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?

Once I read the departures board wrongly (2 flights to London with 2 different airlines, I went to the gate for flight A instead of flight B I was booked on). I was queueing for boarding at the wrong gate when they called my name and was thoroughly confused for a bit, then sprinted to the other side of the airport. I made that flight.

Another time I got off the (very, very delayed) train to Gatwick with 20 minutes until departure. I still don't know how I made it through security and running to the gate with my name blaring on the tannoy.

I missed my flight at Charles de Gaulle because of a late connecting arrival, then being taken by bus to an entrance that was locked. The whole plane stood there like lemons until someone came to open the bloody door after at least 20 minutes. I would have still made it if they had any sense of urgency at customs, but they didn't. Missed that flight and had to wait til morning for another.

My friend missed a flight because she decided her children just had to sit down for a Burger King, couldn't possibly take it with them on the flight. I thought that was bonkers.

But they don't always allocate you a gate until it's close to boarding time. Also, there's nothing to do near the gates whereas past security there is food and shops etc.

I do try to get to the gate in plenty of time but it's not the first thing I do.

I almost missed a flight because DS had a poonami just as they called boarding and I thought boarding would take long enough to sort it. Heard them call my name as we were coming out of the toilets and very sheepishly turned up to the gate just in time.

It was a long time ago. Edinburgh pre 9/11

@100problems you were handed a glass of wine on arrival on the plane before take off? Is that first class/business class?

@balalake

The point about telling you your gate when checking in seems a sensible one. A simple thing that could be introduced at all UK airports.

I'm afraid that's a recipe for disaster at some bigger airports, especially those with lots of traffic and big/remote terminals.

In the time between checking in ( an hour plus plus these days before departure if you use physical check-in) and your flight departing there could be a gate change (or more than one) for umpteen reasons. Couple of examples (I can come up with others at a push):

The inbound flight that you will be getting can't get on the planned gate for whatever reason, so gets assigned another gate..

The aircraft you think you are getting on gets snagged by the engineers during pre-flight, or the pilots during the turn around, so it's a gate and aircraft change.....

Not a problem at a small airport but if you are at somewhere like T5 at LHR and have headed out to one of the satellite terminals and then your B gate becomes a A gate it's a major headache for passengers to then go against the flow and get back to A..It's safer to keep gate numbers "open" and not advertised publicly until there's some certainty in the plan, but obviously you shouldn't leave it too late.

Have also had to post the screwdriver of shame when DS aged about 5 produced it in Frankie & Bennie's. After security. Apparently he thought it might come in handy...

😂

Sorry, that was a quote of @Cuck00soup

Just last weekend with a Tui flight. Check in opened 2 hrs before flight. Queued to check hold luggage in, then queued for security and then find out gate closes 45 mins before flight. We literally just got to the gate yet had been at Luton airport for nearly 3 hrs and didn’t have time to get breakfast or a coffee. Easily done nowadays with the queues.

Happened to me on a working trip to France. Waiting at Charles de Gaulle for an internal flight. I was very early and the departure area I was waiting in for the flight was rammed, so I walked half a mile and found a nice quiet lounge where I could work. Didn't realise they weren't announcing flights in that area. The flight boarded early and I made it by the skin of my teeth. Had a slow handclap from the passengers who'd been waiting for me.

This happened to me the first time I travelled abroad on my own. I was 17 and travelling to Germany to meet my penpal. Connection in Schiphol in both directions. Outbound flight went fine but on the way back I only had a 90 minute layover and of course my flight from Nuremberg was delayed by nearly 45 minutes 🙄 I remember seeing the sign saying 20 minute walk to my gate and absolutely sprinting to get there, crying as I ran convinced I was going to be stranded in Schiphol for the foreseeable, and arrived at the gate absolutely dripping with sweat.

When I got to the gate the shuttle bus driver was this lovely older Rastafarian man who assured me the plane wouldn't leave without me. The drive to the plane felt like a lifetime, I was sat there silently crying wishing he'd drive a little faster 🤣 I was the last person to get on and my seat was right at the back so I had to do a walk of shame the entire length of the plane 🤦‍♀️ Luckily I think people could tell from my tear stained face that I'd found the whole situation a bit stressful lol. I hadn't even put my belt back on after going through security so was holding my jeans up with one hand 🤣

A couple of years ago we were flying Manchester to Cape Verde
We had loads of time and went to buy an underwater camera, we were in no rush but DH had a bad knee so we knew we needed extra time to get to the gate. We were chatting to the shop assistant who asked where we were going and then said did we realise that the gate we needed was 15-20 walk away (more due to DH knee). We headed straight there with me and the DC walking fast while DH limped behind but loads of people were running past us in a panic. We were there in time but there was another flight going from the gate next to ours and they were calling loads of people. The cabin crew said it happened all the time and they wished they would tell people at check in

I don't get it. Even reading the excuses above. They Just don't make sense to me. Most just defies logic and common sense.

