Only once: The day after Super Bowl XLI I was flying FLL-DFW-SFO on what was supposed to be a through flight. After sitting through the monsoon that accompanied the game, we stayed up all night and went to FLL early for our 0630 flight. (The local airports on the day after a Super Bowl rivals any day-before-Thanksgiving madness you can imagine.)

I was asleep before the door was closed, and only woke up when the crew was cleaning up at DFW. I asked if I had time to grab some food before we left, and she said sure, we won't be leaving for Colorado Springs for 45 minutes. Excuse me? Apparently I slept through the announcement of an equipment and gate change at DFW. Luckily, the next flight was only a couple of hours later.

About a dozen years ago I had joined a new company. I was going to my first company annual meeting about a week after I had joined. I was scheduled to have drinks with the President upon my arrival before the festivities began. I was a seasoned travler and arrived at the airport and checked my bags at the curb more than an hour ahead of time. I then proceeded to park in the cheap parking (being a good new corporate citizen.) Unbeknownst to me, the buses from this remote parking lot weren't running on schedule. They were supposed to make pick-ups every twenty minutes. After parking my car I went to the overcrowded bus stop and people were already complaining about how long they had been waiting. Twenty minutes past by, no bus. Thirty minutes pass by, no bus. Forty five minutes pass by, no bus! OK, now I'm getting nervous. After waiting for an hour the bus still has not arrived (nor would they be able to fit all of us on the bus at this point.) I see a pizza delivery guy deliver a pizza to the cashier at the exit of the parking lot. I sprint over to him and offer the pizza delivery guy a $20 tip to drive me to the terminal. He jumps at the chance but to no avail... as I arrive in the gate area I see my plane backing away from the jetway. My bags make it to the conference (this was pre 9-11) but needless to say I didn't get to have drinks with the company President.

I missed a 9am flight from MSP to DTW because of traffic missing my first meeting. I called NW while in traffic. They put me on the 10:40, no questions or fees. I don't take 9am flights from MSP anymore... 7/8am or 10am.

(Actually...that one worked out well, I ate lunch at DTW waiting to be picked up, and met a liquor salesman who had three 'sample' fifths of vodka sent to my office the next week...took a little bit of explaining...)


The other major time was in Dallas, missed it by a matter of seconds. It was early afternoon Thursday before 4th of July weekend. All flights were booked solid, but an hour with the gate agent and she was able to get us on the 6am flight. I was traveling with a colleague who was plat, I was not but she got us both on anyway, though apparently she shouldn't have prioritized me over others...
I felt bad though, we missed the flight and there as a kid there who also didn't make that flight, but had been on standby since 8am that morning and wasn't able to make it on. We returned for the 6am flight...he was still there....and still didn't make it on....

My one missed originating flight occurred because I didn't carefully check all the tickets I was issued. Back in the days of paper tickets, I showed up at ATL one Sunday afternoon to board my string of CO flights home, handed them my stapled stack of tickets, only to be told my flight had left 24 hrs previously on Sat!

My first year teaching, I had been sent by my university to some workshop (Thur/Friday/Sat morn.) in a city I formerly lived in. I asked to return on Sunday afternoon rather than Sat., so I could stay with old friends Sat night. My university was going to reimburse me for the workshop/flight/hotel, but insisted that their travel office had to make all reservations for official travel, even though it was being charged to my personal credit card (as a new faculty I didn't qualify for a university credit card). On my travel request, I clearly stated that I only needed hotel reservations for Thur. and Friday; no hotel Sat and return flight Sunday. Travel office put in the wrong date in when booking and had me returning Sat, when the other workshop participants did. However, the cover letter/itinerary that came with my tickets had me returning as I requested on Sunday. I never looked beyond the first departing ticket to confirm my name was correct, so it's my fault I didn't catch it.

A little hung-over after a late night partying with the old crowd, my friends drop me off at ATL Sunday afternoon and leave. I go to get my boarding pass and am told I'm 24 hrs late! The first agent said I would have to buy a new ticket and I must have looked like I was going to break down crying, because he got all nervous and called a supervisor over. I was a poor, broke, brand-new professor and certainly didn't have any additional room on my credit card to afford a full price fare ticket (in ancient times when credit card limits actually had some relationship to your income/debt). I had had to ask for a credit line increase just to book the original trip expenses. The other agent took pity on me and put me on the last flight out with only a $50 change fee. Luckily they were able to book me on all my needed connections, though I didn't get home until midnight.

To rub salt in the wound, the university refused to reimburse me for the change fee, even though their staff member was the one who had booked it wrong.

