Repooc17

UA747 (final revenue flight)

Based out of the east coast, I positioned myself to SFO. Not wanting to pay $700+ for airport hotel rooms (Salesforce conference was in town), I flew the very first flight at 6am on the day of to SFO. Fell asleep after shower around 3am and did not wake up until 430am. Ordered a car and told the driver to drive as fast as possible from Queens all the way to EWR. Long story short, barely made the flight to SFO and the once in a lifetime flight to HNL!

travelinmanS

I was living in Switzerland going to school and my mom asked me to plan a surprise trip back to San Francisco for my dad's 60th birthday. My mom and siblings had planned a night at the Giants game and a dinner in the city the next day to celebrate. He had no idea I would show up and the plan was for me to arrive on the UA flight from Frankfurt and go directly to the game where I would surprise him by just showing up at the seats.

Everything was planned out well and I booked my flight GVA-FRA-SFO and even got the SWU to clear so I'd be riding in biz class on the FRA-SFO flight. I was living about 40 minutes from GVA by train and I had to book my train ticket the day before to ensure that I had no issues making the flight. Everything was set!

The night before was the last night of our first quarter of school and after 3 months we finally had a 4 day holiday for Good Friday and Easter. Naturally the entire class went out to celebrate the end of the first quarter and things went a bit later than I expected. I remember walking about 2km back to my flat at around 3am thinking I know I can make the 5am train I had booked to catch a 8am flight. I would just lie down on my bed and rest but not sleep. It turned out this was a bad idea and I ended up falling asleep and woke up at 6am to the sunlight shining through my window.

I thought for sure I'd miss the flight and would let my mom and siblings down and ruin the big surprise. I collected my thoughts, grabbed my suitcase which thankfully I packed the day before, and ran to the street to try and see if there was any possibility of getting a cab (this is well before uber). Getting a cab at 6am on a random street in Switzerland is difficult anytime, but on Good Friday I figured I was out of luck. Then after frantically running up and down the street for about 5 minutes I spotted a cab and it was empty. I flagged down the driver who asked me where I wanted to go. I told her to take me to GVA and floor it. I think I ended up having to pay 150 Swiss Francs and I arrived at about 6:55, just 5 minutes to spare before check in closed. It all ended up roses from then on.

I made the connecting flight in Frankfurt, slept the entire 11 hour flight and made it up to the ballgame just as it started. My dad was shocked to see me and said he'd thought it was more likely that Barry Bonds would come out of the dugout and wish him a happy birthday than that I would make it to his 60th celebration. It was a great weekend but a terrifying beginning!

roberino

birdiedouble

We were attending my nephews wedding in Charlottesville a few years ago. My son had one of those 5:40 am flights back to BOS so he could work that day. Of course he stays out drinking to some ungodly hour with his cousins. My sister in law is staying at a different hotel in the city and by coincidence is on his same CHO>PHL flight so the night before I offer to go pick her up first and then back to our hotel to pick up my son who is in a room by himself. I roll back up to the hotel and wait a few minutes and he doesn't come out. Text....no response. Call....no response. I go into the hotel and thankfully I booked his room in my name so I could get a key. Go into the room and he's out cold on the bed. Finally get him up and he goes into the bathroom and starts the shower. I tell him he's way past time for a shower. We make it to the airport and I drop them off. They made the flight and somehow he managed to make it to work that day too. He had his first First from PHL>BOS, but I'm guessing he passed on the PDB.

