14 replies to this topic

[petesie]

Kendo just mentioned on his outstanding trip report that his first indication that he was leaving LoS on that very day was a reminder sms from the airline informing him he could now check in...

Has anyone ever missed their flight because either they forgot about it or for other reasons?

It would be handy to let fellow BM's what their options are in such a scenario.

I have a friend who regularly does this as he can't bring himself to leave the delights of LoS, he flies with Emirates and they just book him on the next available flight.

I do believe it costs him around 30 quid each time he does this, last trip he did it 3 times and came back 10 days late...lucky bugger.

Anyone else like to share their experience in this situation?

[kendal1972]

Kendo just mentioned on his outstanding trip report that his first indication that he was leaving LoS on that very day was a reminder sms from the airline informing him he could now check in...

Has anyone ever missed their flight because either they forgot about it or for other reasons?

It would be handy to let fellow BM's what their options are in such a scenario.

I have a friend who regularly does this as he can't bring himself to leave the delights of LoS, he flies with Emirates and they just book him on the next available flight.

I do believe it costs him around 30 quid each time he does this, last trip he did it 3 times and came back 10 days late...lucky bugger.

Anyone else like to share their experience in this situation?

Lucky bugger indeed.
Haven't done it yet myself, i'm too regimented for that i reckon!
I have however sat in the departures hall for over an hour looking at the exit longingly

[samcro]

3 times

Samcro

[larrylarry]

I missed a Cathay Pacific flight NYC to BKK through HK they put me on the next flight leaving NYC, I was luckily I was still able to connect in HK for BKK. My misadventure cost me $100US. I did call CP from the car on the way to the airport as I was stuck in what felt like endless NY traffic. I made all my arragments before I got to the airport and paid the fee at the counter. I was lucky they had a seat on the next flight and I was lucky I was still able to conect with my original flight from HK to BKK or else it would have been another $100US to get on the next conncting flight. It was really seemless the way it turned out. The wost part of the entire ordeal was the stress but that was mitigated by pharmacologcal intervention. Ah science a wonderful thing

[Arsonist]

Along with a mate I once missed a Air Asia flight to Phnom Penh from Bangkok even though we were checked in and at the gate in good time.

Trouble is it was the wrong gate Suvarnabhumi had only been open a few weeks and our flight was departing from Gate 21 A while we were sat nattering away watching an Air Asia plane on another pier 21B thinking it was ours As departure time became ever closer I stood up only to notice another Air Asia being pushed back with an official scurrying towards us carrying a radio explaining the good news and that our bags had been removed. Astonishingly our names had been called several times yet we never heard a thing
Anyway, all departure stamps on our passports were cancelled, immigration cards returned, bags handed back and we tried again successfully the following day after paying a small fine (4k Baht) and having a night in Bangkok.
We complained like crazy with the official at the time, but as he pointed out......it was only us two whom got it wrong

[*rob*]

Ha, that is a classic. Had this once also with Emirates as I kept the leaving date in mind, but as most of emirates flights leaving in night-time (EK 385/384,EK 419/419) I forget that the check-in is of course in evening time the Day before departure.
As far as I know the Ticket change fee depends on your class of booking and where it is issued. They raised the fees now to 75€/ 100€. In 2008/2009 it was just 50€.
If the paid booking class at the next flight isn`t available you are doomed. I extend my trips from time to time but often the cheaper classes aren`t available therefore had to extend my trip once for 5 days

[xyzzy]

One trip I arrived at Swampy for my BKK-ICN-SEA flight. But it turned out it was the first day of their change to a spring schedule and there was no SEA flight that day. They had sent an Email notifying me of the schedule (not date) change and I checked out the change on their web site. I noticed the flight time had changed a few minutes but not that the day had changed. At the airport they rerouted me to SFO and all was well except I was out my domestic nonrefundable flight from SEA home and had to use miles to get home from SFO.

I usually book my flights several months in advance. It's not unusual that at least one of my flights changes times by a few minutes (especially on EVA). I get Emails telling me the schedule has changed and I make note of it on the airline's web site. But I became so conditioned to the 10-15 minute time changes previously I didn't even look at the date. Only silver lining was they gave me 15% off my next flight. Sorry a bit off topic but perhaps worth a mention.

OK, back on the original topic. I was sitting at Kokomo's in AC in the early afternoon taking with some guys. One guy says what a bummer it is he has to leave Thursday morning. We tell him it is Thursday. He freaks out for a second, ran off to his hotel, packed fast and apparently got an evening flight out of Manila.

