Often1

What OP did to the family at SFO is inexcusable. Ought to add such people to the no fly list and make flying a better experience.

Whether that family was running late because they chose to get drunk or their kid got sick, taking perverse pleasure in the misery of others, even when they are in the wrong, is unbalanced. Don't want those people on planes.

localady

I think that the part in bold is the key... If somebody just tries to push in front of me without an explanation, I'd be the same - get back in line... If somebody asks because they are running late... I'll step back and let them get through ahead of me...

localady

I didn't read it that way at all, nor did I hear any perverse pleasure... I just heard somebody who was standing in line when some guy (with his family) came up and pushed him out of line without even saying "excuse me" or "we're really running late"...

Tizzette

It is clear from OP's account that she understood the father was desperate for his family not to miss their flight, but because he lacked social skills to ask nicely to go ahead of her, she thwarted him. OP, knowing the father was motivated by desperation not to miss a flight, it was not the time to let your affronted feelings stand in the way.

exbayern

I'll often arrive early at MUC to do my shopping, banking, go to the post office, at at my favourite Turkish fast food etc and if I have extra time to enjoy the lounge. If I am flying F from FRA I may go early to shower and enjoy the FCL or FCT. I'll do similar if I want to pass time at some of the great airports and/or lounges around the world.

But I would never arrive early just to sit in a RCC.

Analise

I don't want people who push and shove others on the plane. The OP is exactly the kind of person you want on a plane. Was it YOU the OP was talking about who pushed, shoved and then got tossed out by security?

wallypiper

I'm a regular early arriver. To those who can only see time in an airport as wasted, I have to ask:

Can you not read?
Don't have any kind of device that allows you to make use of a little time here and there?
Actually, I think you have it exactly backwards. By not waiting till the last minute to arrive at the airport, I maintain control of my time. I decide when to make the trip to the airport, not the airline. I decide when to tackle security - line stupid long? Go sit and check my email and wait for it to thin out.
3/4 of my trips to an airport originate at my office, a hotel, or a client's office or plant. I leave for the airport when I'm ready to go, not when some airline policy blindly suggests it. And other than my house, it seems to me that most of the airports I go through have the same food choices as the road to the airport. Admittedly, I am not a gourmet diner when I travel so a Chilis or TGIFRidays or some other casual dining outlet is OK with me. That's where I'm going to eat whether I'm in the airport or stopped on my way to the airport.

When I am at home, I spend my time on the internet (like now), watching a little TV, reading a book or getting some work done. I can do all of those things in an airport (except the TV, which is probably good since I get a lot more out of a book anyway) just as easily as I can at home.

Because traveling is an unavoidable part of my job, I have learned to make it as calm and relaxing a process as possible as opposed to the "walk through security to the gate directly down the jetway and to my seat" plan which can turn into an anxiety-ridden nightmare at any moment due to an almost infinite number of circumstances that are completely beyond my control.

I bet you guys are the same ones that are "trying to make a tight connection so if the rest of us would please just stay in our seats for a few extra minutes" to let you scramble off to your sprint down the concourse. I'm sorry but what in the world made you think you could get from D2 to A30 in 20 minutes? Oh, yeah, you were trying not to waste YOUR time in an airport so you'll just ask me to waste MY time waiting for you to go ahead of me.

I will normally let somebody get in front of me if they're running late but if they're late AND they're rude, not so much. All it takes is "Excuse me, I am really running late". Don't have time to get that out? I think the line over at the service counter is shorter. They will gladly book you on the NEXT flight.

pacer142

This is just like the thing with seat swapping.

If you ask politely without showing entitlement, you may[1] well get, or maybe you will get someone who politely declines because they may be in just as much of a hurry.

If you push in without so much as saying anything, that is not acceptable and I will politely insist you go to the back of the queue and will point the pushing-in out to a member of staff.

If you assault me for any reason whatsoever (I would never start a physical fight, I am completely non-violent), you will be getting arrested.

[1] Depends on the circumstances. It was, for example, clear that at LTN last week, if I'd let everyone in front who asked I would never have been checked in and would eventually have missed my own flight, so after the first few I politely directed people to the nearby "last minute check-in" queue instead, explaining that this was the Speedy Boarding queue and that most of us had paid extra for the privilege, largely for the ability to cut things fine, so it would be unfair on everyone in the queue to let everyone in front. Nobody seemed to take exception to that.

Neil

kilton

Wow, so you'd prefer the OP to reward the guy's bad behavior by letting him cut in line? Fascinating.

LondonElite

I think you need to distinguish between the whites and the blacks. To me, as I said, excessive airport time is wasted. I don't go to the airport to fawn over the reheated pasta that they may have in the lounge or to pretend that there is some huge wave of socio-emotional bonding at the departure gate. That doesn't mean that I arrive at the last minute and push my way past people to make my tight connection.

