[BlackPearl]

Though I have never missed a flight or a train/bus, I was very close to miss twice in my life till date. Once was a flight from Miami to New Jersey when we had got the flight time wrong. After we realised it, there was very little time left and we had to drop off the rental car as well. Thankfully we had checked in earlier and flight waited for us. The look on the passengers who had been sitting for 20 minutes was something I will never forget.

Another was a flight from Kolkata to Chennai for office work and I was not able to get any cab early in the morning. Indigo is quite strict with timings and they told me that they could not allow me anymore. I literally pleaded with an officer and told that I will lose my job if I missed the flight. He finally agreed on the condition that I could not have any check in luggage. Thankfully the luggage with me could be carried in the cabin and I was allowed to fly. After that I have been quite paranoid with flight timings.

[Researcher]

When 20:XX hours is converted as 10pm

This was a master-stroke by a friend (fellow BHPian smrutisourav) back in 17th February 2018. So BHPian Smruti who works in Malaysia and was on a mini-vacation back in our home-town in Bhubaneswar, decides to travel by train to Jamshedpur to meet me so that we can drive my car to his birthplace Ranchi and can simultaneously meet another childhood who teaches in the National Law University there. We were supposed to reach back in Jamshedpur the same day at 10pm for his return train to Bhubaneswar as he had his return flight to Malaysia the next day.

His train reaches Jamshedpur station on time in morning and we reach NLU Ranchi in around 4 hours leisurely as that was my first drive on those crater filled roads. We meet our friend, explore various areas of the city and visit an old place for lunch which Smruti used to go as a child. Just before settling the bill around 3:30pm, I casually asked him about the time of train and compartment. To all our horror, he says the time mentioned is 20:XX hours which he had converted to 10pm. So much for our math classes in school.

We had to drop our friend at NLU, which took a good hour and started our return journey to Jamshedpur at around 5pm. I was worried that it took us 4 hours in the morning, but our return leg would be in the dark and my SX4 headlights are as bad as it gets, but I still don't say a word to him to avoid panic. In the stress to complete the journey as fast as possible, at approximately 5:30pm, I miss a rock on the road and drive over it, resulting in my first ever (and only till now) flat tyre. To our bad luck, I had not checked the condition of the spare (was new to ownership that time with purely city driving experience) and it was not very usable.

Still we patiently change the tyre and kept filling air every 10kms (subsequently 20, 40kms). For the life of me, I still cannot figure out how I covered the distance and reached the station literally minutes before the departure time with such bad lighting, no street lights and a flat tyre! Finally he did board the train in time and I slept like a baby that night.

Later when I told him I was scared like anything but did not let him know to avoid the panic, we had a good laugh about it. Oh and I also did incur a ₹ 13K expense for two replacement tyres! The most expensive car journey I have ever done till now!

[cormodore]

Travelled many places in India and abroad (official travels), but never missed a train/flight. I always do research about traffic and the time it takes in Airports and train stations to go to the desired terminal/gates/platform.

I have to be very careful while boarding flights in Bangalore which is notorious of traffic delays(especially in the evenings).

My experience is a bit different. Its not about missing flight, but forgot to travel on a booked date. Once in Dubai, I booked a return flight for my family on Saturday(booked the flight four months in advance), but forgot and we went to board the flight on Sunday. It was a 2PM flight to India.

We didn't notice until the guys at the airport who were issuing the boarding passes told us about the blunder we made. As we were at the airport well in advance, booked the tickets in the airport for the flight we came to the airport and travelled back to India.

Lost considerable amount of money, but lesson learnt that I should be very careful about the date of travel too (some of my friends missed the mid-night flights due to the date changes, but my case was different).

[hridaygandhi]

Two instances, one close call when my parents almost missed a flight and second, when I didn't miss the train, but the station!

Incident 1: Parents almost missing the flight

My parents were headed for Kerala, on a short weekend getaway and were to board a flight from Mumbai. They stay 4 hours from Mumbai, and they were to reach via train to Mumbai at 9.30 am. The flight was at 11.00 am. It takes 20 minutes from the station to the airport. It was tight, but the train, normally used by daily commuters, was known for its punctuality.

Unfortunately for them, the train was late by half an hour that day. And since they were seriously running the risk of missing the flight, they decided to cross the tracks instead of using the overhead bridge (they normally never do that). But while they were getting off the platform onto the tracks, my mom fell, and to make matters worse, a suburban train was coming right at her, on the very same track. Somehow, my father managed to pick her up and get her off the track, seconds before the train whizzed passed them. They did manage to board the flight, the last 2 seats on the flight (the incident happened before the web checkin era, so no seat reservations). My mom fractured her leg when she fell and they spent their entire trip in the hotel and couldn't go for any sightseeing. They swore never to cross tracks ever again, even if it meant missing a flight.

