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Ouch indeed! If something wents wrong it really wents wrong. To be fair Iīm mostly at the airport early as I donīt need the stress.
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Originally Posted by ilcannone
(Post 30279099)
I have to ask though, OP, why not just use the subway like everyone else then you wouldn't have got stuck in traffic...
New York public transportation system was designed with commuting to Manhattan in mind, so if you want to go from Northern Queens to Southern Queens, or Queens to Brooklyn, you can't take subway. You either have to take bus for 1 - 2 hrs or take subway to Manhattan and take another subway out of Manhattan. Right now, with heavy traffic, it'd take 40 minutes for me to go to JFK (that day, it took me 90 minutes) whereas taking public transportation would easily take over 1.5 - 2 hrs (it's either take a bus for 1hr 10 mins and transfer to Air Train or backtrack on LIRR towards the city and then take it towards Long Island) |
With my drive to lax ranging from 40 min to 2+ hrs depending on traffic it can get tight.
Some thoughts assuming 2+ hr traffic for all trips is not practical - i would only do that for major trips (international, expensive, high season etc) google maps is rather accurate predicting traffic now - unless smth happens after you start it is normally within 5-10 min of estimate Consider options that may be too expensive under normal circumstances - park at terminal short term for example abandon the trip if change costs exceed cancelation/forfeit expenses - i d do that in op's case after checking mileage options instead of doing rebooking |
This reminds me of a time oh, almost fifty years ago. Fresh out of college my first job (working for a major defense contractor) was to hold the hands of a big shot Air Force General. He was working on a very classified (Top Secret) project and we flew around the country together quite often. Usually he had a military plane at his disposal but on rare occasions we'd fly commercial.
Anytime we were forced onto the airlines I would try to get him to the airport well ahead of departure, to wit, the second time I did this he looked at me and very sternly said, "Son, you need to understand something. If I'm seated on an airplane one minute before it departs I consider that I've wasted fifty-nine seconds of my life." For someone used to his own plane it made sense. Fast forward. We are in Washington flying to Dayton. We arrive at the departure gate just as the plane has pushed back and is taxiing to the runway. My General says to the agent, "I need to be on that plane." Agent responds, "too bad you should have gotten here earlier." General, who this day is dressed in his civvies, goes behind the podium and and grabs the phone. Agent goes berserk, he's going to call the cops, etc. etc. General speaks to someone. Five minutes later plane returns to the jet bridge and we get on, everyone is looking at us. We push back and away we go. We are seated in First Class, General next to the window. About twenty minutes into the flight the guy across the aisle from me leans across and says to me, "Look, I'm sorry but I just have to ask...who the f**k are you?" I just smiled, that's all I could do. |
Originally Posted by roadwarrier
(Post 30278473)
My one Boss always had this Mantra - " Never run for an aircraft - ensure that you have enough time to enjoy a relaxing drink in the Lounge before you get on that plane".
Greetings - Dirk |
Wow...shelling on that much to make up for missing the plane...easy for me to say with the wisdom of hindsight, but that could have paid for a very nice vacation somewhere else later.
Anyway... I'm usually at the airport pretty early. But having recently underestimated NYC area traffic myself (though making the flight), I can sympathize with what happened to you. Sounds like you learned your lesson. Could even prove valuable in preventing you from missing an even more important trip in the future. |
Originally Posted by Thunderroad
(Post 30279861)
Wow...shelling on that much to make up for missing the plane...easy for me to say with the wisdom of hindsight, but that could have paid for a very nice vacation somewhere else later.
Originally Posted by azepine00
(Post 30279558)
abandon the trip if change costs exceed cancelation/forfeit expenses - i d do that in op's case after checking mileage options instead of doing rebooking
I couldn't cancel :p I would have cancelled if it was any other vacation though! |
Mazel Tov! |
The next morning when we woke up - the view from our room made me almost completely forget about the whole debacle we had the day before.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...c2ccc8d63c.png https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...0208489b57.png Even the train stations were gorgeous. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...b509940b57.png ...and soon we were at the top of Europe (well that's what they call themselves). .... and here's why I couldn't possibly cancel the trip :) https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...c7b8200338.png |
Originally Posted by roadwarrier
(Post 30278473)
My one Boss always had this Mantra - " Never run for an aircraft - ensure that you have enough time to enjoy a relaxing drink in the Lounge before you get on that plane". And to this day, that is what I believe in - relax, enjoy the ride - remember that the journey to the airport must be as relaxed as the trip itself.
