And that's why we try to get to the airport early. Just in case. Have you had issues that could have made you late for check in?

[cakeorwine]

Nice week away, Flight was in the afternoon - an hour from the town to the airport. Spent morning pottering around and we left the luggage in a locker.

Got to the lockers to retrieve them. Put the coins in but no joy. Tried again. No joy. Slight panic rising - but there was a phone number to contact. Had to Google the country code but after 3 attempts got through. Someone arrived in 30 minutes and fixed it.

Luckily - I am one of those people who leave plenty of time to get to the airport just in case something happens! So this didn't affect us - but if we had been cutting it, then I think there would have been more stress.

Anyone else had similar issues - and did it cause an issue and stress, or are you the kind of person who leaves plenty of time

We both have annual lounge access passes so always arrive with plenty of time: there’s not really any contest when it comes to maximising free food and drinks in the lounge.

We have friends, a couple, where female half of couple point blank refuses to fly with male half. Even if they’re going together, to the same destination, she books her own flight and makes her own airport travel arrangements. He is Mr Last Minute and the stress of it finally tipped her over the edge. We holiday with them often. She joins us with plenty of time to spare in aforementioned airport lounge. We meet him at our destination, whenever he manages to make it there.

We're always arrive early types. I'd rather be sat around in departures the bar than be racing to get there. We're flying next week and have booked a hotel nearby for the night before so we can be there early to take full advantage of our lounge ticket.

The only time I've ever nearly missed a flight was on a hen do. Our coach got caught in the most awful traffic and we pulled up outside the airport about 35 minutes before take off time 🤢

Running through an airport with a heavy case, half pissed and in heels is not an experience I ever want to revisit 😂

We were getting through passport control at Eurostar the other week when a woman realised, too late, that she’d taken her DD’s passport by mistake. There’s no margin for error for something like that.

We, dh, dd and I, once got the airport bus for CDG airport.
It picked us up, turned the corner and sat at the next stop for 30 minutes. No idea why.
At the airport it dropped off at every other terminal first.
By the time we got into the airport we had to run to security who decided to make us remove our boots!
We were last onto the plane and our seats were at the very front- I could feel every other passenger glaring and judging us.

Friend’s dad posted a pile of letters on the way to the airport and accidentally posted his passport into the postbox too. Had to wait for postman (luckily only an hour until collection) then have a long argument because once something is in a postbox you can’t legally remove it. He missed his flight.

I absolutely love Southampton Airport- you can see the gate from check in, and it feels like they try to park the plane IN the building 😂

Get checked in.
Get through security.
Get bored out of your brain for almost 2 hours.

Not so bad now that I play Pokemon Go. Not surprising that airports are chocka with gyms & pokestops. All the other very bored people.

No, I absolutely hate hanging about airports, I'd rather risk missing the flight, tbh (never happened yet). I always arrive as late as possible. But earlier before the long-haul.

there is absolutely no other stress as agonizing as having to run through an airport for last call. I will not do it (have had to twice due to monster queues at the airport, strike, etc.)
My kids moan when I announce leaving time, however once I had a flat tyre ! once there was mega accident on the motorway...
I am right !

Nope. Get there very early. Calmly go through all the pre flight stuff. Sit down with a drink. No flapping here. How judgemental.

I've gone from one extreme to the other- when I flew a lot I always tried to time it not to waste a minute and cut it very fine several times (begging check in to reopen etc). Also never missed a flight but did once have to abandon a bag that hadn't come off one flight in order to get another one!

Now I fly a lot less and I don't like the stress of being late- most flying is long haul so just have to resign yourself to the boredom anyway! So I leave lots of time, a friend of mine once managed to have checked in and be at the airport and still miss her flight once, no idea how!

Left my passport behind in a bar in NYC the night before our flight home. We had to wait for the cleaner to turn up to gain access to retrieve it. Fortunately, we got in and then managed to get to the airport on time, otherwise I would probably have had to book the next available flight home alone and broke!

An hour if short haul 90m if long haul.
I hate flying (not scared or anything just bores me to tears) so I’m sure as shit not mooching around an airport any longer then I have too (except when I fly home from Gatwick, I will get there in enough time for a Spoons breakfast!). I flew back from Singapore yesterday, 16h on planes was bad enough but the 3 hours at the airport (transfer car would only drop off a minimum of 3h before the flight) was so unnecessary. I’m exhausted today and I blame the mindless mooching at the airport!