saxman66

Was staying with a friend in Ulsan, South Korea when I was flying out of Busan to NRT to the US. My plan was to take the high speed train, KTX, to Busan. I knew exactly which train I needed to be on to make my flight in plenty of time. I told her when my train was and she told me to just take a taxi, and it'd be a 5-10 ride over to the station. She told me to leave at 8 am for my 8:35 train. Well I got a cab and we were driving and driving. The KTX station was a good 30 minutes away, so I missed my 8:35 train. I had to wait an hour for the next one so that that made for a very tight connection to get to the airport in Busan. Of course the second cab ride we were in horrific traffic, but I made it to the check in desk about 30 minutes prior to departure. I knew it was likely that they wouldn't let me check, but they made a phone call and let me check in. Luckily, security was a breeze as Busan is a small airport. It turns out that my friend thought I was going to the local train station, which I didn't know existed. My heart was racing, because I really was ready to get back to the US, and I would likely be stuck another day. Whew.

timfountain

When I lived in the UK and worked in the US, I always took the Sunday flight back to the UK. This was/is when the Saturday night stay made a significant difference to flight costs. I roll up to the AA desk on Sunday, and get asked "What happened Mr Fountain?" Shocked I asked the agent what she meant, and she replied that I should have been on this flight, but yesterday!!! I never even looked at the date as I took this flight 2x a month. Somehow the company had booked the Saturday flight. All turned out OK, there was space (this was in the mid '90's, you know, when planes weren't jam packed). I flew back with no issue. I think the agent could tell I was genuinely shocked that I turned up on the wrong day and could see my travel pattern. AA was a great company back then.

kochleffel

In 2008 I was taking a regional flight into PHL to get a flight to London. The regional flight was almost two hours late and we were still in the air at boarding time for the London flight. Furthermore, regional flights there land at terminal F. I made it from F to A-West in 12 minutes, with luggage. The gate agents said that when they saw that my inbound flight was at the gate, they kept the door open for me.

stc

I think this kind of fits. It is actually my friend / housemate ... It is also a cut-n-paste from my FB post at the time ... [I have tried to update and clarify it ...]

A friend was supposed to fly PVD-EWR-EDI [last summer]. (United was matching Norwegian Air prices since Norwegian has started flying PVD-EDI non-stop and she needed United miles.) I drove her to PVD [from Boston] because United switched the flight from 4 PM to 1 PM so she could no longer take the T [Commuter Rail]. (Because the T only runs like 3 trains at day that go all the way to the airport and only M-F.) She checks in. She gets to the gate. She finds out that her flight [from PVD to EWR] has been cancelled due to weather since she checked in. There are no United staff at the gate. She has to go back through security. They say well, if you could get to Logan in time for a 2:30 flight, that will get you to EWR in time. Had they cancelled her flight before she checked in (or even before we left Boston), that would have worked. But by this time I am just about back in Newton [MA] and the 1 PM Peter Pan bus will not get her to Logan in time. There are no other flights available from PVD to anywhere in NYC that will get her to NYC (much less EWR) in time. They suggest Amtrak to EWR. Of course because the cancellation it is weather related, United isn't paying. She decides to take Lyft because it was supposed to get her there at 5 for a 7:50 flight and Amtrak would get her there at 6 if it was on time and the price is about the same. Lyft gets her there a 7:00 PM because Friday NYC traffic. Which is technically too late and might of caused her to miss the flight to EDI. But wait, her flight from EWR to EDI has been pushed back from 7:50 to 9:30 because the plane needed is still on the ground at MCO. (FlightAware.com was posting departure time changes before the UA site or customer service knew about them.) She gets checked in at EWR. She then texts me again to say that she still isn't sure she is going to make it because the security lines at EWR are absurd and there is only one check point open. She gets through security finally at 9:00 PM and gets to the gate.

So she made it.

Except she didn't. They then cancelled the flight from EWR to EDI for maintenance.