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Originally Posted by ss278
(Post 30279784)
This reminds me of a time oh, almost fifty years ago. Fresh out of college my first job (working for a major defense contractor) was to hold the hands of a big shot Air Force General. He was working on a very classified (Top Secret) project and we flew around the country together quite often. Usually he had a military plane at his disposal but on rare occasions we'd fly commercial.
Anytime we were forced onto the airlines I would try to get him to the airport well ahead of departure, to wit, the second time I did this he looked at me and very sternly said, "Son, you need to understand something. If I'm seated on an airplane one minute before it departs I consider that I've wasted fifty-nine seconds of my life." For someone used to his own plane it made sense. Fast forward. We are in Washington flying to Dayton. We arrive at the departure gate just as the plane has pushed back and is taxiing to the runway. My General says to the agent, "I need to be on that plane." Agent responds, "too bad you should have gotten here earlier." General, who this day is dressed in his civvies, goes behind the podium and and grabs the phone. Agent goes berserk, he's going to call the cops, etc. etc. General speaks to someone. Five minutes later plane returns to the jet bridge and we get on, everyone is looking at us. We push back and away we go. We are seated in First Class, General next to the window. About twenty minutes into the flight the guy across the aisle from me leans across and says to me, "Look, I'm sorry but I just have to ask...who the f**k are you?" I just smiled, that's all I could do. So - did you have to do civvie security screenings too? |
Fabulous TR and big kudos on the engagement. Who took the picture? there is never a wrong answer for airport timing. Arrive early on the day that the flight is badly delayed. Arrive late because of bad traffic. It happens and we learn from something. I prefer early so I’ve spent a lot of time and money at airports. But mostly big kudos for not losing the engagement ring during that challenging period of time! |
Originally Posted by gaobest
(Post 30284032)
Fabulous TR and big kudos on the engagement. Who took the picture? there is never a wrong answer for airport timing. Arrive early on the day that the flight is badly delayed. Arrive late because of bad traffic. It happens and we learn from something. I prefer early so I’ve spent a lot of time and money at airports. But mostly big kudos for not losing the engagement ring during that challenging period of time! But 17 out of 20 pictures had her finger in the picture. |
Originally Posted by ss278
(Post 30279784)
This reminds me of a time oh, almost fifty years ago. Fresh out of college my first job (working for a major defense contractor) was to hold the hands of a big shot Air Force General. He was working on a very classified (Top Secret) project and we flew around the country together quite often. Usually he had a military plane at his disposal but on rare occasions we'd fly commercial.
Anytime we were forced onto the airlines I would try to get him to the airport well ahead of departure, to wit, the second time I did this he looked at me and very sternly said, "Son, you need to understand something. If I'm seated on an airplane one minute before it departs I consider that I've wasted fifty-nine seconds of my life." For someone used to his own plane it made sense. Fast forward. We are in Washington flying to Dayton. We arrive at the departure gate just as the plane has pushed back and is taxiing to the runway. My General says to the agent, "I need to be on that plane." Agent responds, "too bad you should have gotten here earlier." General, who this day is dressed in his civvies, goes behind the podium and and grabs the phone. Agent goes berserk, he's going to call the cops, etc. etc. General speaks to someone. Five minutes later plane returns to the jet bridge and we get on, everyone is looking at us. We push back and away we go. We are seated in First Class, General next to the window. About twenty minutes into the flight the guy across the aisle from me leans across and says to me, "Look, I'm sorry but I just have to ask...who the f**k are you?" I just smiled, that's all I could do. |
Originally Posted by samwise6222
(Post 30284394)
Some random person. I asked her nicely to take like 20 pictures as I was going to propose. She happily obliged.
But 17 out of 20 pictures had her finger in the picture. Congratulations, and am looking forward to the rest of your TR!! |
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