First ever missed flight
 

Was to fly LAX-BOS, UA 162 4/11 (8:40am departure). Due to this and that, we got to LAX late. They paged us while going through security, but there is no way to return the page! We showed up at the gate at 8:33. Door was closed, jetway was still connected. I sheepishly pleaded with the gate agent. (Flight was not full).

We asked for a SD, but she came after the jetway disconnected. They put us on new flights, and they were apologetic (though it is WE who are in the wrong). We'll now get to BOS at 8:30.

What's sad is that I was to lead a family Seder tonight.

I am usually a stickler for being at the airport over an hour in advance. But my one time late, I got burned. Actually, let me rephrase... I burned myself!

The closest I ever cam to missing a flight was about 20 years ago. I was flying to a friend's wedding (BOS-RDU). I got to the gate with plenty of time to spare. While waiting at the gate, I was watching the NCAA tournament - my two alma maters were playing each other. Next thing I know, I turn around and they're closing the door! I jumped up and got their attention to hold it for me. Lesson learned - always pay attention.

Can they hold dinner for you and do a late dinner? I suppose they re-routed you LAX-DEN-BOS?

The closest I ever came to missing a flight was when I was trying to fly PHX-SFO. I left my conference in Scottsdale,AZ (ritzy northeast section of Phoeniz). Well we went to get on the freeway, and the entire freeway had been shut down for construction that was apparently going to take place starting that weekend. No construction crews were in sight though! :confused:

It ended p that we had to take surface streets all the way back to the airport. I lept out of the car, I begged a counter agent to print me a BP since i was past the kiosk cut-off time, I tipped (bribed?) the person at the security line to let me cut to the front, and sprinted to my gate. I was the last to board just as the lady was turning to close the jetbridge door.

There were two other people up in the aisle on the plane when I boarded both talking about how "What kind of city shuts down a freeway in advance for construction during the week?", etc. :rolleyes:

Happens to all of us.

2 missed flights on the LAX-OAK route on WN (due to traffic)... doesn't count as missed flights, just early for the next flight.


1 missed flight from DCA to SFO. Was supposed to fly on NW DCA-MSP-SFO. SDC'ed to DL metal DCA-NYC-SFO (very early-morning flt). Got to the gate at DCA 90 sec after the gate was closed with the plane/jetway attached. DL flights thru ATL were oversold due to WX the night before. Couldn't do my original routing because the flight was under airport control and in another terminal.

Got put on DCA-JFK-SFO with a 6-hour later arrival time. DCA-JFK was oversold, so I grabbed my $200 in vouchers, got on a DL Shuttle flight to LGA which arrived earlier than the JFK flight. Went to a friend's place. My JFK-SFO upgrade cleared.

I've missed flights before.

About 25% of my flights are "close calls". You just need to have a backup plan always in mind.

p.s. Two years ago, on the night of the first Seder, I misconnected in HKG (thanks to HKG station staff-- some of the worst in the world), so I feel your pain. That one wasn't my fault, so I was especially pissed. :mad:

DCA is about the worst, because they like to close the door at T-20 so long as most passengers are on board; even this 1K traveling on an FPASSA fare was scolded for getting to the gate at T-17. :rolleyes: I'd complain, but the CoC does have a 20-minute rule, so I just consider it lousy customer service and leave it at that. My other UA stations follow UA's general policy which seems to be between T-5 and T-10 for closing a flight.

I overslept and missed by NZ HKG-LHR flight last September--and had to pay the difference between my fare and the essentially walk-up fare for the the next day's flight + a 1000 HKD change fee. I learned my lesson: I am sure you have too. I am sure you will be missed tonight.

That's funny, I missed my first ever flight yesterday. It was a NW ticket and I ended up only an hour later than scheduled (though I lost my confirmed upgrades :( )

Like most of you guys, I'm punctual getting to the airport - I've seen it all.

