Sweet Willie

0 that were my fault, a couple due to inbound delayed flight but overall I never miss a flight.

Came close this past Friday, talking with a client in an airport bar, all of a sudden I look to my gate area and there are 5 pax in line boarding and a BUNCH of stand by looking pax. I ran up to the gate agent and asked if they had called standby yet, he didn't answer but a pax next to me stated yes & they've called "XXXX" & "YYYY" (not me), just then agent announces that me and the pax who answered me are the last two to get on the flight. WHEW !!!!

MsTravelBug

I miss a flight every now and then. Other than misconnects, the most common reason is when the business that took me to that destination runs longer than planned.

hussmanne

PHX - connecting somewhere to MSN 2002 maybe. Was in the airport, lost track of time. Booked on next flight.

ICN-PVG in 2005, Food poisoning, rain, trouble getting taxi (all in Seoul have LPG tanks in the back and didn't want to take my luggage), over weight limit(travel agent had booked me on a flight w/ 20KG limit, I was moving!). Booked on next flight, reduced overweight fee.

ORD-PHX 2008 Staying in Lincoln Park area Chicago. Trying to walk to catch a taxi, gay pride parade, rain. Ticket agent took pity on me (plus the fact he mentioned he would have been at the parade if he wasn't working that day probably helped). Rebooked next flight.

MNL-SGN 2009 Visa issues. My fault.

Plenty of near misses and a couple of domestic/international transfer issues (I'm looking at you Air Canada! ). So far been pretty lucky!

The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed.

robinsok

Only one ever,

Was in CX FC lounge in HK waiting for flight to Shanghai, was on laptop and lost track of time - panicked 25 mins before flight, informed Lounge agent, ran (well as fast as I could) to gate but luggage offloaded.

CX gate agent great, organised next flight on Dragonair. (who also ensured a rush was put on baggage).

sethb

Not counting missed connections that weren't my fault, once or twice.

The "maybe" I was at the airport in plenty of time, thinking I had an e-ticket. The airline thought I should have a paper ticket. It was a codeshare flight, and by the time I went back and forth a couple of times and decided to go the "lost ticket" route, I had to get on a later flight.

The closest I've come, while still catching the flight, was arriving at the terminal at LAX for a 7 PM flight at 6:59 PM, with a reservation but without having purchased the ticket. The flight left on time. I was on it. So was my checked suitcase. Ah, the good old days.

nsx

Economists would tell you that if don't miss any flights, you need to cut it closer. Much closer.

I cut it pretty close, allowing about only 10 minutes extra, but apparently that's still not close enough. I hardly ever miss my flight, and I miss the start of boarding only about 10% of the time. (Since I fly on Southwest, missing the start of boarding at 20 minutes before departure means settling for an inferior seat.)

For intra-California flights, Southwest has another flight an hour later all day, and each flight generally has empty seats for standbys. So my risk is limited to about a 1 hour delay. I miss the flight 1% to 2% of the time. As I said, I really should cut it closer. But I'm a creature of habit, and I will continue to aim to arrive at the curb 35 minutes before departure. With elite status (A-list), I don't have to worry about long screening lines or even baggage check-in lines.

To totally flub a flight I have to do something radical like switch the origin and destination when booking and fail to notice it until the day before the flight. I hate it when that happens.

qf_1020

I dont know that this is true. I think that it would depend on the value of your time and the cost of the stress of missing a flight amongs other costs and benefits and they would take these into consideration before saying that.

CMK10

You should like my old baseball coach:

darthbimmer

I've thought about that, too. You can pick practically any field and there's a saying that if you're not missing the occasional shot/bet/hand/deal, you're not taking enough risks.

Applying it to flying, if you're not missing any flights, you're spending more time in airports than you need to.

But what are the relative costs? For me, an extra 30 minutes spent in an airport is not wasted time. I'll catch up on calls, I'll catch up on email, I'll eat a better (tastier/healthier) meal, etc. Being slightly early has almost no cost. But the cost of missing a flight can be pretty steep.

