Major travel FAIL

[talllikejerryhall]

I am not in Greece right now, nursing a glass of rose while my daughter frolics on the beach. I am sat in slightly chilly hotel room, ten minutes from Gatwick airport, gradually recovering from the horror of this morning.

We were on time. All was well. We’d gone to pret, had some porridge, it was 430am, but who cares, we were off to GREECE, baby!

I have a little pootle around the shops, come back and DH says he’s gonna pop to WH Smith with DD. I’m like yeah, cool.

Then, I wait. Then wait some more. I’m beginning to feel alarmed as it’s 530 and our flight’s at 5.55.

Can’t see em. I call his various phones (man’s got more phones than a drug dealer) and can’t get through (though not a good one).

Then, I see them like distant specks in the flow of airport humanity.

I’m like WTF dude, we are gonna be late!

Look at the board with alarm to see our destinations isn’t there 🤔

Grab some guy with a lanyard and beg him to tell me which gate to go to - he’s nice, starts fiddling with his phone (probably a little frightened). His internet won’t connect.

A cold sweat is beginning to form - we run to the information kiosk where an overweight blonde lady is asking a making an inquiry about the vegan options on her flight.

She can see by the crazed look on my face that now is a good time to step aside.

The easyJet lady gives it to me straight: you’ve missed the flight - the gate closed five minutes ago.

But she gives me the gate number! 🙌

And I live in a beautiful place called Triumphant Denial - so I shout DH and jog heavily, lugging DD in ever more uncomfortable positions. Out of my way folks, we have a plane to catch 🙋🏻‍♀️

We finally get there and i see the EasyJet lady and I beg - implore her - to let us on the flight, tears filling my eyes.

She has no idea what the hell im talking about - she just got here and she’s opening the gate for the next flight.

The penny is dropping through the air... and thud. We have missed the goddamn flight. I look at DH all ready to lose my shit, but you know what - losing my shit isn’t going to magically transport us to Thessaloniki. My rage is an awesome thing, but it doesn’t propel me though the sky - I KNOW THIS.

So we trudge back up to the information kiosk and EasyJet lady is sat there looking at us with a mixture of mild derision and pity - the pity was the WORST. We sit there waiting to be taking back through security, looking like the most miserable, unhappy, opposite-of-holiday-makers gang you could imagine. Like, hmmm I don’t think I wanna get on a plane with those weirdos, they literally look suicidal.

We are joined the other idiots who somehow managed to miss their flights WHILE IN THE AIRPORT. No one’s making eye contact.

We rebook our flights for tomorrow and agree that waking up at 2am in woodford is too ground hog day for words and besides we are TIRED.

So here I am, listening to DD gently snore and recording the tale of our epic idiocy, trying to get DH to pore through the travel insurance to see if here is any way we can somehow recoup the £400 we’ve spent on this almighty screw up. He says that there’s no insurance for being an idiot.

But hope springs eternal.

You know what is REALLY annoying about this whole fiasco? He didn’t even BUY the thing he was queuing for, cause he got tired of waiting.

Gate number is on the boarding pass, the electronic ones update automatically, at least mine do.
Have a good holiday!

Agree with @Feefeetrixabelle

Ahh I feel your pain. I have done similar, except IT WAS ALL MY FAULT and was very costly. Smile, watch crap telly, eat some chocolate.

Well done on not losing your shit. I would have had people staring at me open mouthed whilst I ranted like a fishwife

After phoning, texting and running round the airport, I would have got on the flight without him. At least two of you would have got there on time and he would have only had to pay for one replacement ticket.

WTF did he disappear in the airport for, for nearly an hour?

My anxiety is already sky high for my flight tomorrow. Oh dear god, to hell with having a lovely wander round the shops and lunch, I'm off to sit at the gate!

I had an ex-BF miss a flight to London once because he was too busy drinking in one of the airport bars.

You have inadvertently made me feel better, though. At this time last Friday we were supposed to be on a flight from Shannon to Boston. I’m from Boston but hadn’t been back in eight years. DD has spent the last eight years begging me to take her back over to see family and old friends.

I booked 4 nights in Boston. Our flight from Edinburgh to Shannon was delayed by a minor mechanical problem. Said problem was fixed very quickly. We then sat at the gate for two hours in a roasting hot plane waiting for someone to push us back off. Missed the connection by 35 minutes. Poor NYC travellers missed it by 5 minutes.

4 nights down to 3 really hurt. 24 hours in a hotel at Shannon Airport sucked.

I do feel for you, but thank you for making ME feel a bit better.