HOWEVER, two thanksgivings ago, I drove to my mom's house, spent the night in anticipation of getting up early Sunday morning and flying to Hawaii with her (and meeting my sister and her friend on the way)...

So... I don't hear the alarm go off. I get up about 30 min before the flight is scheduled to leave. Mind you, this is the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and I'm supposed to fly to Hawaii.

Mom and I rush around and get dressed, and I'm on the phone with United trying to come up with something. There is a later set of flights, but it only has a few coach seats left and no award seats. I tell them it's my fault and I'll pay double miles to get those two seats.

No problem on the outbound. But my return, which I still hold two seats, has NO seats left to sell. They can't figure out how to get me two standard award seats AND re-use the saver award seats I already have on the return.

So, by this time we're driving to the airport (we slept through or scheduled van pickup). While on the way to the airport - United - all on their own - opened up two more award seats for my mom and I to go to Hawaii. Not only that, we got exit row seats and had no one else in our row - lots of room and a seat free between us. We got to sleep (OK - oversleep) an extra two hours, got there about 3 hours late and had a wonderful trip.

Doesn't always work out this well, but it keeps you loyal, for sure...

Billy

Many years ago (~ 80's) I missed a CO flt while sitting in at the gate. Got engaged in reading material and went into a world of my own. This was before the emphasis of being on board early. When I noticed I was getting close, I was lulled into thinking I had more time due to an erroneous airport clock which was off by 10 mins. Next thing I knew the jet has pushed and the GAs were telling me the miss was my fault. I whined about the bad clock. They took pity and I was on the next available, with no xtra fees, etc. All my bad, but never repeated....

As this interesting thread's developed, it's covered carriers beyond UA, so let's follow it in TravelBuzz. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, United and TravelBuzz.

I smiled at this, given that you're obviously such an experienced traveller, at least now :) Not that long ago I arrived at the gate for a departure far enough in advance that the previous flight was still boarding. I knew there were power outlets and figured I'd just charge up and get some work done. I watched a woman sit there reading while they did final call on the departure; I figured she must be on my flight. Well she was on the one that was leaving, got left off, and then was hassling the GA about lack of annoucements. But I'd heard plenty of announcements including the final "all ticketed and confirmed passengers board now!". I wondered who could be so naive as to sit there through their departure.

Guess it happens :)

I've missed two flights, both in the 1980s.

1. We left the carry-on bag with tickets (for you youngsters, you had to have tickets printed on paper in the olden days! :D ) in the living room. We both thought the other had the bag. Two full-fare F paid tickets....got the check-in at T-10 mins, but no luck! My bad!

2. Partied one weekend in LA while in college. The whole weekend. Checked in on time. Got to the gate on time. And passed out while sitting at the gate. Woke up about T+60! My real bad. :rolleyes:

I missed a connection in ORD on a EWR-ORD-LAX flight. My flight from EWR-ORD was delayed due to a thunderstorm in Newark. Of course, the weather was fine in Chicago so my ORD-LAX flight left on time. Had to wait 6 hours in Chicago for the next ORD-LAX flight with seats.

The only flight I've missed (knocks heavily on wood) was one when I was about 18 (a long time ago..lol). I was in San Diego. Had a carry-on, I carried it on the entire trip and at the time, I was going home. Security person told me my bag was too large so I would have to go back and check it. I had nothing status-wise with Continental so stood in a line over 2 hours. My plane left without me.

I got home (can't remember how except a vague recollection of trying to bribe someone in Denver..) but swore I would never fly CO again (even though it wasn't their fault). NEVER!!!!!!!! Haha.

I am Plat on CO today.

I routinely miss flights. I like to cut it close, and my miss percentage is actually a lot lower than it should be.

Well, the airlines (or at least UA) tend to train us to not really believe the announcements:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ighlight=final

Out of curiosity, who are "this and that"?:D

Missed 1 flight BKK-SIN, via Tiger Airways. Will not book me on another flight. So with budget airlines be on time and don't miss the flight. Had to buy another ticket back to SIN.

