Things that airline staff want you to know...

[FlyMayBe]

If you bring the wrong passport to the airport, you will not be allowed to fly on an international flight.

No, the captain will not hold the aircraft for you while you wait for your relative to bring the correct passport in a taxi.

Lost your passport in the airport? Nope. You still can't fly - unless it is a domestic flight and you have reliable photo ID.

I'm that people would turn up with the wrong passport and expect the flight to wait for them. Do people do that?

It happens every day!

A week ago we flew from France to Spain on different passports to the booking. My UK one had run out. We did bring both just in case. Im guessing it was ok as it was within Europe.

This reminds me of that Easyjet programme - Airline I think. Every week was basically people yelling at desk staff after arriving 3 hours late/forgetting passport/turning up on wrong day. Maybe the stress of flying temporarily derails people's brains...

It happens every day!

I know the word entitled gets bandied about a lot on mumsnet but I think in this case it would be fair to use it.

People are unbelievable aren't they?

What's your point? Those things are kind of obvious.

Next you'll be saying that the airport will mind if you don't want to bother going through the security procedure, and no, the captain won't let you have a go at flying the plane.

Amazing. Who does this?

Obvious to most of us Barbara. Evidently not to the 3 separate passengers I had to escort back landslide yesterday - one of whom raged that the airline hadn't done nearly enough to help him. I wonder how some ppl manage to wipe their own bottoms unaided, tbh...

I will never forget the couple who were being called by name to a gate adjacent to mine. They were literally strolling to the gate hands full of sandwiches. They then disappeared into the tunnel to the parked plane full of everyone other passenger who had turned up in time and proceeded to unpack and repack their bag for 10 mins. If I was the captain I would have taken off. Cheeky entitled fuckers they were.

I am just amazed, with both travellers on Airline and consumers in real life, who when they err think the best approach is to become all righteous and demanding as if a great wrong has been done upon them. Consumer laws (and the rest) are there to prevent people swallowing snails in bottles of lemonade. They are not there so we may command the way the world works around us. I just watch in bemusement and part embarrassment when someone kicks off knowing the ultimate result is push-back from business when a conciliatory position might get them on the first plane available or a full refund on the product. Human nature is very influential.

OMG, I've been watching the re-runs of Airline recently, and I'm gobsmacked at how some people seem to turn into absolute arseholes the moment they enter an airport. Shouting at staff for mistakes they they themselves have made. Truly shocking!

Where can you watch Airline re runs?

Consumer laws (and the rest) are there to prevent people swallowing snails in bottles of lemonade.
That brings back memories from the law module of my accountancy training. All other cases seemed to involve horses or boats.

I once overheard a woman shouting at airport staff at the top of her voice. She had arrived at the correct time for her flight, just to the wrong airport. How dare they suggest that was her fault?! People are bonkers.

Just before Christmas last year I was waiting at the Departure Gate for it to open and noticed three people leisurely strolling towards the now closed Departure Gate for their flight, their plane was leaving the gate and boy did they look stunned! Of course they then had to wait to be escorted back landside, they were not happy. Some people think everything is just there to wait for them to deign to turn up.

A work colleague handed his, his wife and his daughters passports to the person on passport control who must have dropped it. Despite him begging her to look more carefully behind the desk she denied dropping it and refused to check.

He was understandably upset at not being allowed to fly and had to spend Xmas at home alone.

He was contacted about a week later. His passport had been found behind the desk. Exactly where he said it must be.

I find that very hard to believe @Comefromaway. You only pass your passport over. The clerk would have known if she'd dropped it. Of course she would have looked on the floor - there's only a small space and it would be clear of other obstacles. And if that unlikely event did occur, then it would have been found a lot sooner than a week later!

Believe it or not, it’s true. The wife and 16 year old dd witnessed it and the passport was found behind the desk.

I once worked for a man who expected me to ring the airline and make the plane wait as he'd overslept... every time.
He was a such an asshole

They might have found it sooner, who knows. But he was contacted about a week later (after Christmas)

I've experienced something similar to @HollowTalk
Was travelling with small child and trying to make a connection. Have our passports to the checkin and didn't realise he hadn't given them both back when we went to board. Luckily a manager assisted, called him up and he acknowledged he still had the passports (2hrs he'd been holding them) but was busy fixing his printer and couldn't be bothered to notify anyone

Apologies meant @Comefromaway

Mother Feeder - not airline related but the American CEO of a company I worked for used to come over for Wimbledon every year. One very rainy year the final was switched to the following Monday. He called and asked our MD's secretary to get it changed back!

Last time we flew (intercontinental) 3 people checked in bags but failed to show at the gate in time despite multiple calls , they had to unload bags ... we could hear the commotion when they did arrive and were refused boarding because their bags had already been offloaded. Check I was a minimum of 90 mins for this flight and there was no queues at passport control.

Ha ha I'm in the Middle East and people saunter in in at the last minute usually. So many get left behind but the airlines seem to be a bit more liberal about just sticking them on the next flight.
And it's quite normal to have to turf people out of your seats on the plane as people just sit where they want (especially large family groups who want to sit together but didn't check in online ...or (surprise!) arrived too late to be seated together.