I do not feel bad for people who miss their flights or trains.

[joseline]

In general it is not hard at all to be on time. People miss flights or trains because of their own poor plannings, time management and irresponsibility.

when I travel by train from one city to another city far away, I see other travellers running to catch their trains. Sometimes they manage to make it onto their trains before they leave, a lot of time they miss them and they complain and throw a fit and sometimes even cry.

i always chuckle when I witness that because I know for sure that it is their fault. When I travel and I have a train or flight to catch I make sure to leave my house early to I can arrive early. At least 3 hours early. If I have a flight at 9 AM for example and the airline recommends me to be at the airport at 7 AM I am there at 6 AM. Of course I take myself to the airport so that nobody can dictate what I can and can’t do. I don’t let relatives take me to the airport anymore. I use uber or public transport.

the only time I’ve ever missed my flights or trains was when I travelled with older relatives. But ever since I started travelling solo, I never missed my flights or trains.

so when I am at the train stations or airport and I see people running, I feel 0 sympathy for them. They most likely loiter at home and decide to leave their homes close to the time of their departures.

Would you laugh at me in my wheelchair op?
Or Tanni Gray Thompson who recently had to crawl off a train because the pre booked help didn’t show!

Wow lucky you OP. You'd have hated the day I was late for a flight even though I left home with lots of time to spare to get done all the pre flight stuff.

Only time this happened to me personally.

Due to a massive crash on the M62, I was late for a flight. We weren't the only flight delayed that day due to the crash.

Everyone had to wait for me as even the stand by crew member couldn't get to the aircraft any faster.

Thankfully when I got there, having parked in the terminal not staff parking, the rest of the crew had things well in hand so quick run through and we were good to go.

Two things you learn early in a flying career

1. time to spare travel by air (experience teaches you there's more waiting around than you ever imagined)

2. Sh*t happens (repeatedly and when you least need it to happen).

On this occasion lots of us had to go into discretionary duty hours, it messed up rosters and lots of other things.

I can only imagine how much of your life you've wasted sitting in airports and at train stations as you insist on being excessively early for everything. No wonder you travel on your own.

Life is too short to waste time hanging around airports. I’m retired now but over 30 year working life I’ve had plenty of years of intense travel, along side plenty of holidays. I will never get to an international flight more than two hours before the scheduled departure time, and for an intra EU / UK flight I aim for an hour. I’ve never missed a flight, in what over 30 years must be around 900 flights. I’ve missed one connection, because an incoming flight arrived late. But guess what, the airline ground crew booked me on the next one, met me at the gate and fastracked me through. I arrived at my destination an hour later than planned. I’ve no-showed for one flight, because my late husband was in hospital.

So, I reckon vs your approach I save at least an hour and a half a flight, over probably 30 flights a year for 30 years. I make that 1,350 hours of my life not spent in airports vs getting their earlier. I have seen no downside to my approach. Your attitude to risk and enjoyment vary. But, I’m not selfish enough to find pleasure in those that do miss flights…you don’t know what’s going on in their lives.

Probably better if you slink off quietly. You're not going to get much (any?) traction on here.

what a nasty smug person you sound. Delighting in other peoples’s distress and proud of it. Glad I don’t know you

The OP must be able to fucking teleport.

You are being a massive bellend.
Good for you you never miss things.
There's an absolute plethora of reasons why some people do. Many of which aren't their fault at all.
It's so arrogant to pretend it's all your own doing that you are always on time when really a lot of it is down to luck. If not just of how the day has gone but your genetics and psychology. The age you are at right now. The circumstances in your life right now.
There are people out there dealing with anxiety, ASD, time blindness, other physical disabilities, or have children with these things that they need to get from A to B, or who are elderly or ill etc etc people going thru all sorts in their lives..
You are truly thick or utterly deluded if you can't see why anyone might miss a flight or whatever.

Last time I was running for the train, I was trying to reach someone’s death bed.

silly me, I should have preempted their unexpected heart attack!!!

How about the Indian girl who missed her plane and begged to be allowed through the gate but was refused. Sad but then relieved when it crashed on take off, sometimes fate can be kind.

What a ray of sunshine you are. Nasty knickers.

100% this. And the OP has just doubled down over and over again, and not taken ownership of how mean spirited and cruel and unpleasant she is coming across as, for a single second. I'm actually a bit gobsmacked. And not much on MN leaves me feeling like that. I just hope she's on the wind up, and isn't like this in real life. That would be very sad.

Love a bit of loitering, me

OP I suspect you are a 🧌

Oh dear OP. You sound like a smug pillock.

I like to be early too, and usually can plan things that way. Shit does happen though and it only takes one bus not to turn up to wreck the best laid plans. Buses are once an hour here and I usually go for the one an hour earlier than I really need, but occasionally there has still been a problem (bus late or not turning up, roadworks/closures along the route etc.). Even things like an entire train service and all lines closed due to trackside fires or fallen overhead cables which mean that connections are then impossible to make. Hilarious to you, I'm sure.

I look forward to the day when some of this shit happens to you too. I hope I am there to witness it and laugh, but I bet you won't actually find it quite so funny. 🤣🤣

Now, they have no one left to travel with. All bitter and twisted because they are all alone.

I hear you OP, I used to me a smug arsehole just like you. Congrats.

Then I missed a few planes/trains myself. And realised I'd been a cunt.

The end.

Op,
the trains get delayed or flights, all can happen.

ie
my flight to Krakow was delayed by 1 hour, so I missed all my connecting trains to my destination, plus huge delay at the passport control, and then waiting for suitcase (when usually passport control and collecting suitcase is max 30-45min, this time was 1hour15).

then on the way back to UK my train was delayed by 40min, I made it to my flight but had to run and luckily there was no queue to drop the suitcase and security checks were fast.

I don’t think we would be friends OP. Your style is incredibly dull and boring and a waste of time .
Also it’s horrid to laugh and someone with a problem .

Well you should feel sympathy and not be so smug. My husband missed the chance to spend time with our best man who lived in Germany and was dying of brain cancer. A huge upheaval in the M5 was the reason and we had planned the trip well. So jog on!

Do you always travel alone nowadays?

I am one to arrive early but I can easily see how sometimes things are out of your control. For example, we missed a flight home after a car accident in front of us shut the road. It was an organised transfer, nice and early. What would you have done out of interest?

You’re missing out on the adrenaline pumping exhilaration of running for a train. As an adult there are so few opportunities to run as hard as that, dashing through crowds, jumping hurdles, unless of course you run competitively.

With a family in tow now I am a sedate, sensible traveller that arrives with time to spare but I miss the fun of solo travel, where a missed connection could send you on a completely different adventure.

And of course, when you’re jumping on a bus or train as it pulls out of the station, you get the advantage of picking who you will sit with instead of being the one whose hoping you won’t sit beside them.

I regularly travel by train to see DS 14. It takes a ridiculously long time to get to the train station by tube even though I live in London. I've left 2 hours before my train departs, it should only take 1 hour, and still missed it. If TfL ran better, I'd be fine. I'm already getting up at 3.40am to see him at 12.30pm. Thanks for your kind words.

I hope you miss your next train and cry and someone laughs in your face. And I hope your ticket’s non-refundable. That’d be excellent karma

That was awful. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. This is why my friend in a wheelchair drives everywhere. Public transport is just not reliable for wheelchair users.