I've missed dozens of flights, and never paid a dime for just getting on the next one to my destination (including many examples in the years before I was elite, though this was also before 9/11).

Last time it happened was when I was sitting at my connecting gate and just fell asleep and missed the connection. In my defense I hadn't slept for about 72 hours at that point. No problem just getting on the next one, though.

I've missed my share of flights; two of the more memorable:

Family vacation in the Colorado mountains, and we left in plenty of time to get to DEN 2 hours before departure. Except that there was a car fire on I-70 eastbound and traffic was at a halt for miles. We were among the many that UA accommodated with later flights.

Another time, I was on a business trip in Carson City, NV, and the negotiations went long, causing me to miss my UA flight to SFO for my redeye back east (something important the next day, as I usually avoid the redeye). So I took the next plane to the Bay area, which was to OAK. Friday night, last minute - no car service and no taxi would take me to SFO. I rented a car, drove across the bay to SFO, turned in the car and made the flight home, upgrade intact.

I've missed a CX HKG-ICN. They rebooked me for the flight leaving 3 hours later, so I had a nice time sitting in the CI lounge.

My girlfriend and I missed a DTW-EWR flight because we were was stuck at the Windsor-Detroit border. This was just days after Koreans could enter the US on visa waiver, but she still had a valid US visa, the border guard wanted us to go into secondary to get the visa waiver, but because her current visa was still valid, he wasn't sure if he had to pull us in or not, we missed check in by 3 minutes...

My perspective on this is: I'm the ....ing paying customer. I'm NEVER in the wrong as long as there's a hole in my butt and I'm a customer.

The one encounter I had was the first business trip I took, I place full blame on my employer for not letting me book the flights and giving me a 38 minute Monday morning connection in ORD. It gives me an interesting story so I hold no grudges.

I was on a CRJ flight in and the had to circle for about 20 minutes. I managed to get to the gate just in time to see the door closing so I yelled "is this still Milwaukee?" Got an odd look from the GA as the plane, and my intended destination were Minneapolis. GA's response was that this gate was never Milwakuee but Minneapolis. My earliy morning response "Whatever, the cold place I need to go" GA then confirmed it was my flight but I had lost my seat, it was ORD-MSP so I was airborne 90 minutes later.

I've only really missed one flight due purely to my own errors - but it was quite the comedy of errors. I was transiting DXB awaiting my connection to LHR. This was quite soon after the clocks (in the UK) had gone back, for which I'd adjusted my watch. However, having only flown out the previous day, I hadn't bothered setting anything to the local time, instead merely reading the time off my watch and adding the right number of hours. Of course, in my exhausted state, I neglected to consider that DXB doesn't have daylight savings time, so I should now have been adding one extra hour.

The woman doing the PAs was pretty incomprehensible that day, so I must have missed the boarding announcement. I did look at the departure screens in the lounge, which normally flick between English and Arabic, but that day they were for some reason stuck on Arabic. My Arabic comprehension being limited to the numerals for 0 and 1, I waited for the status for what I was pretty sure was EK003 to LHR to flash red, which would indicate final call and time to leave the lounge. Unfortunately, I was actually looking at EK009 to LGW, to depart 45 minutes later.

When that began to flash red (albeit somewhat earlier than expected!), I inquired at the front what gate to go to, only to be met with blank stares, and then informed that my plane had left. Fortunately - yes, a happy end - I was saved by the scale of EK's operations to London (and the fact that they can - when they want - take care of their gold card holders), and was (with mild admonishment) put on EK005, arriving LHR (complete with baggage) merely 90 minutes late.

I remember where I missed the flight for mostly the time. I remember where we are supposed to be on 767-400ER for ATL-FLL but, we were struck in ORD due to ATC delayed for hours. So I remember where we flying to FLL but, we are missed 2 flights out of ATL-FLL. Because our aircraft has been delayed due to mechanical problems in PHX. The flight is supposedly to be leave around 11am but, we left from PHX around noon.

