Ever had to sleep at the airport?
Apr 27, 2009, 10:05 am
#32
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: IAD
Programs: United 0, HH Gold
Posts: 2,827
IIRC, there was a blizzard at NRT a couple of years ago and some FT'ers were posting from the Red Carpet Club where they were setting up places to sleep on the floor. I think they even got McDonalds for everyone, too. That would have been a good day to have lounge membership!
Apr 27, 2009, 10:24 am
#33
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
Programs: Mucci, FB Gold, Skywards, MK Kestrel Flyer, BA Gold, M&M FF, UU Capricorne, ACCOR Gold
Posts: 676
Did quite a lot of it in our backpacker days. However, recently were forced to spend the night at NBO airport. We arrived in from MRU at 2am and were due out to DKR at 8 am. We were in C class but EVERYTHING at NBO airport shuts down for the night including ALL the lounges. We found ourselves stuck airside with only plastic seats to sit on. We both looked at each other and just found a spot to stretch out on the floor out of the way... As soon as the lounge opened in the morning we went and had a shower and something to eat and decided that we weren't twenty anymore.....
Apr 27, 2009, 10:55 am
#35
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Inland Empire!
Programs: NW Plat (formerly), UA 1K, Hilton Silver, Hyatt Plat
Posts: 2,917
Three times overnight in the airport for me.
INC and SIN (before I learned of the Ambassador Transit Hotel) waiting for my outbound am flight after arriving at night. On the floor as the chairs all had armrests. This was years ago
BOM just last year, but in the Lounge landside, arriving ~midnight and departing 6:30am. Luckily they opened it up, but did not permit anyone to lay on the floor. There must have been 30 folks trying to sleep in there on the chairs (most with legs propped up on another seat).
Any opportunity to get a hotel room, even for just a few hours and I am there!
INC and SIN (before I learned of the Ambassador Transit Hotel) waiting for my outbound am flight after arriving at night. On the floor as the chairs all had armrests. This was years ago
BOM just last year, but in the Lounge landside, arriving ~midnight and departing 6:30am. Luckily they opened it up, but did not permit anyone to lay on the floor. There must have been 30 folks trying to sleep in there on the chairs (most with legs propped up on another seat).
Any opportunity to get a hotel room, even for just a few hours and I am there!
Apr 27, 2009, 12:01 pm
#36
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: LAX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM
Posts: 2,080
I have never slept at the airport solo, but many moons ago (Sep 1991) I was caught in a shutdown of all three NY area airports (some huge computer failure shut down all ATC in the NY area for several hours). Thousands of people slept at JFK that night, and I was one of them.
Apr 27, 2009, 2:05 pm
#38
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: MCI
Programs: AA Gold 1MM, AS MVP, UA Silver, WN A-List, Marriott LT Titanium, HH Diamond
Posts: 52,613
I slept behind the Aer Lingus counter at LHR one night. Got a good night's sleep...only woke up when the Aer Lingus ladies politely shooed us off. There were other backpackers there...seemed like a common thing to do at the time.
Of course, this is very much in the pre-Priceline days when I knew little about hotels. I doubt I'd ever sleep in an airport again unless it was the mother of all blizzards or a foreign country in which I felt like I had no way of communicating with anyone, which rules out most modern cities/airports. (Between French, English, and Spanish, there's usually going to be a way to talk to someone at an airport hotel.)
Of course, this is very much in the pre-Priceline days when I knew little about hotels. I doubt I'd ever sleep in an airport again unless it was the mother of all blizzards or a foreign country in which I felt like I had no way of communicating with anyone, which rules out most modern cities/airports. (Between French, English, and Spanish, there's usually going to be a way to talk to someone at an airport hotel.)
Apr 27, 2009, 2:10 pm
#39
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Toronto
Programs: SPG LT Plat, Hilton G,Priorty Club G, AC E
Posts: 2,979
I forgot about ICN...
Three times overnight in the airport for me.