[LB3048]

I was late getting to the international airport in Buenos Aires, fronted up to luggage check in 20 minutes after closing. I was pretty pissed off but within 15 minutes and a fee of about US$80, they had me booked in on the flight the next day. I then had to head back to BA and spend over an hour trying to find a place to stay for the night, all worked out ok in the end though.

Not long after that I was returning back to Australia from BKK. I got to the airport in what I thought was plenty of time, but then got my first experience of how unbelievably slow the line at immigration moves. When I eventually got through I picked up my stuff from the x-ray tray and ran as fast as i could to the gate. Fortunately I got there a few minutes before the gate closed, so no harm done, but certainly cutting it way too fine for my liking. Lucky I made it as I had previously made inquiries about changing my flight and they said that all flights were fully booked for the next week.

There was another guy running behind me to board the flight, he said he had been waiting outside of immigration for over an hour, not realizing how slow things were moving.

BKK immigration is by far the slowest I have experienced anywhere in the world. My advice to anyone who will be going through immigration is to allow double or triple the time they would allow for any other airport.

[kendal1972]

I was late getting to the international airport in Buenos Aires, fronted up to luggage check in 20 minutes after closing. I was pretty pissed off but within 15 minutes and a fee of about US$80, they had me booked in on the flight the next day. I then had to head back to BA and spend over an hour trying to find a place to stay for the night, all worked out ok in the end though.

Not long after that I was returning back to Australia from BKK. I got to the airport in what I thought was plenty of time, but then got my first experience of how unbelievably slow the line at immigration moves. When I eventually got through I picked up my stuff from the x-ray tray and ran as fast as i could to the gate. Fortunately I got there a few minutes before the gate closed, so no harm done, but certainly cutting it way too fine for my liking. Lucky I made it as I had previously made inquiries about changing my flight and they said that all flights were fully booked for the next week.

There was another guy running behind me to board the flight, he said he had been waiting outside of immigration for over an hour, not realizing how slow things were moving.

BKK immigration is by far the slowest I have experienced anywhere in the world. My advice to anyone who will be going through immigration is to allow double or triple the time they would allow for any other airport.

hmm...guess i've been lucky in swampy immigration for the 3 trips i've made so far, never had any problem taken at most about 10 mins to get through! maybe it depends on who your flying with??

[stonefre]

I've never missed a flight but came awful close one time at Inchon. On the previous flight from the US to Korea I had taken a Xanax to help me sleep during the flight. When I got to Inchon I found my gate and sat down and immediately fell asleep. The next thing I remember was waking up to discover I was the only person sitting in the waiting area and they just announced that it was the last call before closing the door. I was the last person to board. I got up and grabbed my bag so quickly I left my reading glasses lying on the seat next to where I was sitting. If you have an Iphone, Ipod or any other similar device, while in Thailand it is a good idea to set an alarm the day before to remind you to check in online. That has saved me from forgetting which day it is.

[petesie]

Missed a few flights in my time mainly due to airline hold-ups and missing connections or even changing routes/times during my holiday and not informing me.

Being a 10 day wonder I'm usually well aware of my boundaries as far as my flight times, only time I've missed one in LoS was due to the 2008 airport takeover by the yellow shirts.

I had to stay in LoS 10 extra days for my troubles and TAT picked up the hotel bill...damn.

[LB3048]

hmm...guess i've been lucky in swampy immigration for the 3 trips i've made so far, never had any problem taken at most about 10 mins to get through! maybe it depends on who your flying with??

It makes no difference who you fly with as everyone exits the planes and follows the isles to immigration. I think the time of day makes a big difference though.

This article http://www.cnngo.com...-airport-060746 makes reference to travelers experiencing waits in the immigration queue of upwards of two hours. From my experience I don't doubt this for a moment. On arrival it took well over an hour and departure almost an hour for me to get through immigration.

I regret not taking a photo of the arrivals queue. The rectangular area where the individual queues leading up to the immigration officers desks was completely full the queues spilled over and ran the full length of the hallway leading up to the immigration area. The queues were moving at a snails pace. I didn't keep track of the time but it may have even been more than an hour and a half to get through.

A comment from a traveler in this article http://www.theage.co...0320-1vgwa.html makes reference to missing a flight after a three hour processing wait.