Went to USA earlier this month and plane was delayed taking off (with most passengers boarded) as a couple of passengers didn't make the plane and we had to wait whilst their hold luggage was taken off.
DH and his father missed a connecting flight at Frankfurt airport just pre COVID as the gate was changed once they had got to the first listed gate and no announcement about change of gate was made. FIL is totally fluent in German and DH has some German and is very aware at airports so convinced that the announcement wasn't made. As they only had carry on luggage the plane went without them and they had a long and expensive train journey. Lufthansa did refund the flight though.

I was once delayed in a taxi outside a Long Island strip club waiting for a stripper to come back to the taxi with money she was owed. The other taxi passenger and I counted out our cash as we resumed our journey once the third passenger rejoined us, threw the combined fare at the driver when we finally pulled up at Islip, then legged it through the almost empty airport to catch the last flight out that night. I could hear the gate staff mangling my Irish first name as I rounded the last corner.

Could be people with connecting flights with a tight connection time making their way between gates. Happened to me once.

@DieSchottin93 you have my sympathy, Schiphol is awful. I used to live abroad and would change planes at Schiphol (going between two provincial airports) and had to sprint across Schiphol more than once. The design of that airport doesn't help, a central hub with "spokes" off it always seemed to mean going all the way down one spoke from the arriving plane to the hub and then all the way down the next spoke to the departing plane. Hellish airport.

This happened to me but it really wasn't my fault the person on the tannoy didn't pronounce my name; not even remotely correctly. When I arrived at my gate 10/15 minutes before departure the plane was fully boarded & stairs removed. The pilot refused to let me board, the guy at the gate pleaded & admitted fault, the co-pilot sat with his head in his hands probably 2nd hand embarrassment by the pilot. It took around 40 minutes for some poor guy to find my suitcase to bring off the plane & cost me another £520 to fly the next day from a city on the opposite side of the country.

It doesn't have to make sense, it happens....

If I had been given a pound/dollar/euro for every time I'd been involved in the" do they have bags on" discussion with a ramp supervisor, dispatcher or turn round co-ordinator I would have retired a lot earlier from my line of work than I actually did.

I went through Schipol yesterday with only 40 min transfer time. The cabin crew On the first fight found out the gate number for me so I could go ( run) straight there ( for those of you who don’t know Amsterdam airport - it’s huge ).

They also said that if there was a long queue at passport control, I was to tell them that I was on a short connection ( but I didn’t need to ). You don’t need to go through security again as a transit passenger.

Im mentioning this as several people have said they missed the plane because of lines at passport control on a transfer.

@DieSchottin93 That is the best (worst) Schiphol story yet!

Me neither really. At least the losing track of time excuses. I mean if you are in an airport it must be at the forefront of your mind that you have a plane to catch. I’m looking at the departure board every five minutes and as soon as the gate number is up, off we go.

Happened to us. Flight was delayed and had a connecting flight. Called our names over the tannoy system and had airport personnel all along the route to our gate directing us; Bangkok airport so massive distance to cover. Most stressful situation I've been in when travelling and also so embarrassing as everyone watched us.

Returning from New Zealand via LA, and running late, we had to go through US security including passport checks and face-to-face scrutiny. No change of terminal involved. That was in January 2020.

Heathrow to Dublin about 20 years ago now.

I was visiting friends and heading back home so took the tube as the nearest station was just one street away. I'd done the same trip about half a dozen times before without a hitch so figured I was grand this time too.

Only, the tube was the slowest bastard of a journey I have ever taken. Stopped at every station and stood there for nearly 10 minutes with nobody getting on or off. About 2-3 stops from Heathrow, it stopped and the driver got out and fucked off and stayed fucked off for about 20 minutes.

Eventually reached the airport and went to check in. The person at the desk said "Computer says No." and went to close her desk. The woman working at the next desk said "Don't mind her, I'll check you in." Looked up my flight and said "You'll have to take both your bags as hand luggage ( a small ruckack and a large holdall) and you might want to run." So I did.

I pelted it the whole way, including barging my way along the travelator and reached the gate with nobody present but the flight attendants. One gave me a dirty look and said "We called your name" I said that I had been running the whole way and not heard anything.

So, she took my boarding card and went "Oh, you're not John Smith." She then checked the list and, thankfully, I had manged to get checked in with enough time for it to show up on the manifest. Just as she was letting me through "John Smith" appeared having also legged it as he said he was following in my wake.