Asleep at ORD & Missed Connection
 

After arriving on a my outbound red-eye, without getting much sleep, I fell asleep at the ORD RCC. My connected flight was scheduled to leave 4 hours after I arrived at ORD. When I awoke, I checked the status of my connecting flight on the departure board, and realized that I missed the flight. There was only one later flight to my destination leaving 9 hours later. That flight was oversold.

The agent told me that it would be more expensive to change my original ticket, than to simply purchase the additional 1-way ticket. I ended up booking a OW flight to a different city, near my destination, which required an additional connection. They did note my record so that my return flight would not be canceled because I missed my final segment on the outbound.

I was totally embarassed. I've traveled for many years, and have never missed a connecting flight because I fell asleep. Has anyone had this experience before?

Dude, sorry to hear that. I rarely sleep well if I have an early flight out.
I know the wait would suck, but they couldn't flat-tire you. Although it probably meant you would have had to wait 9hrs to fly to the original destination.

It's ok......
I missed my flight because I chatted with a friend for tooooooo long.....
I think this is more embarassed.........
My flight was 6:20 am.
I waked up at 1:30 am.....lots of time to prepare.....but...chatted too much....

If I am slightly misquoting you, please forgive me.

Yes, every night ;)

To answer your actual question, no, sorry I haven't. I did fall asleep on a train and go several stations past my destination, but the consequences were minimal.

Unfortunately, YES. It was about 16 or 17 years ago. I was in a smaller airport and was asleep about 30-40 feet from the gate. I was in college and had pulled an allnighter to get work done before flying east for spring break.

When I woke up, the gate was empty. I went downstairs and talked to the person at the NW desk. I said I was on the flight, and the agent said, "No you weren't". Apparently, the FA took a headcount and thought everyone was on board. They flew with my bag on board and everything. It was the last flight of the day too.

They didn't make me buy a new ticket because they knew they made a mistake (as did I by oversleeping). Did they think I was sleeping right by the gate for my own health? If they had done the headcount right, they likely wouldn't have left without me.

You actually PURCHASED a one-way ticket? I'm assuming you dealt with the RCC agent--wow...I figured you'd get better service than that...I would have picked another agent (outside the RCC) and just flown stand-by one the next possible flight out (even if it meant a connection)...walking up to the customer service center and saying "I missed my connection" is likely gonna get you a stand-by ticket on the next one...aka..flat tire rule.

I've missed flights twice. Once I was working and just lost track of time :rolleyes: Must have been something important....I don't remember.

The other I was sleeping. The only part that sucks is when I woke up, right in front of the gate, I was the only one around besides the GAs. They paged me many times but you'd think if there is just 1 dude sleeping in the seats outside the gate that it may be him that you are paging?

Both times they just put me on the next flight. Not more then a couple hours lost.

Would that really work? I'd think the CS rep would look at his itinerary and see that his previous flight had arrived four hours earlier. It would be hard to explain why that connection was missed.

It won't be as hard actually. :) All you have to do is tell them you fell asleep after a red-eye flight and ask to be put on standby. I did it twice (altho I did not fall asleep).

Came close once. I was dead tired and flew one of the Express flights from New York to DC. I had a connection at IAD. I pretty much passed out before we took off.

One of the FA's woke me up just as the Express flight was ready to depart for where ever it was going (probably back to New York). Their count was one off, and they realized maybe I was the extra person. I slept through the landing and deboarding, and reboarding.

Whenever possible now I set a timer or cell phone alarm for ten or fifteen minutes before it's time to leave the club (or get off the train on the way home if I'm really tired) so that doesn't happen again.

I always thought that I might say that I was in the bathroom and was unable to leave there during the boarding period. Chances are that no one will ask for further details. :-)

I know there are exceptions (in which case you move to another agent at another counter) but I honestly don't think they care...ORD I'm sure has a ton of mis-connects so when you just say "I missed my connection", I doubt most agents would take the time to do "research" and see if they could spend an extra 15 minutes pricing tickets while the line builds...it's easier for them to just add you to the stand-by list and move on to the next person that missed their flight...I certainly wouldn't plunk down a credit card and buy a new ticket...ever.

The agent was willing to put me on standby for the next flight to my destination. The problem was that the next flight was oversold and was the last flight of the day. I choose not to go with that option, since it seemed likely that I would not be accomodated on that flight and would have spent the night in ORD.

Red Carpet Club
 

When you use the Intl Arrivals lounge or the Red Carpet Club, will they wake you if you ask them then take a nap?

I'd rather rely on my phone alarm!