Also, I remember that I flew alone to FLL visit my friends' who is retired from BCAD but, he work for public information officer. I remember that I was missed the flight out of ATL-FLL. DL is put me on next flight for ATL-FLL around 10:40pm and will be arrived in FLL around 12:15am. This is reason why my entire aircraft is delayed due to cargo hold doesn't movable out of the holds. We are wait for 30 minutes to leave from PHX around 3:30pm. That's why I was such hurried to catch next flight out of ATL-FLL. That's why DL is rebooked for my next flight out ATL-FLL. This is reason why the flight is delays for mostly the time.

I was leaving CUN after the hurricane a few years back. I had not slept at all the night before, and a terrible night before that on my friends aunts floor...(our flat was evacuated).

I was flying CUN-MEM and I had a little bit of a sleep deprived brain moment as I completely forgot that my plane was to DEPART at the time listed on the ticket...not board.

I was connecting in CPH to CPH-SEA. There are passport control booths at the beginning of the international concourse there and since the line was rather long and I had almost two hours until departure I decided to hang around for a while at some cafe hoping that the line will dissipate. And indeed, an hour later (or about an hour before departure) there were only a couple of people there - I went through and to my surprise not only was the boarding area almost empty but they were already being boarded. So I went in the already full aircraft, found my seat and about 1/2 minute later they announced that the doors are closed. Turns out that SAS was printing on the boarding pass both the departure and arrival time, so for CPH-SEA it was something like departing 3:40 pm, arriving 4:20 pm and I had been planning based on the arrival time.

Yesterday I missed my KUL-REP flight. I just showed up one hour late at the airport. I still do not why I did this. Costed my a lot of money to book a KUL-PNH-REP ticket but I eventually arrived at REP.

I've missed a few

I was travelling from my then home in Catford, South East London to LHR for a flight to Stockholm for a course. The taxi driver decided to take the M25, also known as the London Orbital Car Park.

Needless to say, something happened on the road and we found ourselves in a 10 mile tailback. Get to LHR and the BA check in agent says 'sorry sir, the flights closed. It's just pushing back now'

She rebooked me onto SK via CPH.

My most recent one was a flight from BHM to ZRH via ORD. I get to the gate in good time (too good, having enhanced the coffers of the State of Mississippi on the way) and the plane is there. But so is The Van. The one with the gas bottles on the back. The one containing a mechanic. The one that screams "this plane is tech" Turns out there is a problem with the flaps. Having seen a few weeks before at MAD what happens when a plane tries to take off without flaps I resigned myself to sitting there. After all I had about 1H40 at ORD.

The delay goes on and on with no info (the flight was operated by Mesa) and we eventually get on board. Off we go, by this time I am looking at my watch and getting concerned. Eventually the lights of Chicago hove into view abd we start the descent. Then head out in a huge loop over the lake. Holding pattern. Finally touch down taxi to near the stand and wait. Our stand is occupied. Finally get to the stand. C1. My connection is from M14 in the International terminal. There are gates further away from M14 than C1 but they are at MDW. Get to the gate to see the Jetway coming off.

LX staff were pretty good, they tried to get me onto SK, nothing doing, then they got me onto BA via LHR.

I think the funniest one was where I connected when really I shouldn't have. I had an early flight from MEX to VHS (Villahermosa) and stayed at the hotel in the airport (the older one not the Hilton) I get accross to the terminal in very good time and a scene of pandemonium greets me. The computer system has gone down. I join the queue and wait. And wait. Everything is being done manually. After about two hours I get to the desk (after fending off a challenge from a woman who tried to push in ahead of me) and get everything processed. All by hand. My bag disappears behind and I'm pretty sure I'll never see it again. The check in agent hands me my pass and utters one word. "Run."

