What happens to these people in airports?

[Helpmethinkofasolution]

Nearly every time I fly I hear a call out for people who have seemingly checked in, checked in their bags but then are late (really late) for boarding. I'm pretty scatty but I've never had so much fun at the airport that I've forgotten to check that my flight is boarding! Do they just get distracted?
Not judging just wondering how common it is for people to be 'un-boarded' and what happens?

"Be warned Manchester travellers!"

Not my experience 3 weeks ago at all. Never seen Manchester so quiet. Seems like it's pot luck.

Some people are just stupid!

We got lost walking to the gate due to shit signage in Barcelona airport. Also the gate was a million miles away and we had two toddlers and no pushchair. We literally left for the gate within minutes of it being shown on the board!!

I can answer this one! They get completely absorbed in lovely shopping in T5 and only when chatting to the shop assistants about their flight realise their watch has stopped!

I was whisked through concrete corridors by BA ground crew. As I stepped on the plan they shut the doors and pushed back.

Collapsed into seat and handed a lovely cold glass of fizz by the steward, whilst not daring to look at my fellow passengers.

My friend managed to miss not just one but two departures on Eurotunnel. She claimed not to realise that they don’t call out the letter of the group that is boarding, you have to watch the board. Then they stop you all the way because your pass doesn’t scan….l

Us in America. Got to phoenix least 3 hours before the flight to New York for a connecting flight home to the UK and didn't realise we had to go through customs before the flights. It took 2 and 3/4 hours to get through then we ran to security. They checked DH's bags very thoroughly and then ran to the gate. We were the last people on but made it with a few minutes to spare

Only happened to me once in Heathrow catching a flight to Marseilles and got lost in the airport. Luckily found the gate as my name was being called and was running to the gate with lovely BA stewardess running with me.

Did nearly happen in Manchester a couple of years back. DH needs special assistance so they asked us to sit on certain seats at the airport, an hour before the flight. Sat for ages and saw lots of people getting wheeled off, but not him. After 20 minutes decided to find someone and ask what was going on. They'd forgotten about him. Luckily I asked or we would have missed our flight.

@Madcatgirl Regarding visas, I know it is your own responsibility, but despite travelling loads prior to that, I had never come across the situation of needing a visa to change planes within the same terminal of the same airport...I would know better now!

We missed a flight connection to the US because our first leg into Heathrow was delayed. Thankfully the one we were transferred onto was continuous rather than stopping in Chicago, so we actually got there earlier than if we had caught the original flight!

So if you miss your flight do you have to pay for whatever one you get put on?

Happened to me while I was at the boarding gate at Dublin airport years ago. It was when Ryanair first brought in very strict one cabin bag rule, which I adhered to (it was the return flight, so fine on the way over). I was in the first half of the queue. Check in lady asked me to pop the little wheelie case in the cage thing to measure it. It went in but she pushed it down further for some reason and it got stuck. The two of us had a very funny conversation about who was really at fault as we wrestled with the cage and case. Meanwhile rest of the passengers boarded and then the other check in staff guy started calling my name. I waved hello, he waved back and continued to call my name. Finally case came loose and I ran on the plane where the stewardess sat me in the front row so the plane could start moving, put my case away and a bloke across the aisle said 'you made it!' Stewardess asked what happened and when I explained she gave me a free cup of tea when the trolley started!

I think they're playing on their phones I see a lot of phone zombies oblivious that queue is moving around them.

With bloody British Airways - I forget with LHR terminal - they had a very clear sign on the departures board that gates would close X minutes before departure. Fair enough and helpful.

However, when - finally - we were given the gate details, the estimated walking time to the gate would only get passengers to the gate after the time the gate was due to close 🙄

(of course the plane didn’t take off without its passengers )

Happened to us, but only because Dublin airport had an "unexpected arrival" which caused the American pre clearance to be more busier.

We were called and we were running through the terminal to get to our fight. We made it.... just!!!!! Or flight was scheduled to depart at 10:50am. We boarded at 10:48am and credit to Aer Lingus, we departed right on time! The couple behind us in pre clearance we were chatting to, didn't make the flight :(

"She was there in plenty time, went to the bar to get a drink and just kind of forgot where she was."

I can't really understand this. Unless it was 10 drinks, how could you forget you were in an airport for an important trip?

I thought airline didn’t allow (visibly) drunk people on planes?

Depends on your airline and the precise circumstances. Klm have said they'll put you on a later flight free of charge if delays with security mean you miss your connection at Schiphol this summer. I think it's a frequent problem atm.

We were called once to get on a flight but it wasn't completely our fault, we had a puncture on the way to the airport but they were still checking loads of people in for our flight, we were just the last in the queue. The airport was hectic, the busiest i have ever seen it, before or since. Anyway when we got to the security check we realised they had only given us 5 boarding passes (there was 6 of us) so we had to run back to the check in desk, they were packing up to head to the gate and it took them a few minutes to find our booking and print the last boarding pass, then we had to join the very long security check queue. We were very close to missing the flight, it was a nightmare.

Who says you get put on another flight? When I missed my flight I had the option of buying another one or not going to my friends' wedding. Unfortunately, it was expensive so I missed the wedding.

We've done this.
Late connecting flight.
Sat at wrong gate.
Been in the bathroom and missed announcement.

I almost missed one as I'd completely forgotten about going through passport control or something. And I some how misread the boards. Fortunately the flight was delayed so it was ok.

Have a friend who works for Finnair. There's a big Moomin store in the airport with great stuff and some that are exclusive to that store.

She reckons loads of passengers who are meant to be transiting in Finland to other destinations get 'lost' in the Moomin store! :)

"Surely the first thing you do when you get through security and/or passport control, is to check the gate and start moving in that direction?"

If you're out of security with two hours to go, then no you wouldn't immediately go to your gate so you can sit in a place with no cafes or shops for two hours. Also, the gate isn't even shown usually until later on so it's normal to go for a drink/food/shopping until the gate is known.

Requiring payment for ‘visas’ in this situation is an unfortunate and aggressively practised scam in some countries (see Trip Advisor forums). (Appreciate on is required for Harare).

Not sure in those circumstances,stances what to do - ie do you stand your ground, demand to see a supervisor? Or just pay the extortion fee to board the plane?

This was us recently. First flight with a new baby. Huge poonami as we approached the gate and at the same time we realised we'd left the buggy at security so had to run back for it. Nightmare. I am never late for anything!