I recently did something almost as stupid as missing a flight. We were due to fly home from Spain at 10.30pm but Ryanair emails and changed the flight to 8.30pm.
Spent a lovely week in Spain and head to the airport for our 10.30 flight, arriving at 8pm. I had completely forgotten that they'd changed the time. We had hand luggage but needed to check in the car seats. Get to the desk and the woman looks very confused, calls on the phone to someone and then informs us the gate is closed. We literally pick up the car seats and cases, leg it though security (we had special assistance) and sprint through the airport to the gate. There's a woman shouting our name at the gate and we managed to make the flight with minutes to spare.
The kids thought it was hilarious. I say at the plane and cried for bing so stupid. I'm normally so organised and prepared. I don't know what went wrong 🤦🏻‍♀️

How nasty about the vegan lady.

Your DH is a twat.

Aww, I feel bad for you, but it’s also a very amusing story (sorry). But as others have said, the flight was at 5.55 and you only started feeling anxious at 5.30? I think by 5.00 I’d be seriously stressing out. Or do you mean that the boarding gate opened at 5.55?

I'd have left DH in the airport and gone to the gate.

When traveling with other adults I go to the gate at the time I with to (early) and if they want to fanny around in the shops tat is their choice.

I was sat at a gate in Paris waiting for a flight to come in, and couldn't understand why there was so little activity - popular route and all that and overheard a conversation between staff saying about all the gate changes - dashed around to find Customer Services and found right gate with minutes to spare - travelling with small child on my own and of course the other gate was the other end of the airport....

Left my cardigan at the other gate and spent whole flight cold too

My friend missed a flight many years ago. She did hear them call her but thought: well, they won't leave without me so stayed to finish her drink! They did (of course).
As a child we went on two family holidays ever, for the first we were 24 hours late for our return flight (our fault) and the second several hours late for our outgoing flight (wrong time on tickets - pre internet days). My parents reckoned we kids were the jinx so stopped bringing us and had no such drama fun on their child free holidays.
A few weeks ago some idiot in Dublin ran out onto the runway to try to stop a plane that he was too late for. As a pp said: they're not like buses!

It happens but i Hope your holiday will help you forget this trauma OP.

Your insurance company will laugh at you. Why do you think they should pay out because you cocked up?

Has anyone else done anything equally ridiculous I could take comfort from?

No

Lesson learned. Enjoy Greece when you get there!

you dont go wandernig off near boarding time-never

but you also cant get your money back for your own mistake-my dsis flight was changed to another day even she didnt get compo

blame y0our dh not fat lady at a desk or anyone else

You won’t get an insurance payout for your DH being a dick.

Your flight left 5 minutes late, just to add insult to injury....

I am also known for faffing about at airports, though usually fly from a small one where the shops are in whistling distance from the gates. However, we once arrived at Crete airport in plenty of time for the flight home, to be told (by Jet2 I think) that the flight was leaving 40 minutes early as long as most of the passengers were on board. Daren't risk faffing / shopping since then!

Hope your silly husband treats you to something nice to compensate!

I missed a BA flight at Heathrow a few years back. Totally my own fault as I hadn't left enough time to change terminals. BA lady said I could go into London and get a train cheaper. Said I couldn't be doing with the faff and that I'd rather just get a nice coffee and fag and get a later flight. She said because I was so nice and chilled she gave me the flight for free - but don't I dare miss it!

Oh God, my kids used to moan to at me for insisting on going to the gate the minute the sign changes to 'gate open'. On budget airlines the gates are only open for a short time and after that, you're screwed. I'd rather be playing Candy Crush at the gate for 30 minutes than risk missing the flight.

I hope the overweight blonde vegan is having a fabulous time on holiday.

Friends of dh missed their flight twice.
They were delayed on the first flight due to snow so arrived having missed the connection. They were given rooms in a hotel and told to come back at 7am for a flight they were now booked on to.
What they didn't realise was that the clocks changed in that state in USA that night. They'd already missed the start of their conference by an hour the previous week having not been told in that particular state the clocks changed that weekend.

OP I once turned up at the wrong airport, despite checking my boarding pass multiple times on the train journey there! In my defence I had just come off a night shift...

Maybe the overweight lady was using the vegan diet as a way to loose weight. I am on a vegan diet, overweight and lost 22kgs, and I've never missed a flight. It's not difficult to be at your gate 40 mins before the flight departs. 🙄

My god if this had happened to me I would be too furious at DH to post a try hard funny story about it on MN hours later.

Lose*

Yep i missed a flight from Guernsey to Exeter, Guernsey airport is tiny and i mean tiny so it was pretty impressive that i managed to miss it. I was totally and utterly hungover and i pretty much sat there and watched my flight take off, just hadn't registered that it was my flight. The worst thing was that all my family were waiting at the other end, off came all my belongings but there was no me!!! Iv never lived it down