Incident 2: I overslept and missed my station

About 10 years ago, when I was a student, I was travelling back to my hometown. The train was to arrive at 1.30 in the night. Now this was before the smartphones were widely used, and I had a simple Nokia phone. I couldn't spend time reading a book or something as everyone else in the coach was asleep. So I set an alarm and fell asleep. I sleep like a baby and did not hear the alarm go off when the train arrived at the station. My father was waiting for me to pick me up, he knew my coach but he didn't know which seat, so he couldn't come in and wake me up. He tried calling me, but I only woke up when the train had started moving. Alighted at the next station, waited for a local train and made it home by 5.30 am. Needless to stay, had to make my way home from the station myself too.

[sandeepmohan]

Fun thread. These events always keep you on edge.

I missed a train once, out of my own stupidity. Was attending a wedding in Erode and had to return to Bangalore. Had booked on one of the trains that connect the state of Tamil Nadu to Karnataka. One originates from Tuticorin and the other Mayiladuthurai. I am not sure which train it was but both arrive at Erode around or after 12AM. Both these trains are super crawlers and in no rush to reach their destination. There is a lot of slack built into their schedule.

Anyway; the train arrives and I board to find a gentlemen on my berth, fast asleep. I wake him up and tell him I have a reservation for that berth. He is dazed and hands me his ticket. Sure enough, he is on the right berth and that leaves me puzzled. I get off, approach the ticket examiner and show him my ticket. He tells me my train left yesterday! I could not understand how that was possible. He then explained that I booked the ticket assuming it was for that day whereas the ticket should be booked for the day and time when the train arrives at the boarding station. I was like . At the time of booking, I had not paid attention to the boarding time and that is how I got it wrong.

Took the Ernakulam Bangalore Intercity the following AM.

[landcruiser123]

*knock on wood* Never ever! My grandparents put it in very simple terms: always better to go very early and relax waiting in the platform/boarding gate/lounge.

[vigsom]

Originally Posted by hridaygandhi

they were to reach via train to Mumbai at 9.30 am. The flight was at 11.00 am.

Unfortunately for them, the train was late by half an hour that day.

And since they were seriously running the risk of missing the flight, they decided to cross the tracks instead of using the overhead bridge (they normally never do that).

But while they were getting off the platform onto the tracks, my mom fell, myself too.

I understand it's difficult to get to Mumbai at 8 am from outstation by train, but I think your parents were cutting it too fine with a 9:30 am arrival at Andheri for a 11am flight.

When taking a flight - train connection or the other way around, I plan with a minimum of 2 hours from the estimated time of my arrival at the airport and the time of departure of the flight. That provides enough buffer to take care of a small unforeseen delay.

Crossing the tracks is a strict NO come what may, and I'd say Providence was with your parents that day.

[Sheel]

Just once, last year.

IXB [Bagdogra] to Delhi. Had booked a Vistara, arrived a bit late, thanks to traffic jams and that instead of taking my driver / car, I opted to be dropped off by a friend [who stopped for a cuppa & smoke] delaying further [jam hadn't happened till then].

Vistara was allowing me to go only if I have hand baggage but I had over 15 days stay so I had to book another.

That was the last, I hope, it will never happen again.

[Slick]

Well Well, Brings back memories.


Missed Flight from Singapore to India, Indigo.

Back in 2011, me and wife decided to migrate back from Singapore to India, we spent two years working there.

We settled the rent/bills and other formalities, packed our bags, Something or the other kept coming up and kept eating into our grace time.
Finally some last minute delay (I think getting some fragile luggage wrapped at the airport) caused us to reach late to the boarding area by minutes.
Though the flight had not left, boarding was just shut. We requested a lot to no avail.

Indigo acted gracious though and offered us the next flight for no or minimal extra charges. May be they were overbooked and were hoping someone came late.

We had surrendered the house keys and the flight was more than 12 hours away. We had to crash at a friend's house for the night and came very early for the next flight. Actually a hotel near the airport would have been more practical.

All said, no damage done. Though the immediate moments after we realized we missed the flight were very stressful.

I have never been late for a flight after that experience.

- Slick

[arijitkanrar]

Yes! While returning from Phoenix.

In fact I've written an answer on Quora on this question.
Here is the link to it.
https://www.quora.com/Have-you-ever-.../Arijit-Kanrar
In case its not allowed to post links to personal pages, I'll copy the answer here.

