sluggoaafa

First, sorry you missed your flight.

You're in MIA, ALWAYS-ALWAYS-ALWAYS keep checking the monitors for last minute gate changes. How many times are you on the plane and you hear after the FA announces the connecting gates, to ALWAYS double check the monitors because GATE CHANGES happen often and without notice.

Utilize the SKYTRAIN, it is actually FASTER than walking from one end of the concourse to the other end. Trains do depart approximately every 2 minutes.

NEVER trust the gate info on a boarding pass you printed at home. Again, your in MIA and changes happen often.

Always listen to the announcements in the terminal, they could be announcing a Gate Change for YOUR flight.

doodiedan

I don't even know what to trust anymore. A couple weekends ago at DFW I got a text from AA notifying me that my flight had changed to a certain gate. The AA iPhone app was telling me a different gate and my Tripit Pro was telling me a 3rd different gate.

The departure board at the airport was consistent with the iPhone app, so I went to the AC in that terminal and they confirmed that the departure board and iPhone app were correct.

20 minutes later they all synced up, but imagine if you had a tight connection and nobody to actually ask?

mvoight

Before heading to the gate would be a good time to check the departures board. Since boarding usually starts around T-30 or so, for domestic flights, gate updates for on time departures would have normally been posted by the time you 'headed to the gate".. Not much of a big deal for places like SJC, SFO, or even LAX... but something you need to do for places like DFW or MIA

I would no rely on an SMS text or voicemail for this information, as those methods are not 100 percent failsafe.

demkr

The text notifications would be helpful...if they would actually work.

My originating flights I get the notifications 100% of the time. Connecting flights, I get them 0% of the time. For some reason, the system skips over connecting flights. In an airport like DFW when you could be told to go from Terminal D to Terminal C in a heartbeat, it would come in handy

QueenOfCoach

What was the boarding time printed on your boarding pass?

I am always at the gate well before the advertised boarding time. Some flights start boarding earlier than others.

I like to be where I am supposed to be.

riteshraja

What he said.

riteshraja

TripIt is junk. Any IROP and its useless. Try Triptracker. Only downside it you have to put in all your account info.

formeraa

I guess I'm a fanatic about checking the monitors every 10-15 minutes when I'm at the airport. In addition, I am at or near the gate at least 40 minutes prior to departure -- just in case there's a last minute gate change.

I've never missed a flight due to a gate change over the past 30 years of traveling on my own, although I've had to run a few times...

HKG_Flyer1

This almost happened to me a couple of weeks ago at DFW. I checked aa.com at home before leaving for the airport; upon arriving at Terminal D (where my flight had just 20 minutes prior been scheduled to leave), I learned that it had been changed to Terminal A.

Not only did I have to run to make my flight... I had to check my bag at a different terminal (which at DFW seems to result in delayed baggage at times-- but not this time, thankfully).

battensea

8:25 pm

battensea

We waited at the gate for a few minutes after the originally-scheduled departure time. After that I figured there was no way we were getting on that flight, and there was no reason to expect a GA to show up there, so we tried to get help at other, staffed desks in the area.
We were sent on a wild-goose chase (took the tram to a different gate; on arrival there were told we shouldn't have been sent there, got sent back to area we'd left ...). While we were running around, we were also checking the internet to see if there might be any other flights on other airlines, but it was already too late at night.

I ended up calling customer service and getting rebooked over the phone.

sluggoaafa

So this whole entire goose chase to find out what gate you were truly departing, you never once checked any of the multiple departure screens located through-out the airport....including at the top of ALL Skytrain stations, to know what gate your flight was actually departing out of?

Again, never rely on the departure gate on your boarding pass printed from home. ALWAYS check the departure monitors....I'll check each set of screens when I'm walking to the gate, more times than not, it'll change, especially in Miami.

At least you'll know for the future

brp

I find this happens often enough at DFW as well. I'll check the monitors repeatedly.

This is one advantage of the downsizing at SJC. If it's LAX (Eagle) it's gate 7. If DFW or ORD, gate 8. Simple

Cheers.

battensea

We were sent on a wild goose chase by GAs at two other gates whom we had approached for help getting rebooked after we realized we had missed our flight. No GA showed up at the gate our flight departed from so we had to look elsewhere for help.

InsipidMonkey

This almost happened to me last year. I overestimated how long it was going to take me to get to LGA and arrived at the gate over an hour early. Took a seat near an outlet and started working, only half-noticing that there were very few people in the gate area. About 20 mins before the scheduled departure, I was surprised to hear my name being paged to the gate directly across the way. Apparently there was a gate change after I cleared security (and after the T-1hr AA txt) that I didn't notice.
Admittedly, I should have been more proactive in investigating why there was no one at the gate 30 mins prior to departure, but you would think there would at least be a local announcement or a follow up txt regarding a gate change within T-1hr.