I envy your flexible travel pattern. Frequently I am on routes with once-daily service, or the next flight is 3 hours away, or I'm on the last flight/connection of the day. For me, missing a flight by 10 minutes usually means arriving late by anywhere from several hours to a full day. That means missing appointments or critical working days. Or plans with my family.

Again, I envy your travel pattern. It seems you've got it well oiled. For me, there are enough airports I travel through where there are no elite lines, or the elite lines are sometimes closed, or they're sometimes ridiculously crowded, that I can't rely on flying through the elite lanes.

frogface63

Missed 1 HNL-DEN flight - I was at the gate when I came down with the worst case of food poisoning ever. Obviously wasn't going to try to get on that plane!

Almost missed DEN-HNL flight a few years ago back when they were randomly stopping cars for vehicle inspections (was after 9/11 but long enough after that I thought they had stopped doing those). Running late already and then another 15 min for the inspection. I was too late to check my bag so had to leave it in a friend's car and cram the stuff I needed into my carry on. Got to the gate just as they were about to close it, I was the last one on. Lost my seat assignment and ended up in the middle of 5 seats, in the last row of E- on UA, right next to the lavs, and my seat didn't recline. Worst 7 hr flight of my life. Never cut it that close again.

Ruthalaska

I can think of two originating flights that I've missed.

I've also missed connecting flights through no fault of my own, but I'm not counting those.

I have had an uncomfortably high number of just-made-it-by-the-skin-of-my-teeth flights, though. In, fact a few months ago I decided I needed an attitude adjustment because I was always on the cusp of missing my flights. I've now changed my standard departure timeline to add a lot more time in the process.

exquisitered

I can think of twice when this has happened. Once on an originating flight & once on a flight home (and I ended up spending an extra night away). Both times it was entirely my fault for cutting it too closely, because I don't like to wait. And both of those were last year, actually...after the time I missed the flight home, I decided to give myself a bit more time. And I've been much more careful about it this year.

ATSgrl

In the last year I've flown 100+ segments on United and 85 on NWA, with an occasional US and Alaska Air leg thrown in, but only missed 1 flight (2 segs actually) to get home from Toronto. Will never again eat at the Perkins restaurant near the Toronto airport ...

wahooflyer

I used to be of the "any extra time spent in an airport is wasted time" attitude and tended to cut it very close when arriving at the airport. But I missed too many flights that way, being stuck in traffic getting to the airport, waiting in a long security line, etc. Fortunately, this was in 2004-2005 when flights were less full than they are now, and I had top-tier and mid-tier status on various airlines so if placed on standby for the next flight I'd usually get on. Nowadays, flights are so full that it's more of a crapshoot flying standby after a missed flight.

Nowadays, I always try to arrive at least 90 minutes prior to any domestic flight, which provides me enough time to walk through the airport, go through security, and grab a cup of coffee or lunch. Having a laptop with an air card helps me stay productive if I need to do work, so I don't consider it "wasted" time anymore. The reduced stress level and resulting serenity is well worth the extra time in the gate area.

You want to go where?

I have missed one flight due to my own negligence - not paying enough attention to time at the airport lounge - while not understanding that you had to be at the gate 20 minutes before departure. It was many years ago, and I was a student at the time. Now, I know better.

At that, I have only missed one connection, due to a strike in Italy. I am very conservative about connection times as well. For me, where I spend my time is less important than how I spend it. I can read or use my computer almost anywhere - it really doesn't matter if I am in the office, at home, or at the airport. The real waste of time for me would be the amount of time spent rebooking missed flights.

I would add that nsx's "economists" clearly travel in different parts of the world than I do. When missing a flight means a guaranteed 24-48 hour delay (assuming a seat is available on the next flight), they might not be so cavalier about missing flights. It makes a difference when a missed flight means you wait for a flight an hour or two later, vs. a day or two later.