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.

I once had a 6 hour layover and still missed my connection!

Thanks for letting us know.

Sod off with your smugness.

Sometimes I get somewhere and realise I might make the bus/train earlier than I had planned IF I RUN. I like running and it beats sitting on the platform.

I mean… congratulations?!? What do you want ? A cookie?

You don't have to feel overly sorry for them, we can't conjour up sympathy but laughing when that happens to someone is horrible. It happens sometimes, might even happen to you, you could encounter a motorway pile up or a train breaks down. There are all sorts of reasons for being late, not always the fault of the person.

You arrive 3 hours early to catch a train?! What a ridiculous waste of time.

Such a dumb take.

Despite running like an idiot, I missed a connecting flight from LAX to New Orleans.

Why? Because my flight from London was delayed by 4 hours.

But my fault, right?

Have you ever met a carer or a single parent or a person that’s juggling work with hospital appointments? How about unexpected events like a car breakdown or someone that’s agreeing to help someone else out at the last minute.

The other thing that makes people late - poverty. Working hard to make ends meet by doing two jobs. Caring for other people inbetween. Running errands for sick parents and friends. Trying to take a later train to avoid peak travel costs.

My friend used to see a man running down the road to the bus stop on her way to work everyday. Later she met him through her job and found out he had a newborn and a wife diagnosed with terminal cancer post partum.

And you know what? Some people are just chronically late but perhaps lovely people. You are punctual but unfortunately chronically smug.

unlikely with train travel though. If I’m travelling back from London, get off the tube at the mainline station then of course I’m going to try and rush to catch the train that goes in 5 minutes because the next two are likely cancelled and I’d rather not hang around a train station late in the evening for 45 minutes or so if I can help it.
You’re being unreasonable.

So sad, that other people’s misery amuses you. Even the most diligent timekeepers get delayed through no fault of their own. Natural disasters, suicides, suspected terrorism, fires or just plain rubbish broken down transport.

Well done you. What colour badge would you like?

Only time I've nearly missed a flight was outside of my control, as I imagine most people who miss flights is. Evening flight from Naples at 7pm. Left Ischia (small island next to naples) at 7am, ferry delayed then broke down, made to mainland italy at 3pm. Crash on the way and the road was gridlocked, made it the airport at 6! How i made that flight i don't know but life happens sometimes. Your lucky you have never found yourself in that position.

Obviously many people make poor decisions when planning their trip and have to suffer the consequences (old episodes of Airline are very exasperating for this). You're more than welcome to feel glee and smugness in your perceived superiority, it's a free county after all. And you're welcome to start a thread announcing your feelings, knowing that it'll get lots of people commenting negatively. I do wonder why you'd want to though - do you feel pleased reading the replies knowing you've riled people up or something?

You are calling someone mean yet go on to call them 'stupid'. Hmm.

Well I think with this OP, the term is bang on the money and a statement of fact

I'm glad I don't have that much time on my hands

get a life

Loitering??????
Do you have to look after anyone other than yourself?
I'd hazard a guess that you don't.
Also, what about emergency roadworks, connection disruption, insufficient funds for overnight hotel stays for early trains /planes?????
These are just some examples.
I'm unsure what you are hoping to achieve from your post OP, I doubt you will have many supporters

Hurrah!

No doubt at the pearly gates you’ll complain to St Peter about the poorly organised queue. Jesus will be like “IKR! He does his best” and you’ll have a good old chuckle together. Good times!

I'm chronically early myself so have never missed anything due to my own timekeeping.

You sound like an absolute arsehole though.

I think if I had to rank personality traits I valued the most 'not being an arsehole' would come before 'never missing a train'.

I missed a flight once…driving from Leeds to Manchester Airport (not a long journey really, and I’d allowed masses of time).

There was a horrific crash on the M62 involving a lorry and three cars. Nothing we could do except sit in the queue and wait. We later heard there’d been three fatalities.

You stay smug OP, as you see people running to get their train or flight…but think on! 🙄

I wonder why you travel alone? Miserable person.
There are many factors outside of people’s ‘disorganised’ lives that affect travel arrangements, like having young children or working in a hospital for example.

@joseline I take it you haven’t travelled out of Termjnal 5 Heathrow where British Airways won’t let you queue to check in until 2 hours before (ditto EasyJet in Gatwick) so you are up against a clock

or travelled indirect in the US where multiple flights land and the time they give you isn’t enough

The OP seems to have gone quite quiet since it was pointed out that her OP was in fact not just about flights.