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.

But aren’t you loitering around during your connections?

Nah

Why? If you miss a connection because the first flight is delayed the airline put you on the next one anyway. So you'd rather sit in the airport watching a plane you could have been on takes off.

Sounds miserable and inefficient to me. Think of all that holiday time wasted on hanging around airports and stations.

May I be the first to wish @joseline a merry Christmas for tomorrow.

You sound like you have written a tip for Viz.

I don't fly, but I use trains and buses fairly frequently and seeing other people being late adds absolutely no joy to my day. In fact, if excess waiting time was a transferable resource, I'd get a few people on their trains and buses; anxiety about being late, especially for trains, has given me a chronic early doors habit. In fact, it's a running joke with my DH (he's much more relaxed) and now that I need passenger assistance I also like time to let the crew at the station know I'm there. But like the rest of fallible humankind, I can't control transport infrastructure and logistics and have occasionally missed a connection because the train or bus (or taxi) taking me there didn't turn up. But focusing on those things isn't as much fun as jeering and sneering at the individuals at the sharp end, is it?

Well aren’t you a peach.

You always chuckle???? You sound unhinged.

What a revolting, blinkered, and obtuse person you are OP

I can't be bothered to read 9 pages of replies so I know this point has likely been made 100 times over already but I'm going to say it anyway as I'm baffled how anyone am be so ignorant...

Have you never had to make a journey of several parts, where your ability to make your connection requires solely on the ability of the previous leg to arrive on time? Clearly not, otherwise you'd know how common it is to have to run for your connection because public transport is so often delayed, and you'd understand how it is not the fault of the person travelling.

I hope you enjoyed your sanctamoniois brag for having never missed a train when travelling solo, but you've just made yourself look like a right prat.

I hate it when people take up space in airports and train stations, loitering around for ages, because they've picked ridiculously long connection times. Hanging about for hours on the limited seating getting in the way.

So annoying isn't it, OP. 🤨

Oh actually OP - I've got one for you - 6 1/2 month pregnant beloved Sister-in law missed the Labrooke train (Paddington crash) because she'd ran through 4 pairs of tights down to a massive bump & was late to the station.

Oh we chortled.

Last time I ran for a train the platform changed 1 minute before my train was due and as I had a baby and a toddler with a disabled buggy and bags, I couldn’t get over the stairs to get over the platform so I had to get the lift down, walk across and get the lift up. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Are you going to explain why it is OK for you to laugh at someone like @SardinesOnGingerbread or @GirlsInGreen’s sight impaired relative, @joseline?

It baffles me why someone who is presumably an adult, can post something so mean and nasty, and doesn’t see how poorly their attitudes reflect on them.

Valid to think poorly of those who are often or always late. The examples you give are only a small minority of the avoidable lateness, or in some cases, not the cause at all.

Example, every single Covid press conference I saw started late. When it was only a few years to walk to the podium. Or those who are always late for Zoom or teams calls.

Also OP, you realise through your smugness you have likely cursed yourself now. Sod's law states that you will now encounter severe delays on your next connection journey, so severe that even your 'long' layover of a few hours won't save you from missing your connection. Oh how much you deserve that hellish journey. It's coming, nobody avoids the journey from hell forever.

Karma is a bitch

I assume you don’t get on trains very often then?

Some of us take multiple trains to and from work each day. If I factored in “a long lay-over” every time I needed to change trains, it would take me three hours to get home. I’d rather run and catch my connection, thank you.

I'm a get there early person, as its the most relaxing way to travel (pre kids but not done an overseas flight with kiddo yet so who knows!)

But once even though we planned a good long enough layover, were at the airport a good 3 hrs before, the plane leaving for our destination was late as there was a fault so we found ourselves running through the airport like in films to catch the connecting flight from same company we were supposed to have tons of time for. Sometimes things just happen even when planned well to seasoned and prepared travellers 🤷‍♀️ couldn't live like that though hence the early arrival usually, but my point is it ain't all feckless behaviour when people are running for a mode of transport.

🙄

Actually we have found BA not allowing check in until 2.5 hours before the flight recently.

I missed a train home a couple of months ago because I gave my colleague CPR and had to wait for the ambulance to come. I’m normally early for things to give myself a bit of time in case there’s traffic or something. I sprinted on to the platform as the train pulled off and then I started to cry because the enormity of what had happened hit me, and also brought back flashbacks to when I had to perform CPR on a baby which was traumatic. And also because I just really needed to go home and have a hug from my DH and DS.

I hope if you saw me, you had a good chuckle

He died in hospital later that night by the way.

We once almost missed our train as the earlier trains were either cancelled or severely delayed. Luckily we left early enough to just about catch our train but if we had missed it, it was not down to poor planning, sometimes shit happens!

I prefer to feel like a good person by actually being a good person rather then feeling better as I'm less shit than some other people. Enjoying other people's misery to make myself feel superior is not for me.

How to say you haven’t a clue about the M25 without saying you haven’t a clue about the M25

I remember the M1 being grid locked a few years ago. A drunk man climbed on to a gantry over the M1 and police stopped the traffic for around 8 hours. Even if you had left 5 hours early you would have still missed your flight from Luton
There were parents who had dropped their child at school and were unable to collect them because they were still stuck in that jam.

Can you not get your mind round the fact that people don’t have a spare week to commit to getting to and from their destination

Or that the person was early for their first train but things get delayed and flights and trains get missed

Maybe have some imagination about other peoples lives.

We missed our Eurostar from Zoey’s back to uk once. Because customs at the station in France were ridiculously slow and the queue was huge so we were late through the gate, and the train still left without us..couldn’t even wait 10 mins. not a word of sorry.. very very annoying!