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Original poster

To wonder how this happens so often

65 replies

Fluffyears · 18/06/2015 00:02

Inspired by the allocated seat thread, my DP and I fly at least once a year to foreign climes. On every occasion we have heard a final call for passengers then a warning that luggage will be offloaded. Every time we have been in airport (so far not our flights) this happens. I'm one of those first at gate folks desperate to get on plane and get myself settled (have issues with them locking us in so need to relax properly).How do these people not realise 'oh it's close to take off time maybe we should try to find our gate' they must hear the announcements where they are called by name too.

Anyone ever been one of these people, how did it happen did you regularly check to see when gate was displayed?

OP posts:
Original poster
Fluffyears · 18/06/2015 00:42

Oh god that sounds stressful. Aw and your poor wee ds doing his best with his little case, bless his wee heart.

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Original poster
Fluffyears · 18/06/2015 00:43

I'msocool that was my reaction too as I put muffins into my backpack.

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FastWindow · 18/06/2015 00:47

Twas awful for sure. And getting there earlier would just mean waiting around for even longer, although I am seriously considering a fecking hotel overnight next time so I can be number one queue person. I live an hour away from Luton, it shouldn't be this hard!
And what!! Is the point of online check in if you are in the same exact queue as everyone else who hasn't?!! Bag drop people, BA have it bloody down to a tee.

DarkEvilMoon · 18/06/2015 00:48

I once nearly missed a flight because I was travelling as a child and was supposed to have an assisted transfer. Except the woman doing the transfer assumed I was on a different flight to the one I was actually on. I was lucky i was waiting in an area near to the gate. Took myself in the end. But would have missed the flight other wise. Scary as hell for me and I got grief off some of the other passengers who had been waiting on the transfer bus. Totally not my fault and a member of staff's fault, but the other passengers did not know that.

MidniteScribbler · 18/06/2015 00:55

I'm usually last on the plane (I always book an aisle seat and can't understand the big rush to get on first when you've got an assigned seat anyway) but I'm usually the first to check in and always at the gate early, it's just that I wait for the crush to go first, then join the back of the line.

The only time I was genuinely late for a flight was due to delay from Sydney to LAX and I was getting a connecting flight to New York. I got bundled off the first flight, run through the airport escorted by security shoving people out of the way, and unceremoniously dumped on the next flight which was delayed by about ten minutes waiting for me. I'd already missed one flight and this was the last flight out that night so they choose to wait for me or they would have had to put me up in a hotel at their expense. People probably thought I was the slack one, and I was really embarrassed (although very grateful that they waited).

FastWindow · 18/06/2015 00:55

Dark that's dreadful on many levels.

SAS did that for us (successfully!) in the 80s. Noone will do it now, I think.

DarkEvilMoon · 18/06/2015 01:07

I was lucky as I was towards the top end of the cut off for assisted travel. Was grateful for it on the return leg of that original journey though, as they stuck me on a airport cart as it was miles between gates and it saved me a long walk. I would have got lost. That airport was a complete labyrinth, bet loads were late for flights because of it.

Baffled2012 · 18/06/2015 01:11

Ha that's me

I find the shops too distracting and tend to zone out from the announcements

CrystalHaze · 18/06/2015 01:13

can't understand the big rush to get on first when you've got an assigned seat anyway

Neither can I - though what really baffles me is the fact that, invariably, 95% of passengers ping out of their seats and start pushing for the door the second the seatbelt sign goes off. You've still got to wait for your bags, fools, and possibly queue for passport control, so why not just stay in your seat and file out in a readinsble manner? (and no, they can't ALL be claustrophobic)

perfectlybroken · 18/06/2015 01:18

It was me and dh once, we travel regularly and always leave plenty of time, but on this day we seemed to hit rush hour through airport security, had our bags searched etc and it all just took ages.

FastWindow · 18/06/2015 01:22

That thing where you're stood with your neck bent at an unnatural angle waiting to grab your bag out of the locker. Or you've got your bag, but now it's in your seat... And you're trying not to jostle anyone but with one eye on the doors...

What makes me go huh is all the pinging and beeping as 250 people switch their phones back on. Meep meep! Meep meep!

Or the conversations... 'YES we've just landed on the exactly on time flight which if you check the arrivals board you will already know. No, Nick didn't bring the files but they are being sent via courier. Oh, the meeting? We moved it to Barcelona. Yes, hahaha, great venue. ' etc etc blah blah blah top volume blahhhh.

Have they no concept of the fact that they are completely surrounded by people do not give the slightest of shots where the files or the meeting is??

FastWindow · 18/06/2015 01:23

*shits. Shots at that point would be great.

