Why did you miss your flight?

[unknownn]

Sitting at the British Embassy having missed my flight (due to no fault of my own ) .. wondering if anyone else has had any awful 'missing their flight experiences' to make me feel any better Also how long did it take you to get your emergency documents? Would like to know how long i could possibly have to be waiting to get another flight home. And also whether you had to pay for your new flight home if you missed your scheduled one due to losing your passport? Please be honest too hehe, thanks.

My first experience of code-sharing, when I'd never heard of it before. Two flights, same airline, both code-sharing with another airline, destinations different cities in the same country, departing within minutes of each other - from gates at opposite ends of the airport.

Being an old hand at travelling, I didn't rush to the gate. Strolled up and joined the end of the queue. Had I been at the front if the queue, we might have made it to the correct gate on time.

It was a very expensive mistake. We got home later that evening, but the last minute tickets were over twice the price of our original flights.

Our train got stuck behind a broken down goods train for 2.5 hours.

My friend missed her flight to Barcelona because she overslept. We were meeting there for the weekend and her airport was much closer than mine. I was NOT impressed.

We missed a return flight back from Malaga 13 years ago. We had booked a return Easy Jet flight which left something like half past midnight. Arrived at airport but no such flight on the board. Easy Jet desk informed us they had emailed DH to say that flight time had changed to around 10.00 (flight had just taken off). DH (who is notorious for deleting things without reading properly) denied all knowledge of receiving such an email. Easy Jet booked us free of charge on to the next available flight which was at 6 pm the following evening.

I think I had already taken my pre-flight chill pill as I wasn't even annoyed at him! Just thought 'oh good another day holiday'. So we hired the last available car before car hire shut down. Extremely small hatchback, no boot room and DS and I had to sit on suitcase in back of car! Found vacant hotel room in Torremolinos, and sat outside at midnight having a drink - DS was only 5 at the time so we did get some funny looks.

Unfortunately the following day there was rain like never before on Costa Del Sol so all we could do was drive around in our tiny car sitting on the suitcases! I think we found a shopping mall in the end. So much for my extra day's holiday!

We also had a bit of panic this year having flown out with Thomas Cook at the end of September. We managed to get back pretty much without incident though - and on a much more comfortable plane than the TC plane we flew out on.

Not a flight, but missed an early ferry back from France because we loaded the car up the night before, left a light on, and flattened the battery. So having got the kids up at 5 for the early ferry, we had to keep them up all day then catch the overnight one ( had to check out of holiday cottage). No cabins on the overnight one so tried and failed to sleep on the floor.

Once I discovered ten minutes before i had to leave the house that I had absolutely no idea where my passport was... since worked out that I must have binned it after getting back from a previous holiday. I just didn't go and got a new passport in time for my next holiday

Another time (coming back from a football trip abroad) I was so hungover that I simply couldn't be bothered running to make my connecting flight. Could have easily made it had I put a bit of a sprint on, but I was just too fragile 😂 has already priced a new flight at £46, and it was well worth it

Could have easily made it had I put a bit of a sprint on, but I was just too fragile 😂 has already priced a new flight at £46, and it was well worth it

I’ve done this before. Literally couldn’t be bothered/too hungover to make my flight so booked another one

I can't read a 24h clock flying from Moscow to London via Munich. I turned up at 5.15pm for what I thought was my 7.15pm flight. Unfortunately my flight was at 17.15. €50 for a new flight, not too bad. Then my bag was 14 kilos overweight (I had been in Moscow for a year) which cost me €280. Then, because my new flight went via Frankfurt rather than Munich, the flight to London was delayed almost 3hours because of a huge storm. Then Lufthansa lost my luggage. All in all not a huge success

Not missed exactly...was meant to be catching a plane to a job interview. The plane technicalled. The next flight was full. By the time a replacement plane was found, the interviews were over. Still managed to get the job.

Then there was the time I managed to get to an airport on time despite it starting snowing. Shortly before they decided to stop all flights...

Many years ago it wasn't too easy to travel direct from Dublin to New York so we had to go through Heathrow. Some how we got lost in Heathrow, took forever to find our connecting flight and by then had missed it. BA did put us on the next flight free of charge but unfortunately our friends who were travelling from Manchester to NY and meeting us there, realised we missed our flight and panicked that they'd be stuck with the accommodation bill so they cancelled our rooms. We arrived in NY in the middle of the night, many hours late, with nowhere to stay. Thank God for being young and care free, we just rolled with it at the time!