[dragracer567]

Originally Posted by moralfibre

I am a paranoid traveller

+1, mainly because my dad used to make sure we reach the airport atleast 3 hours before the flight departure time (even if its domestic) and the habit stuck. But I've had two close calls, both at IGI.

1) First time was in 2014 if I remember correctly. I was studying in Amity university Noida at that time and I used to calculate the travel time as 40 minutes to the IGI airport when I book my cab. But that day, I failed to account for the fact that it was Diwali day and the roads were clogged. The cab driver somehow managed to drop me about an hour and half before departure by using the best of his knowledge of Delhi roads. Thankfully, most passengers had arrived late as well, so they delayed the boarding.

2) The second time which was by far the closest was in 2016 when I finished my studies and was rejoining my parents who were in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia at that time. I didn't have experience in packing since I always travel light and (rather stupidly) didn't weigh my bags. At check in, it turned out that my bags were about 20 kg overweight and I had to pay 26,000 INR as baggage fees. I had to wait for my dad to deposit the cash in his credit card which was on limit (I had his supplementary) but the card machine didn't work. By then, there was no time for ATMs, so I discarded the bags at the designated point at the airport. Thankfully, a guy was assigned to me who took me to the front of the line at the immigration and basically ran to the gate carrying my bags which was at the far end of IGI. And obviously, I hadn't learnt my lesson because when I left Belgium after my masters in 2019, I was again 6 kg overweight, but the payment just took 5 minutes thankfully

PS both times, I made it with the help of others, the cab driver in the first case and the airport staff in the second, so it taught me a lesson on tipping generously as well.

[lancia_fanboy]

Never Missed a Flight in my Life
Reason - Even during the most normal of times, my parent would add a 100% error margin and act accordingly, flight's at 4, let's reach airport at 1:30.

And that has been passed down to me both fortunately and unfortunately. Fortunately because I have never missed anything in my life, unfortunately because I tend to be over punctual, meeting's at 5, start clearing my schedule from 4:30. In this, I tend to waste a lot of time.

[TejasKinger]

I've never missed a flight or a train, but I did have a couple of near-misses.

1. May 2015 - I nearly missed my train at the Trichy railway station. I had just graduated from engineering college, and I was making the final journey back home to Bangalore. I had kept my luggage in the cloakroom. My then-girlfriend was waiting with me on the platform. It was quite an emotional moment for us because she was moving to the US, so this was probably the last time I was seeing her. We got so carried away in our conversations that I failed to see the train pull into the station. Luckily I had a moment to glance at the train number only to realize that it is indeed my train. A quick glance at my watch told me that I have about 8 minutes left to board the train. I literally tore myself away from her, dashed over to the cloakroom via the passenger subway, grabbed my suitcases and dashed back to the train with two minutes to spare. Needless to say that I later had to send her a detailed, apologetic text message explaining my abrupt behavior.

2. June 2015 - my parents and I were in Kenya, on a holiday to celebrate my college graduation. We had budgeted ample time for our return journey from our resort in the Masai Mara to the Kenya airport to board our flight back to India. Unfortunately for us, we were stuck a mammoth 5-hour long traffic jam caused by VIP movement in the heart of Kenya. There wasn't much that we could do except try all possible options to contact the airline and let us know of our late arrival. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get through to them and we were calculating our options of rebooking ourselves on another flight. When the traffic jam cleared, I remember our driver gunned the engine of our rattley old Nissan van. He physically disengaged the speed limiting device that was fitted in the van. The noisy engine and the body roll made it the scariest drive of my life. But this wasn't the end of it. When we reached the airport, there was a long, snaking queue of cars waiting to get in. Once again, our driver spotted the empty VIP lanes and tried to sneak in. In what remains a super-scary experience, we were stopped and surrounded by armed guards. We calmly explained our situation, and thankfully they were sympathetic. They let us through. We tipped our driver generously for helping us get there in time. Now comes the twist. On reaching the counter, we found out that our flight had been delayed by 12 hours and we didn't know because this information had only been conveyed to our travel agent and not to us.

3. October 2017 - I nearly missed my overnight bus from Chennai to Bangalore. I was working late on some outdoor advertising campaign ad copies for my company and I was on a tight deadline. I was supposed to travel back to Bangalore to be with my family for Diwali, so I decided to take the overnight bus from Koyambedu bus stand as this would give me ample time to wrap up the work within the deadline, grab dinner, and then make it to the bus stand. While I thought I had budgeted ample time, I failed to account for the fact that it was the Diwali weekend. With scores of people leaving the city and heading to their hometowns, I was stuck in a terrible traffic jam for over two hours not too far away from my office. With over 20 kilometers left, I almost decided to head back home and book a bus for the next morning. To my luck, I spotted my colleague on his Royal Enfield right next to my cab. I explained my situation to him, he asked me to get out of the cab and hop on his bike. I paid the cab driver, left the cab and got on his bike. We cut through the traffic and made it to the nearest metro station. I boarded the last train from the metro station in the nick of time and made it to the bus stand to board my bus. I still remain grateful to my colleague for this.

