? always.. I have friends all over the world, both from meeting the there or elsewhere.

In airports so so, mostly in mia - fll since its my home town

chgoeditor

On a similar note. My Mom and her family lived in Tangier after WW2, from her kindergarten to teenage years. US military boats periodically docked in Tangier and the US expat community would welcome the soldiers. My Mom and a friend decided to join a group on a bus tour through town. The soldier sitting behind her was telling his seatmate where he was from--a small town on Long Island--and it caught my Mom's attention because she was from that same small town. She turned around to introduce herself. The soldier turned out to be a cousin of hers she'd never met before. (Years later that cousin's daughter and my Mom both lived in the DC area, but not particularly close to one another. They had several random chance meetings in unexpected places.)