To wonder how people miss their flights?

[FleetMacWood]

I had a domestic flight today, at check in they repeatedly called out 6 names for final call. About 3 showed.

I get missing the flight in general, but how do you miss it when you’ve checked in? Or not even being at the gate?

I also couldn’t be bothered with the hassle/stress of having to get luggage back from another city/country.

Maybe they checked in at home and never arrived at the airport ?

People go to the wrong gate. My SIL is boarding staff and she says this the most common reason, they read gate 24 as 14 or whatever and wait for ages at the wrung one, by the time they realise it’s too late to cane it to the other one. Second is people think they’ve got ages when they haven’t. Gates can go to ‘open’ to ‘boarding’ to ‘closed’ far quicker than people think.

They don't send your luggage without you, they take it off the plane - which is why they do so many calls, it's a real hassle for them to leave without you if you've checked in luggage already.

Some may be "standby" flights (not what it used to be but still possible in some circumstances).
Some may be missed links.
Some may have a dopey husband who ONE TIME tried to get involved and took the family to completely the wrong gate.

I’m just a sad act who gets to an airport 4/5 hours before and sits at the gate as soon as it opens. Gives me anxiety to miss a flight so I over compensate - and probably check the gate number 500 times 😂

I have been on holiday with someone who regularly missed flights.

There was group of us and after security we didn't have a lot of time so rushed to the gate.

She said she was going to do her duty free shopping whilst her dh and dc went to get some food.

They almost missed their flight. She came waltzing in at final call by herself and was asking where her dh and dc were. The airline waited whilst she located them in Burger King.

She actually missed the return flight and had to sleep at the airport.

People like this say that they don't want to sit at the airport for hours, why wait?

But they lose thousands at their own expense. And dont plan for errors to happen.

Oh I didn’t know that. So is the tag specific to the customer? I never gave it much thought, as I assumed it was just location (where and to) and flight number.

I was a baggage handler many moons ago and we’d have to offload bags if people didn’t show up to the gate. They’d be finishing a meal, shopping or underestimating how far the gate was. Painful.

You checked in online and don’t have checked bags most likely.
If you’re on a connecting flight and haven’t made it because the first flight was delayed, the airline will put you on the next one. Or if you’re on business and delayed because your meeting overran then work will pay. When you fly domestic in the US there is always a standby list of people hoping to get on the plane, and there are nearly always no shows that allow some people on the list to clear it and get a seat. They display it on a screen alongside the upgrade list.

Mostly I think it’s the same reason that it was always the same parents coming up the hill to primary drop off when others were going down… the chronically late who are easily distracted, or over optimistic about time (I can choose a book for the flight and queue and pay in 5 mins…) - I daresay others will comment on ND.

Then there’s the genuine mistake - wrong gate.
And the distracted - not the chronic ones, just it’s a different environment.
Some airports the gate is way further than you think.

The only flight I nearly missed was because I suddenly got awful cramps and was stuck on the loo for 15 minutes. Don’t underestimate the number of people with IBS / other toileting related issues.

But mostly, in your general life you probably see what 10%? - of people running in late for things. It’s just the same cause as that.

Some people get checked in for their domestic connection when they check in for their long haul flight before it - so San Francisco airport might check you in for your Heathrow to Glasgow flight as well as your San Fran to Heathrow flight..

Others wander off shopping in duty free and forget the time. When there’s a long gap between flights some people go out to see the city.

Oh god I used think this and then it almost happened to me so I now understand!! I've flown a lot, business and pleasure and never missed a flight. But a while ago I almost missed a flight. I was on my own at the airport which was bliss, no checking where everyone and everything was, checked in with plenty of time and enjoyed a coffee and a wander round the shops etc. Got to the gate in plenty of time and sat... Then realised the time and that my gate didn't show the right flight number. The panic! Turns out while I'd been wandering around, the gate number had been changed Luckily for me the new gate was literally just across the way and the air hostess was lovely. I was the last person to get on the plane! I still cringe when I think about it! Moral of the story is to constantly check your gate number!!