INC and SIN (before I learned of the Ambassador Transit Hotel) waiting for my outbound am flight after arriving at night. On the floor as the chairs all had armrests. This was years ago
BOM just last year, but in the Lounge landside, arriving ~midnight and departing 6:30am. Luckily they opened it up, but did not permit anyone to lay on the floor. There must have been 30 folks trying to sleep in there on the chairs (most with legs propped up on another seat).
Any opportunity to get a hotel room, even for just a few hours and I am there!
INC and SIN (before I learned of the Ambassador Transit Hotel) waiting for my outbound am flight after arriving at night. On the floor as the chairs all had armrests. This was years ago
BOM just last year, but in the Lounge landside, arriving ~midnight and departing 6:30am. Luckily they opened it up, but did not permit anyone to lay on the floor. There must have been 30 folks trying to sleep in there on the chairs (most with legs propped up on another seat).
Any opportunity to get a hotel room, even for just a few hours and I am there!
Apr 27, 2009, 2:28 pm
#40
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: BNA
Programs: Delta Silver (former GM, fighting way back), Paid Delta SC Member, Hertz Gold, Gold HHonors
Posts: 214
If you ever have an option of sleeping at CDG.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksTYEuYGBVs
(really gets interesting at about 2:00)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksTYEuYGBVs
(really gets interesting at about 2:00)
Apr 27, 2009, 2:46 pm
#42
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Alexandria, Va. USA
Programs: AA Executive Platinum, DL Silver, UA Gold, *A Gold, OW Emerald
Posts: 1,492
Slept in terminal
In the last twelve months I have slept on the floor at DTW twice due to NW misconnects. My flight from DCA to DTW arrived after my flight to AMS had departed.
During the same period I have slept on the floor at ATL. Once due to a misconnect on DL. The other time was when DL cancelled my connection: the last flight of the night from ATL to DCA.
About ten years ago I slept on the floor of a terminal at ORD after a comedy of errors courtesy of UA. That was the beginning of the end of my relationship with UA.
I have learned to be a defensive airline customer. You have to be. A long time ago they would alert me to possible misconnects. Not any more. It is up to me. I check for myself now and then go to the airline to head off problems.
During the same period I have slept on the floor at ATL. Once due to a misconnect on DL. The other time was when DL cancelled my connection: the last flight of the night from ATL to DCA.
About ten years ago I slept on the floor of a terminal at ORD after a comedy of errors courtesy of UA. That was the beginning of the end of my relationship with UA.
I have learned to be a defensive airline customer. You have to be. A long time ago they would alert me to possible misconnects. Not any more. It is up to me. I check for myself now and then go to the airline to head off problems.
Apr 27, 2009, 2:56 pm
#43
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: gggrrrovvveee (ORD)
Programs: UA Pt, Marriott Ti, Hertz PC
Posts: 6,091
The last time I slept in an airport was about 10 years ago. I was just out of college looking for a place to live in Chicago. After getting to ORD about 90 min prior to my flight, it started snowing. A lot. My flight, and all subsequent flights, were cancelled. I just hung around for a while and then struck up a conversation with the guy who worked at Laptop Lane, since I had never used one before. Surprisingly, noone else was using it, so he said I could just go in and use whatever I wanted to for free. I did so for the next hour or so until he had to close up. Chatted a little more, then found a nice unoccupied spot behind the podium by the gate for some shuteye.
Apr 27, 2009, 2:56 pm
#44
Moderator, Hilton Honors
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: on a short leash
Programs: some
Posts: 71,424
I've slept at the airport a number of times, including once when I was the only person inside the terminal (not even airport staff or security - they latched the door on the way out).
Apr 27, 2009, 3:52 pm
#45
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: ZRH
Programs: LX HON Circle
Posts: 3,288
Sure. I slept at IAD this year. I was there from about 1am-5.30am. It was an interesting experience being there alone, together with kiez who was joining me for that MR, and one or two airport maintenance men.Especially if you know how crowded Dulles can get during roush hours.