In 2001 was due to fly WLG AKL SYD on Air New Zealand after visiting my parents. Got to the check In agent and she said �Oh you were supposed to travel yesterday�. I nearly had kittens until she said 'Don�t worry we have plenty of spare seats� and I flew back on the same flights I was supposed to be on the day before at no extra cost

I felt such a goose!

I was at LAX last year and a Swedish family were checking in for the NZ flight to LHR with an onward connection, when the check in agent announced �Actually, you are flying tomorrow�. Later I saw a very heated discussion outside Terminal 2 with the wife and husband with 3 crying kids in tow taking place. I felt sorry for the husband

I have never missed a flight of my own volition/control/etc., but I got IIROP'd into something quite odd. Thanksgiving freakish storms in Florida, supposed to fly home PBI-EWR. Inbound flight gets rerouted to FLL. Drive to FLL instead of PBI. Delays cascaded to the point that we were going to stop in JAX to pick people up. K, fine. Finally get to JAX, and as we're taxiing in, pilot says "Ladies and Gentlemen, for those of you that were connecting here to make your flight home to Newark, if you look out the right side of the aircraft, you will see the plane that you're supposed to be on." Forced layover in JAX, and on top of that we have to go to MSY. Fly JAX-MSY, and then finally MSY-EWR. Phew.

In all my years of worldwide travel I never missed a flight. I always make it a point to arrive at the airport at least 2-3 hours before the flight as I would rather sit in the lounge and relax as opposed to being stressed out. I also fly out of SJC where the airport is small and get a flight as early in the morning as possible when the roads are clear. If I am out of LAX or SFO my rule is to arrive at the airport between 2-3 hours before the flight just in case. I always pint my boarding pass at home too.

I would rather plane spot, enjoy a drink in a lounge and enjoy a cup of coffee before the flight. When checking luggage I go to the counter and then go through security right away to avoid the delays. It helps arriving early to reduce stress.

However I know there are unforseeable circumstances which makes one miss their flight. I am Jewish and I feel bad that you missed the Seder. I know how it feels needing to attend a religious ceremony only for you to miss the flight.

Staying four nights at the Del Mar Hilton a few years ago. Out till 4am on the last night with an 7:50am Sunday departure out of SAN. Woke up at 7am, luckly passed out in my clothes and my bags already packed. Was in a cab in front of the hotel by 7:15, offered the cabbie $50 tip if he could get me to SAN by 7:30 which he did (I-5 pretty light @ 7:15am on a Sun). Had only 1 carry-on and pre-printed boarding pass. Made it thru security and to the gate by 7:40 give or take a few min.

I think the only reason I even attempted it was because I was still drunk.

Wooow... And here I am leaving home 1 hour before boarding starts at IAD!!! (and it takes me about 45 minute to reach the gate when returning an Avis car Monday morning.)

You would be one of those in my post #34!

Last missed flight:

We (family of 4) missed our LHR-IAH on New Year's Eve by 2 hours! My husband had to go back to our hotel to retrieve my wedding band/ring that I had forgotten and left behind. BA agent said there were no more seats on the next available flight (which was the next day--on New Year's Day) and the earliest possible direct to IAH was two days later. My five year old busted out in tears, bawling that he had to get home, so the agent took pity on us and booked us on the very next (supposedly full) New Year's Day flight--I guess someone else hadn't made their flight.
Thank goodness we were able to book a room at a decent hotel at a decent price--even last minute.

Lesson learned: When traveling with kids on New Year's Eve in London, give yourself some time.

Last almost missed flight: MIA-IAH (just last week in fact-during that horrible storm in Houston)
They changed the departure gate last minute and had not changed it on the monitors when we last checked, which was about 45 min. before takeoff--we missed the several announcements somehow (that's what having small kids will do to you). After noticing that no one was sitting near us waiting to board at the gate even though there was only 30 min. left before takeoff--I checked at a nearby gate and what do you know--they were boarding our flight! We actually were the last ones to board on that one. At least we made it!

I only ever missed one, which really wasn't my fault, but I've made plenty that I shouldn't have.

The Bad Experience: Ryanair, London -> Vienna. Ryanair isn't a company I would ever have chosen myself, but the flights and stayover were a gift. Horrendous problems with the tube and trains meant that we arrived an hour later than we intended, but we still made it to check-in with 10 minutes to spare before it was meant to close (and about a hour before take-off). Check-in desk is lit up, the flight displayed on the screen, but no staff to be seen. My wife waited at the desk and I wandered around to locate some staff to check us in. It took me 10 minues to find a staff rep and drag them over to the check-in desk, at which point he proudly told us that we were now 2 minutes late for check-in and wouldn't be boarding. I explained that we were only late because nobody had been present at the desk, and we only had carry-on bags and 45 minutes to get through a deserted security to the gate, but they stood firm and refused to check us in. Never flown with them since.