Maybe it's really romantic people rushing to the gate at the last minute to stop the one they love leaving forever?

Also I was once getting a connecting flight and there was a prior connecting flight joining the first flight I was on - which was late which caused us to be sat on the runway for an hour.

I did get my connecting flight (having to run through the airport) but I guess they didn’t have time to put my luggage on that flight - didn’t even warn us. Just left about 8 of us waiting at the carousel until all the luggage had gone.

Ive missed a flight before because of signal failure and delays on the train to get to the airport. Id left in plenty of time and I'd checked in 24 hours beforehand on my phone. Its very easily done

Airports and flying are anxiety inducing for me. I am like you @FleetMacWood I insist on turning up hours and hours beforehand (much to DH's annoyance) and try and get a seat next to the departure board sothat I can keep an eye out for the gate opening.

These days they don't give you a lot of time and sometimes the gate is a 20 minute walk away!

Yes it is. They stopped it being possible to put an item on a plane that you're not flying on years ago, for security reasons (which is why attempted plane bombings are always attempted suicide bombings now).

Some people struggle to contemplate how much time there is between two times. So they arrive at 12:40 the flight is at 14:10 and they think I’ve roughly two hours which is ages I’m off to Jamie’s Italian for a sit down lunch.

In my experience it is generally those who do one of two things

they either get to the airport too late and get held back by queues for security after luggage drop, or they fart about too much and find themselves in the wrong part of the airport and too far away from the gate

i never understand people who cut it fine, I travel a lot for work and always go as early as possible, far too many times I’ve seen security and passport control with massive queues. A few weeks ago Heathrow Terminal 5 was so queued out to get through security. It started at the main entrance doors.

My DM once managed to loose her passport between security and the gate. Cue mass panic - tannoy announcements, going back to every shop, checking the loos…. nada.

They were in the middle of telling her she couldn’t fly and they were unloading her bags, when she found the bloody thing in a little-used pocket of her enormous handbag.

They only tannoy people when they know they've gone through security to departures from scanning boarding pass at that point.

If they tannoyed everyone who had checked in online but then didn't show at the airport they'd literally never stop.

Yes OP bags are individually tagged to the person and a plane cannot depart with luggage but without the passenger (unless it's being taken as freight which has different processes).

There are so many last calls because the luggage of missing passengers has to be located and removed which is time consuming. It used to be possible, for example, to board at Manchester, fly to London, change plane and fly on to New York and your luggage would just go straight through from Manchester to New York whether you made the connection at London or not. Then Lockerbie happened, where the terrorists deliberately missed the connecting flight (explosives were in their luggage which was loaded onto the new plane without them) and this was outlawed.

Almost missed a connection in Paris. We had to run through the airport like the family in home alone.

DH was on a business trip once where his boss missed the flight... sitting in the bar thinking how wierd it was there was someone else with his name at the airport.

I was on a flight one time to Gatwick, next gate was to Heathrow, same time different airline. Ours was delayed, the other flight was on time. Some of the Heathrow people missed their flight due to thinking it was theirs delayed. Despite the other airline staff going around our gate calling their names, announcements at both gates etc. Common mix up with that schedule

I am Ms Super On It

i arrive at airport with hours to spare and suck up cost if expensive post security food for the reassurance of being as close as can be.

I have only ever missed one flight and it was because of security hold ups, I thought I was still going to make it but I had misread the departure time as the gate closes time. Probably been doing it for years and never noticed because I am always so early.

Once in a Greek airport I arrived at the gate thinking I had loads of time only to get to the birding gate and see a plane taxiing off!

I ran to the nearest information desk and explained my luggage was on that plane

She calmed me down and said she would help us resolve the issue which she certainly did… by pointing out that was the 10.10 to our destination and we were booked on the 11.10!