At least at this point United HAS to give her a hotel room. BUT it takes her about 3 hours to get to the front of the customer service line to get her a voucher for the hotel and to find out how they rebook her. And they rebook her the next day EWR-BRU (8 hour layover) BRU-EDI. Because that is all there is.

ckendall

I was supposed to take a flight from ORD-FRA-XXX on Lufthansa some 20+ years ago. I went to work and took the subway to ORD and just as I got there (maybe 2 1/2 hours before flight time) I realized I left my passport at home. I saw a taxi pulling up at the departure area and told him I had to go home and back to the airport. Of course this was late afternoon rush hour and he drove like a maniac down to Hyde Park (south side of Chicago, maybe 40 minutes drive at the best of time) but was low on gas and had to refill before driving maniacally back to the airport. I got to the check in maybe 20 minutes before the flight and in that much simpler era was asked why I appeared to be in such a rush and went straight to the gate and hopped on the plane.

Commie

I am still surprised I made this flight...I was flying from YVR to LAS, on the AC 6:40pm flight on a Thursday. On the same day, I had also scheduled for a first date at 2pm in downtown Vanvoucer, Gotham steakhouse for lunch. Thinking that will be plenty of time to have lunch, get to know the girl, and still drop off the rental car and make my flight out.
Turns out, the conversations were going so well, the food was excellent, next thing we know, its past 5pm. At that point it was gut check decision time, do I intentionally miss the flight and continue the date, or try to make the flight and continue when I return from the weekend trip. We went back and forth on the merits of each option. Ultimately, we decided, we can wait till I return after the weekend, so I made the mad dash to catch my flight.
We left the restaurant at 5:30pm, and I even dropped off the girl at her place in downtown Vancouver, then drove to the airport, drop off the rental car at Hertz. Made my way through security and US customs. Thank god for Nexus/global entry. When I got to the gate it was 6:30pm and my flight have not even started boarding. I was truly amazed I got through all that in 1 hour.

GetSetJetSet

You never know, hair of the dog can be a useful tool to get through a brutal day after haha.

Bradhattan

Going on a cruise with drinking friends, we hit the bar in GRR (before remodel). You can't hear announcements in the bar. I left the bar (landside) to use bathroom and heard our names being called for final.....also just one year post9/11. Ran to security which freaked them out.....GA screaming (near gate) We will pull your bags!!!....Made it! Unrelated.....one sandal packed...lol

ksandness

I was scheduled to fly MSP>LAX on the former Northwest Airlines and then hop onto an NH flight to Tokyo. I had scheduled a 6:00AM flight to LAX so as to leave plenty of connecting time, but at midnight, I got a text message saying that the 6:00AM flight had been cancelled and that I was now on the 8:00AM flight. Well, the connection was still feasible.

So at the airport, I learned that the 8::00AM flight was now scheduled to leave some time after 9:00AM. I phoned NH's U.S. office and asked what would happen if I missed the connection, was there another flight I get on, and they said no, there were no later NH or other Star Alliance flights.

The NW flight finally took off, and I got to talking with my seat mates, both of whom had been switched from the 6:00AM flight. One of my seat mates offered to run ahead to the NH counter and tell them I was coming. We exchanged cell phone numbers, and immediately after landing, I hurried to the baggage claim, and she hurried to the international terminal.

I arrived at the international terminal to face an NH check-in agent who started to chide me for showing up so late, but I explained in Japanese what had happened to my connecting flight, and the agent not only checked me in immediately, but upon seeing the length of the security line, ordered another NH employee to escort me through employee security.

They closed the doors just as I was sitting down.

I have continued to fly to Asia via LAX, since taking a domestic flight from MSP to LAX and then transferring to a trans-Pacific flight is cheaper than flying nonstop from MSP, even though I now spend the night near LAX in order to avoid any more close calls.

168

SFO777

Many years ago when Mrs. SFO777 and I were still dating, we were in Michigan's UP on a winter weekend when a record 50" inches of snow fell. We were flying back to CLE via YYZ from YAM (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario). SUV rental died on the way to the airport due to too much snow on the road. Finally coaxed it back to life and arrived at the airport 12 minutes before departure. I parked the rental at the departure door, ran to Air Canada counter where agent let us check in late, and even took our keys to give back to Avis. We cleared security and boarded the turbo prop while it was being de-iced spraying de-icing liquid on us.