My nearest airport is 30 minutes away on the metro, if that isn’t working then 20m in a taxi, if neither are working then I wouldn’t have got there in time anyway so such is life. I check security times in the couple of hours lead up to leaving the house and get public transport updates

Ive only ever missed one flight - taxi turned up without the pre booked car seat for the toddler. Took 4h to sort then an hours drive, no way we would’ve left early enough to take that into account no matter what

I travel for work and still only relaxed if l have a morning flight and can overnight in an airport hotel. Understandably, work won’t pay for this on later flights.

Over time, I’ve been stuck on the motorway, stuck between stations on a broken down train and nearly missed a return flight because a hotel room safe failed with my passport inside it.

I travelled to Vienna in 2020. I got a taxi to the hotel and the last day I was due to get the train to the airport. I didn't think to check what the German for airport was!! 😯
By the time I realised, we had gone through the airport station. I found the guard who was very angry...
"You.... Passport!!" I showed him!
"You... Ticket!!" I showed him.
"YOU OFF NEXT STATION!!"
I got off in the middle of the Austrian countryside . There was one farm house, tractors rumbling past. I crossed the line back to the other side. There was a breeze block building with a wriggly tin roof. A strange man sitting in there helped me get a ticket. I then sat there waiting absolutely terrified I was going to miss my plane. Luckily half an hourl later a train appeared and I got back to the airport in time...
I now know that flughafen is airport!!!

We are between Heathrow and Southampton and leave home 3 hours before the flight for each. Southampton is further away but much smaller and you are generally through security in 5 minutes. It took us 90 minutes to get there one Friday evening when it was half term but we still had 90 minutes to park up and sort ourselves out.

Fortunately DH and I are both "get there stupidly early" types. It must be so stressful when your other half wants to get there 10 minutes before check in closes!

I have only once missed a flight when I got to Hatton Cross on the tube and then there was a problem and the tube went no further. That was two hours before the plane was due to leave and they messed us about so much that I missed the flight (could have probably walked and made it in time). But this was back in the 90s when the airline simply booked me on the next flight later that evening for free! Those were the days.

Southampton is a lovely little airport, but they don't have many destinations so I can't use it very often :(

TBF that's probably why it's so easy to use .

Easy because you don’t use it very often? 😂😂😂

I nearly missed a flight once due to a broken down train. We were in the middle of nowhere so I didn't have options. I rang a friend who went above and beyond to help me out, I'll never forget it. Literally the gate attendants were looking for me running towards them as the check in desk had called them to say I was on my way. Sadly it was long haul, and I had dressed warmly in a sweat co-ord and therefore had an unpleasant few hours whilst the sweat dried!

I like to arrive early, get food and a coffee and sit somewhere to read my book, but sometimes things happen.

I hate being at the airport for too long, but I’m definitely a get there earlier person. Mostly we take morning flights and get a hotel at the airport the night before. It’s often not much more expensive than just getting airport parking.

We were going away with friends for my birthday years ago and some of them left our town 5 mins before us. On the motorway an accident happened between them and us which meant we nearly missed the flight. We had to run through the airport and just made it to the gate as it was closing. It was so stressful! Especially as everyone else was at the airport and kept calling us asking where we were!

The majority of our flights are long haul from Heathrow. We’re just over an hour away, but it’s taken us anywhere from two to nearly four hours to get there due to traffic problems. We now always stay in an airport hotel the night before as I can’t stand the chaos/stress of trying to get to the airport on time on the day.

I’m always early. Super early. I quite like airports. Get checked in and through security and have something to eat or whatever. I could not cope with the stress of risking missing a flight.

You need to be alert at all times though. A friend of mine once got to the airport so early that she relaxed too much. Sat down with her headphones and zoned out, and when she looked up had missed her flight!

I’m brown and bearded I always make sure I’m at the airport early and I leave a decent time between connecting flights. When you’re detained for questioning and you miss a flight, you’re treated no differently to any latecomer and have to sort and pay for your own new flight.