I ran, got through security, and got to the gate. Nobody around. I'm about to trudge disconsolately back to rebook when the agent comes out the jetway, sees me and says "pase". I thunder down the jetway and am confronted with a closed A320 door. I actually had to knock on the door, the FA opened it and let me on board. Five minutes later we are on our way.

We get to VHS and, miracle of miracles what do I see? My bag. That was probably the biggest surprise of the lot, nice one Aeromexico.

Wrong airport
 

The only time I missed a flight (I would rather sit in the lounge for an hour than have to run to the gate!), I was connecting (return) Athens to Johannesburg via LHR on a Virgin ticket. Except VS did not advise me that the leg on BA would land at LGW, not LHR (the outward leg had been from LHR to ATH). Of course, the connecting limo could not beat the M25 traffic jam, so I made the desk 3 mins after the flight had closed. I had been in constant phone contact with them throughout the journey...

VS shrugged their collective shoulders and re-booked me on the following night's flight but refused to allow me another limo service to take me to my overnight accommodation "as the connection from LGW was my allocation for the trip".:mad:

When I was traveling for work I was fortunate that I never missed a flight. If the flight starts to board at 8 AM then I plan on arriving at the airport by 6 AM. I found that I could do 90 % of my work anywhere and the additional time ensured that an accident, construction or what ever would not cause me to miss that flight.

My only missed flight ever, was an International one. Got to the AP 3 hours ahead of time to eat and read and get through security. Upon boarding, I couldn't find my passport. I had laid it down when I put my shoes back on, Security had it. But, I missed the plane when I went to retreive it. Had sat at the gate for almost 2 hours reading. I was furious at myself.:(

My very minor addition to this is not leaving enough time to get to JFK, begged the TSA ID checker to let me use the elite security line, asked forgiveness from the people in front of me lazily preparing themselves for the belt and rushed through. Got to my flight as the last people were boarding.

Another time I sprinted through EWR from security to the furthest C gate (87 for those of you who know) and was the last one on. Had I not been exercising regularly, I doubt I would have made that one.

This reminds me of one morning when I was flying to LGA/ORD/DEN (or wherever) a couple of months ago. I had just passed security and noticed that my flight didn't start boarding until 25 minutes, so I thought I could pop into RCC and have tea and read the morning paper. At the same time I overhear an older couple: "The flight is leaving at 10.25...", which is about 2.5 later than my flight. Guess you wont find me at the airport hours before departure!!!

SEA-YYJ

Arrive at ticket counter at T-5. Before saying anything to me, ticket agent picks up phone and says "Hold xxx to YYJ". Run to gate A1 (carryon only), they're opening the already closed door so I can get on.

OK, It was only an EMB-110, but man did I feel sheepish.

Missed a flight from Pargue - LHR due to a late night and a very bad hangover!

What a refreshing thread! OP doesn't blame anyone for his problem. How sad to have missed the very special family event, but thanks for just telling the tale - no ranting and complaining. Hope the rest of your family visit went well.

I nearly missed a flight out of IAH that would have certainly been our fault. We hit a restaurant for dinner...and drinks. Then we headed to one of the round B set of gates and decided we had time for another drink so we hit the bar right by our gate. Next thing I know they are paging us by name for final boarding. We missed all the calls. Nothing like running up to your gate as you're trying to finish your drink.

I've missed a lot of return flights because of situations at client sites, like meetings from which I could not extricate myself, no matter how hard I tried. Or sometimes things will be going smoothly all week, until about an hour before I need to leave, and suddenly the wheels come off. I've only missed one outbound flight, and it was beacause I was really sick and overslept.

The real question is...
 

have you ever missed a flight because you were drinking too much at the airport bar or lounge?

Happened to me 20+ hours into a trip (going from from Nairobi to CMH) in the DET airport.

NW was surprisingly understanding and simply put me on the next flight. (So I went back to the bar.)

:D