The Good Experiences: BMI have outdone themselves several times to ensure we got connections following earlier delays, often by the skin of our teeth and by mad dashes through airports with them holding the gate open for us. Top marks go to BA though, for a trip I took London -> Manchester some 8 years or so ago, when I was so late to the London check-in that I arrived only 15 minutes before take-off, but they still checked me in, pushed me through security and onto the plane. I then managed to oversleep in Manchester the next day and made the Manchester check-in with 10 minutes to go before take-off, and they did the same thing again, smiling all the way. Hats off to the BA staff working that week.

Fly anything up to half a dozen UK domestic flights a week, and invariably miss a few of them.

I would say I probably miss one a month at least because of client meetings running late, or more commonly being stuck underground helpless on the Tube because of leaves on the line, wrong kind of snow, or some inconsiderate git who decides to end it all by jumping in front of a packed train rather than doing it in his own home and not screwing up everyone else's day as well (!)

Fortunately I've always been able to transfer onto another flight the same day, sometimes at a cost and sometimes not. Being friendly and smiling at the staff at the ticket desk sometimes works wonder.

So far, I've missed only one flight due to my fault. The good part, is that My Ph.D. supervisor, my father, and myself are probably the only people in the world to miss an OA flight to the islands (from Athens to one of the greek islands) that leaves at afternoon. We had to drive to Athens ~400 km in a greek traffic (and signs), and I was the driver (I was the only one with valid driving license and insurance (long long story)). We had a colleague on the flight, so he told us that they are actually taking off on time (16:00!). Still, after stopping at curb side at 15:55, I ran for my life, and let my father take care of returning the car, but we were too late.

I had a close call with SK, BRU->CPH (to a job interview!). I OLCI the day before on SK site, just to arrive to the airport and sent back to the counter as OLCI in SK is not a real CI. I ran like crazy through BRU to terminal A (darn tunnels!).

I also had some fun time when I tried to board a plane a day earlier (in SFO), I remember booking a flight on the 23rd, but the computer insisted that it was the 24th (thanks AA for taking care of that).

The really weird thing that happened to me was with the Thalys. I bought the tickets my self, and due to an error, gave the wrong return date, but I forgot about it. Only after boarding the thalys, I find out that the ticket is not valid for this train, but for the train the day after. Now, they won't de-board me in the middle of the trip (throwing someone out the door at 300 kmh is not easy) but god knows...

So the conductor comes to us, asks for tickets. I nonchalantly gave him my ticket, and he stamped it. While he extended his hand to return me the ticket, he stopped, looked at the ticket more carefully, and decided not to cause any havoc. After all, the ticket is already used...

and I am not counting the times I had to run through MUC, ORD, or IAD because some airline was late...

I'm an early arriver too, hate the last minute hassles ... but one time driving from Lakewood to DEN I was so enjoying the conversation with my colleague that I mistakenly headed up I-25 (?) towards Boulder ... realized Rockies were on the wrong side of the car...

turned around and headed back the right way, told her to not look at the speedometer but look far ahead for cops/radar, and not to worry, I have over 1,000 miles of high speed on-track performance driver training.

I never knew a Camry could cruise so comfy at 105mph but we made it to rental return ---> bus to terminal ---> and to the plane door about 3 seconds before they closed it and didn't miss the flight!

We were sure we'd missed it.

cheers,
Jon

2004. xmas season. i was leaving japan after 6yrs there. sent 3 of my 4 checked bags to the airport's luggage storage 3 days before. but too many last minute "finishing up" errands on my final half-day led to delay after delay in getting across tokyo to NRT. i arrive at check-in 45mins before scheduled intl departure - AND flight's dep time has been moved UP by 20mins. so just 25mins to say my goodbyes, claim my stored bags, check them, check in, clear security and (outbound) immigration, get to my gate and in my seat. somehow, the local NWA staff pulled it off. they took my tickets and passport and checked me in while i went to claimed my stored bags and an one of them hustled me to the front of the line at security and had me whisked through. what a blur ... i still don;t know how they did it but i was thankful because i know it would be nearly impossible to duplicate. the people there to say goodbye to me had long since given up on me, and since i had cancelled my mobile coverage and didn't have time to locate and use a payphone, i had to call them and say my goodbyes using a mobile borrowed from a sympathetic fellow pax just before the door closed.