Not quite missed, but I've got a not allowed on a plane story.

I was to fly back from Cuba, this was in the very early days of them allowing tourists/packages. After a nightmare of delayed flights & no facilities or even enough water, we were checked through the airport, I was stopped & taken aside whilst the friend I was travelling with was made to get in the plane. It was very scary as the guards, who had guns were waffling & arguing in Spanish & it was difficult fir me to follow with my basic Spanish, it took a long while before any of them tried to explain what was going in. Basically they were disputing my visa & insisting that I'd been there fir 6 months instead of 2 weeks & insinuating I was some sort of spy I was made to march to the plane hold, up a big ladder with guards looking up my skirt & making no secret if it to get my own luggage, which was then ransacked. It was really friggin scary & I'm nit ashamed to say I did get hysterical at one point, but pulled myself together the best I could & tried to speak with them in Spanish, but nobody seemed interested. They were laughing & joking amongst themselves & pretty much ignoring me by this point. Then all of a sudden it stopped. They acted like nothing had happened, took my bag through & became very friendly & chatty in English & put me back in the plane.

I found out on getting onto the plane to cheering, that my friend had told people what had happened to me. Other passengers were already talking to each other & pissed off about delays & lack of facilities & bullshit excuses. So turns out that they'd all refused to sit down & put on seatbelts, meaning the plane couldn't take off p, until they let me go. Looking back it was so surreal, but hose other passengers & my friend were amazing

I missed a flight from Sydney to Bangkok by 2 days. Back in 2005 so was still flying in paper tickets with Trailfinders on my solo round the world trip.

Got absolutely wankered and woke up hungover in my hotel room, thinking it was the day I was flying. Packed my bags, looked at my ticket and then had to get concierge to confirm that I had in fact missed it by 2 days.

Called Qantas who laughed at me and said they'd put me on that evening flight for $25 change fee. Sorted.

Very nearly missed a flight back from Morocco once when I thought we were leaving at 1pm but we were actually flying at 11am. Made it to airport with minutes to spare but still with shampoo in my hair because I didn't have a chance to rinse it out after we realised.

Once my mother and I were on holiday in London. Before getting on the tube to Heathrow we looked in a waterstones back when there was a 3 for 2 deal and bought some books. We missed check in by literally 20 seconds. The airline put us on standby but it took 2 days to get back home as it was the first week of the summer holidays and we lived in a popular destination.

I've never missed one but if you ever need cheering up someone has done a fantastic montage of clips from "Airline" the old TV programme about easyJet.

Another scary & a bit exciting one that happened to friends very recently.

They got caught up in huge Catalonian protests at Barcelona Airport. The road to the airport was completely blocked with protesters on their way to the airport do their cab refused to go any further as there was no way through. Not fully realising what they were getting out of the cab into, they got out to walk. No this is 2 very flamboyant, very handsome designer clad gay guys with way too much designer luggage who effectively joined the protest in the hope of catching their flight. Though they only realised this too late.

Some of the protesters where pretty snarly & aggressive to them & getting pushed off about them having to start to sort out their luggage, so they spend the first 20 minutes crapping themselves at what they realised they'd got themselves caught up in, but started asking questions about the protest in their best Spanish, which isn't great.

They ended up with the protesters carrying their luggage & speeding them through, but the airport turned out to be on lockdown & they couldn't get in to catch their flight. Protester new friends then proceeded to break into the back of the airport to let them in & they actually made their flight & are now Facebook friends with some of the protesters 😂

We missed our flight because Dp who travels a lot insists on getting to the plane bit at the last minute only this time he left it too late.

Dd missed her flight back from a party island

Her and her friend thought they were going home the following day at 12.15.

Except they got the wrong 12.15

In a club miles from the airport both their phones pinged to say their flight was boarding.

Nothing they could do so carried on dancing

I missed a university field trip because I had procrastinated getting a passport and it hadn't arrived. I had to go on it the following year (with people I didn't know well).

I was bloody close to missing the flight my travel insurance had arranged after I got injured, because the taxi company let us down. I was rushed through the airport in a wheelchair, had to gate-check the luggage and was the last person on board.

Went to Gatwick instead of Heathrow. Or was it the other way around?