For the most part though, I am extremely cautious. If it is a train, I make sure I allow myself ample time to make it to the station, get to the platform, buy newspapers and magazines to pass the time. If it is a flight, I make sure to get to the airport early enough and enjoy the supreme comforts of the lounge.

[Vibhav-Van]

I've had many close calls, but never missed a flight till my last trip this January.

We departed an hour late from Chennai, and the only chance to make it to our connection in Frankfurt was to have very conducive tailwinds. We were 4 colleagues heading to Austin for an analyst conference, which was slated to begin the next day. So missing the connection was never an option. Moreover, Austin has a single direct flight everyday, and missing that meant a significant delay.

Alas, my record was broken that day; thanks to Lufthansa. To my surprise, they were totally unapologetic and didn't seem to care. That's the usual attitude with unionized carriers I guess. Anyway, we were handed a meal token and re-booked on another flight via Newark.

I think air travel experiences will only get worse from here onwards. It seems obvious that the number of travelers will reduce drastically, thanks to the 'travel only of really necessary' sentiment which will be here to stay. Health hazards, trade wars, geopolitical standoffs, etc - everything will subconsciously influence international travel.

[PetrolRider]

So many incidents, apologies in advance for an oncoming long post.

2006-2007:

My the then company got a project in Istanbul (beautiful city) and I was supposed to work there for a year or so. For some weird policy, I had to use business visa, means travel to-fro every 3 months. Of-course I was not complaining. Who knew then, all those trips would be so eventful.

Trip 1: Istanbul - Delhi with Golf air and then Delhi - Kolkata by Kingfisher. Layover time at Delhi was enough, like 3 hours or so. I was very much excited to use the Kingfisher flight for the first time that's too on my company's expenses.

Golf air delayed it beyond imagination. I had to change terminal at Delhi and to get boarding pass for KF flight with an hour to spare. If you remember Delhi Airport in that era, it was not what we see today.

Somehow, missed the inter terminal bus service (couldn't find it) and landed at the prepaid-taxi counter. The cab guy decided to take me through a Delhi Darshan, finally left me at the domestic airport with 10 minutes to spare. Of-course I missed the flight, but also the airport security would not allow me to get out of airport. Spot book the next available flight via Air India which was after 5 hours and spent entire period siting on those stained steel chairs after that long overnight international flight. NB, there was no free WiFi at Indian airports then.

Trip 2&3: Ex-organization allowed me to go for the little expensive Emirates flight who operated Kolkata-Dubai-Istanbul flight then. But the return leg had 1 and 1/2 hour layover at Dubai and the busy Ataturk airport and Dubai airport means all the subsequent return connecting flights were missed. Why I was happy? Because, Emirates would provide the beautiful Emirates Hotel stay along with all the meals, snacks and a free trip to some local mall.
There were total 2 such flight misses, which were the most enjoyable and memorable flight misses of my life.

2009:

I was working in Kolkata then. Most of the weekend found me on one of those overnight trains to my hometown Bhubaneswar. The train journey was for 7-8 hours and there was an express train every 30 min or so then. But, still most of them ran over capacity on any Friday evening. Somehow, I found this relatively less crowded Howrah-Vasco express which used to leave early evening, but used to reach Bhubaneswar early morning around 3 AM or so.
That one time, I overslept and rather missed my destination station. Woke up and got down next station 35 km away. It was still night and was thinking all possibilities to get back. Then found Visakhapatnam-Bhubaneswar express coming on other side. Got up without thinking. Luckily there was no TTE encounter for the 35 KM journey back.
At the station, the TTE did ask me where I was for 2 hours (original train would have stopped 2 hours back) and I confidently pointed to a bench "Sleeping there".

2012:

I was in Bengaluru then and my relatives were visiting us. They have their return flight on Kingfisher airline. The airline was on verge of winding up and my relatives' flight was also cancelled. Spoke to the Kingfisher CC over phone and somehow managed to re-scheduled with BLR-BOM-BBI flight via Mumbai.
We were so happy that none of us checked the rescheduled ticket. My relatives, only after reaching Mumbai found out that the next BOM-BBI flight was actually on next day.They did have another relative staying at Mumbai and were happy to spend a day with them.

There were few near-miss incidents, but I will leave them now for some other time.