I am fortunate to have enough of the right plastic (and purchased airfare, in most cases) to avoid standing in a slow line. I also travel enough to be able to fairly accurately judge how long it will take me to get from the front door of my house to the front door of the plane. Nine times out of 10 it works out beautifully. Occasionally it gets a bit tight if there is heavy traffic, but I have never missed a flight for these reasons.

My point is that I'm not one of these lounge lice who arrive excessively early to 'experience' the 'amenities'. Virtually all US airport lounges are dreary places with dire furnishings, limited if any food, and only passable drinks. Asian and European higher-end lounges are often very nice (viz LH FCT, BA CCR, CX Wing/Pier, SQ SilverKris) but even these get a bit boring after 30 minutes.

I understand where you are going, and I will admit that if, for example, I'm flying from LHR to HKG on an evening flight directly from my office, then I'll head to the airport a little earlier because I know that I can have a shower and a massage in the lounge, and then enjoy a glass (or three) of 1996 Ch Talbot while I wait for my flight. But that is the exception and not the rule.

pacer142

It would certainly seem so. I would disagree - yes, someone might be a little short if they are panicked about missing a flight, but "excuse me, my flight closes in one minute, can I come in front please" while moving in front is not hard - or just "sorry, my flight is closing". And, assuming they did not have some sort of medical condition that might affect their attitude such as some form of autism (most people with a bad attitude do not - most of them are simply rude and self-centred, just as most badly-behaved children do not have ADHD - most of them are simply badly-behaved children, and saying they have ADHD devalues and ridicules the genuine condition), if they do not improve their attitude, sorry, they lose out - in life in general, not just when checking in for a flight.

And it might prove that the response is "Sorry, my flight closes in one minute as well". As that person has queued, and the person pushing in has not, it's the person pushing in who gets to miss their flight.

Neil

User Name

Exactly. Reading comprehension does not appear to be a much-exercized skill in the context of this thread...

cordelli

So the OP clearly knew they were flying to the UK, and they had little time. Doesn't sound like a family just came plowing through with their cart to me.

Oh, they somehow indicated they wanted to get in front of the OP, but did not explain what was going on. Probably because they assumed the OP already knew why (as they clearly indicated they did) but did not want to take the time to give a written explanation. Either way, it still does not appear to me they just showed up plowing through with their cart cutting the line.

So not only did they indicate they wanted to go ahead so they would not miss their flight, the OP actually took the time to explain no that was not going to happen.

Again doesn't really sound like some rabid family forcing a cart through the line to me.

There are those who will read this and comprehend the poor innocent OP was standing there three and a half hours before their flight minding their own business when this possibly non english speaking family (interesting how that was even an issue) plowed though the line without saying anything for no reason at all and was wrestled to the ground by security. The poor OP never saw them coming.

There are those, like me, who read the same words and comprehend an OP who clearly knew what was going on and when the family wanted to make their flight by going ahead, choose not to let them do so because they did not take the time to explain to the OP's satisfaction their reason for needing to do so, which the OP clearly said they already knew. The OP knew when they entered the terminal

and knew they were late

knew they wanted to get by and obviously knew why they needed to get by
and instead of doing what I would have done (well actually they would not have had to ask, if I knew somebody behind me was in that much of a rush I would have waved them by without making them beg) and just let them by went into some power trip about how they only had one bag and should have gotten there earlier.

It is amazing the same story could be read so many different ways, and some people feel the need that when people don't read the same words the same way to question their ability to read.

emma69

Absolutely, I am not a last minute cut the line kinda girl, nor am I the sit around and read for hours kinda girl. I can surf the web, watch tv, read a book etc at the gate, but I can't go to the gym, water my garden, finish a business lunch, finish a meeting, go swimming, do my laundry etc. at the gate!

exbayern

Exactly, and the lounge which the OP speaks about in his first post has recently been downgraded ever further. I know it well, and rarely use it, choosing instead to be outside the lounge in that terminal/airport which is frankly better for most reasons than being inside the lounge!

But if I have the choice at FRA for instance of being in the gate area or being in the FCL, that choice is rather obvious.

The reality too is that past posting history plays a role in how many people interpret posts. To be fair, I believe that OP is still one of our 'junior members' ie not yet an adult? (Not that age means much; some of the teens posting on FT seem to be more intelligent and more compassionate than some of the older posters here) I am not making excuses for the OP being a child, but I do tend to be a little more lenient towards the junior posters because some of them do not yet have as much experience as others here.

Having said that however I do agree that in this situation, I don't agree with OP's behaviour. The fact that he chose to post about it also colours my opinion.