MidniteScribbler · 18/06/2015 01:27

Neither can I - though what really baffles me is the fact that, invariably, 95% of passengers ping out of their seats and start pushing for the door the second the seatbelt sign goes off.

YES!!! I go to a particular destination several times per year, and you will not be allowed off the plane until someone comes on board to do an official welcome. Then you've got to wait for your bags anyway. And then any of us locals will always be ushered through customs before the tourists anyway. You can always spot the first time visitors to the place as they're the ones that jump to their feet as the plane taxis in, only to then get annoyed when they're told to sit down and wait.

RachelWatts · 18/06/2015 08:07

I almost missed a flight to Edinburgh. We were queueing to check in, but an earlier flight to Aberdeen had been cancelled and all the passengers for that flight were queuing so they could shout at the check-in people, and eventually they had enough and shut the check-in desk.

My friends and I had to go find someone so we could check-in, then they rushed us through the airport at a sprint so we could make it before the gate closed.

They didn't threaten to unload our bags, though, as they never made it onto the flight.

Original poster
Fluffyears · 18/06/2015 08:38

Even though I am panicky on the plane I let everyone clber off first as I hate people crushes too and the door is open so I start to calm. People think I'm scared of flying but it's not the hurtling through the air at 500mph that scares me (I know how planes stay up) it's just the 'sealed in' thing. In NYC everyone was desperate to get off the plane. We waited then got off, went to rest room the got in queue for immigration which was quite short by the time we got there then the bags were through 2 minutes after we arrived at carousel. I hate Palma airport and the age it takes for baggage there.

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Original poster
Fluffyears · 18/06/2015 08:40

Oh you Aldo get the people desperate to get on the terminal buses too as there are limited seats but you are on it for 10 minutes tops and if you are standing you get off first.

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CrystalHaze · 18/06/2015 08:57

Last time we flew we sat and waited until every other person had frantically jostled off the plane, then stood up, got bags, and walked straight off. Got to the carousels and our luggage was first out - HA!

The airport isn't going anywhere, so why the desperate scramble to get off the plane the second it stops moving?

BlueThursday · 18/06/2015 09:02

DH is regularly called as his work book his connecting flight with about a 10 minute window. Quite often his luggage doesn't make it even if he does

loveulotslikejellytots · 18/06/2015 09:25

My nan, Granadad and my Nan's sister were these people last summer. Gramps is in a wheel chair, nan has arthritis in her feet and great aunt has hip problems so all 3 we're meant to be taken on one of those golf buggies. They were taken to a gate and left there. By 20 minutes before their flight no one else had turned up, so my nan had to walk for 15 mins to find someone, who upon check in realised they had been left at the gate. No problem, back on the buggy, shoot down to the correct gate, into the lift which takes them directly up to the plane doors... Lift breaks!

So they were actually about 20ft below the plane doors waiting for an engineer to fix the lift! They delayed the flight by 25 minutes, my poor nan was really worried people would be angry with them, but the other passengers were lovely.

loveulotslikejellytots · 18/06/2015 09:25

Sorry, meant to say they were left at the wrong gate!

NickiFury · 18/06/2015 09:27

I have been one of those people. For some reason I had in my mind that the flight was thirty minutes later than it was. Just had a mental block on it. We were browsing in duty free when we were called and had to sprint to the gate. Usually though we are always first.

PatriciaHolm · 18/06/2015 09:44

DH did this on a connecting flight in the US once; he wandered off to look at something, the flight boarded, and I was left there till last in the boarding queue wondering what on earth he had got up to. The lovely lovely boarding guards saved us though - they decided I needed a "random bag check" of my hand luggage, which they did very sloooooowly, because they said if that happens to you the airline have to wait for you. So he ran up as they were finishing and they gave him a telling off, but we made the plane.

RachieS1986 · 18/06/2015 10:03

This happened me once on tge way back from a school trip to london when I was about 12/13. I think our bus had got held up and then by the time we all got checked through we had to bolt through everything else to the terminal at the far end of the airport. Talk about dirty looks when we got on.

AuntyMag10 · 18/06/2015 10:06

This happened to dh an I a very long time ago. It was entirely our fault for daydreaming and losing track of time. They offloaded our luggage and we ended up travelling the next day. Funny thing was we arrived at the airport with hours to spare yet we missed the flight.

SilverNightFairy · 18/06/2015 10:24

I had an unfortunate face vs bathroom sink incident the day before our trip ended in Colorado. Massive, blue and green swelling resulted. My husband had injured his shoulder skiing our trip. Inclement weather resulted in our connection being late to JFK. We were the last one's boarded..You could hear the gasps..and the whispers.."Look at her poor face! And him! He's making that tiny thing carry those bags!"