eefor jfp

My son arrived in Frankfurt today from Atlanta on Delta transferring to Croatia Airlines to Split (all on one ticket purchased from Air France), The gate was listed as C13 and the flight before his flight was to Tel Aviv and had all kinds of special security. My son was told that the next flight was his and to waitat C13 by the airport staff. Later FRA/Croatia Airlines changed the gate and he missed his flight. There were no general monitors at C13 (it's apparently isolated) and no announcements were made in that special gate. LH & OU are refusing to admit they did anything wrong and insisting that he buy a new ticket to Split. They said he should have seen the monitor (again, the only monitor in the C13 area (my son says) kept saying Split until after the OU flight had departed). They also said that they made announcements but they also said that no gate announcements need to be made and that it's up to the passengers to check the monitors. Of which there were none.

Croatia Airlines says it's his fault and that that's that. Is he out of luck and just needs to cough up $300 for a new ticket or is there any way to appeal this?

thbe

The gate change from C13 to C17 was announced at 10:53h CET. OU413 left C17 at 12:20h CET. C13 and C17 are not far away from each other.

The airport staff seems to be right to say, that OU413 will start at Gate 13 as that was the plan at that time.

How many passengers waited at C13 and missed the flight as well?

LondonElite

This.

YuropFlyer

Another this. Basically, this seems to be somewhat of a rookie mistake. Definitely happens around the world by less experienced travellers not too infrequently, especially if having their mind somewhere else. Sometimes, the airlines might show more generosity, sometimes less, it really depends on the exact situation. With the facts we've gotten from this thread so far, it looks like it will be quite hard to argue, since I assume he was the only one keep waiting at the wrong gate for such a long time?

eefor jfp

He said there were 4-5 other passengers with him that ended up missing the flight. Because C13 is isolated (together with C14-16), he had to go back out and through security again to get from C13 to C17 and that took time. Definitely a rookie mistake (I would have checked the airport app starting at 11:30 but he didn't move until 11:50 or 11:55 and by then it was too late to change gates). Flying in coach from Atlanta on Delta didn't help with his awareness for sure. But he said that C13's monitor had the Split flight displayed the whole time he was at the gate so he just assumed it was late.

thbe

Sometimes things go wrong, i.e. gate monitors still showing the flight even if there was a gate change.

The problem is to proof that. As your son wasn't the only one who missed the flight, it could be a good argument to ask the airline for some goodwill. It helps. if he knows the names of the other passengers.

But I'm afraid it 's about OU's goodwill.

YuropFlyer

I once had a situation where the monitor in the lounge (At ZRH airport, my home airport, so I pretty much know the drill there) wouldn't show "go to gate" (usually about 5min too early than you really gotta go) and neither "boarding" for my flight, and my flight only. All other flights were going to "go to gate" and "boarding" as one would expect it (it was a regular day, no delays or anything)

I simply thought my flight has some kind of delay and waited in the lounge till about 15min before departure (it was supposed to leave from a gate nearby the lounge so I wouldn't worry) when it was still not on "go to gate" or "boarding" - being a bit irritated I left the lounge at that time despite no signs yet that I should go.

I reached the gate completely empty besides tha gate staff, and they scolded me of being late. Apparently, there was a malfunction for my flight, and my flight only that day somehow.

I made it, but would I have trust the information I was pretty sure they'd have had zero sympathy when asking to get rebooked for free.

Rule of thumb: Do NEVER trust the information boards. Take them as what they're, "informations", and always double check.