Not missed a flight yet, despite travelling with DH who likes to board the plane last so that he's not 'cramped in' for any longer than absolutely necessary (he's v. tall) and he likes to hang out in the bar rather than at the gate. We have been name called on the announcements at several airports thanks to this. I've worn him down over the years and he now gets to the gate in a reasonable time. We did almost miss our flight from Schiphol last year though. Early flight, set ourselves and the DC up in McDonald's for breakfast, DC entertained by Netflix on the Kindles. We were so comfortable that we just lost track of time and didn't realise how far it was to the gate.
Pegged it down there, got there five minutes before the gate closed (waaaaay too close for my liking, DH was nonchalant) and then stood in the queue to board for 30 minutes as they hadn't even unloaded the previous passengers.

We did miss our ferry from Calais this year. Third trip to the Eurocamp site we stayed at and clearly a bit more casual about the journey back to Calais. Had a leisurely morning packing up and then a stroll around the intermarche for car snack supplies. Got in the car thinking that it was an hour and a half drive to Calais, the sat nav informs us that it's actually 2.5 hours with no delays.
We knew this, but for some reason we'd both minimised it and hadn't bothered to double check (very unlike me). We knew as soon as we set off that we wouldn't make it for the 'arrive 45 minutes before' cut off so I spent the drive finding us an alternative. We managed to book onto the Tunnel at a cost of £175. We got to Calais as our ferry was pulling out of the port, but because the train is faster, we got home at the same time we would have if we'd caught it.
We didn't let it stress us, because it would have achieved nothing and said that at least we can tick the train off our experiences list (and now we also know that we all prefer the ferry). Expensive mistake though.

Forgot that my best friend and I almost missed our flight back from Faro once. We were outside waiting for our taxi in plenty of time. It was a shared transfer and it arrived two hours late.

That was a tense drive to the airport and Faro airport bus like nothing I've ever seen. One huge queue to get through security, it was queuing out of the doors onto the drop off zone. Fortunately they whizzed us straight to the front of the queue which gave us a minute to breathe in departures so I went to the toilet. Came out and I'd lost my friend. After a moment of wondering where the hell she'd gone, I decided to meet her at the gate. Fortunately she'd decided the same thing.

I quite often miss flights. I only fly business or first and try to get to check in just before closing so I don't have to hang around. (except Qatar Airways because their lounges are nice) Doesn't always pan out but there's always the next flight. The exception was Istanbul which was such a dismal shit hole I just slept at the airport until I could check in just so I could feel like I was escaping the horror.

Missed a flight due to tragic events...on the train to Gatwick when someone decided to end his life in front of our train. From my carriage, we saw a lot. It was horrific and by the time I made it to Gatwick the plane had gone and I was in no fit state to travel. It wasn't an important trip and I didn't know whether to rebook or face going home on the train and having to pass the 'scene.' I often think about the man and any family he had.

Missed the ferry due to continual road works up through France, had to drive from Caen to Le Havre to get home that night...along with about 20 other Brits who'd had the same journey problems.

Missed a Calais to Dover ferry as we had our car security checked twice which meant unloading 4 bikes from the tow bar, twice.

Missed a Greek ferry by minutes, 24 hours until the next one...spent the night on the beach which was fun!

Missed my train station stop due to overcrowding in the train so didn't get out in time. 30 mins to the next station, an hour wait, then slow hour train home!

Our plane arrived late into Philadelphia, we had exactly minus 10 minutes to get our connecting flight. Wizzed through the airport on a golf cart with full lights flashing...no idea why, flight had already gone but we think the airport staff enjoyed the golf cart driving experience! It was like Formula 1!

I remember the time we were the last car on the ferry, they literally shut the doors behind us, another set of traffic lights and we would have missed it!

I always wondered what happened to the Dutch family in a large Volvo absolutely laden to the roof dropping their cat at the cattery just ahead of me - they were obviously dropping the cat and going straight to the ferry. Except the cat’s vaccinations weren’t up to date and the cattery wouldn’t take the cat. And it was high season and every cattery was booked up.

Missed the flight out because I overslept by half an hour I got to the airport just out of time. Bought a new flight which cost a bomb for a little later that day.
Upon arriving at my destination my bag was stolen at the airport with my passport so I had no choice but to miss the return home flight scheduled for the next day while I sorted out an emergency passport. That was a very very expensive weekend

Dh and his mate missed their flight home from Greece because the airport transfer bus didn't turn up. They had to pay for scheduled flights home. The travel company wouldn't admit the bus hadn't gone there so they never got their money back.