I missed a flight once. I was heading back home SYR-ORD sometime in summer '02, back when there was still mainline UA service. UA was going through one of their schedule flux periods where the mid-day flight left at 12:30 one week, 12:00 the next, and 12:30 the following. It just happened that I was in the 12:00 week, and had just made my reservation for the following week, so I thought it was also 12:30.

Had I not been "randomly selected" for additional screening (ie, I was the only guy going through the checkpoint, and they can't *really* be the Thousands Standing Around ), I would have made the 12:00 with a minute or two to spare. Instead, they'd just pushed back.

It helped that I was a frequent face for the gate agents at SYR and that I was on a full Y fare. As penance, I had a 4-hour layover in SYR (which I think is frequently handed out in Confession for minor sins in central NY). The GA took pity and put me in F for the later flight.