[sharan_si]

In September 2019, we had planned a Goa trip with my friends, We reached Bangalore Airport around 1 hr before the departure, Me and my friend 2 of us were stuck at security check queue for almost 50min, We got a call from my friend saying final call has been made, we started running towards security checkpoint by skipping the queue. We were in a hurry didn't know which way to go after security check , Airport staff helped us to reach the gate, when we reached and boarded the shuttle. we were last ones to get in and bus less within 15 sec after we boarded.We all laughed we were so close to missing out long-planned trip.

[Zen Av8r]

I am a stickler for reaching well in time but on two occasions unforeseen circumstances have made me sweat.

1. Sometime in Oct 2007, me along with my wife and two children were to travel to Delhi by the Rajdhani Express from Bangalore. We had booked the First AC and this was going to be our first travel by the class. I was explaining the difference in service between First AC and Second AC to all and we all were very excited. We were staying with my cousin and the travel time from his place to the railway station was 30 minutes and I had catered for another 30 minutes at the station prior to the departure time. We left on time and Murphy struck. Heavy traffic with hold ups delayed us enough to miss the train. My Brother in Law who had reached the station direct from his office to see us off kept on giving me a running commentary on the train departing. That was also the first time that I didn't get worked up due the delay. Just resigned myself to fate.

2. The second instance was in mid 2018. I had to catch an early morning flight out of Bangalore to Delhi. The cab which I had booked the previous night stood me up and after repeated unsuccessful attempts to book another one, asked my wife to drop me off at the closest point from where I could catch one of the Airport Volvo buses. All my safety margin time was running out. The check in counter was closed by the time I reached the airport. I managed to persuade the counter supervisor to have me checked in as it was an important work trip. I literally ran to the security check and then to the gate only to realise that the flight was delayed. Ended us short of breath and a sight for other passengers there.

Now I always make it a point to complete all check in and security check at least an hour before the scheduled departure. I have also started taking my car and leaving it at the overnight parking at the airport for two day trips.

[binaiks]

I forgot this interesting experience of mine at Bangalore airport. I think this was in 2016. I had to board a flight from Bengaluru to Kochi in the morning - this was a small ATR 42 aircraft that flew Bengaluru-Kochi-Agati, operated by Air India Regional.

The departure time was around 8.15am, and I was at the airport by around 6.45am. Since I was really early, and there was no queue at the entry point, I went around to one of the Curbside shops to have a light snack to begin my day (I had left home on an empty stomach, and in fact I was called back to office in the middle of my vacation for some important work, and I was returning back to my home town - so my kitchen was closed!). I stood there relishing my hot coffee and some snack along with it. I saw the airport entry queue slowly getting longer - I was really foolish not to understand that I had to rush!

I joined the queue a little later, and it took about 30 minutes for me to just enter the terminal - it was in the middle of April, the peak of summer crowd! I joined the boarding pass queue (AI-Regional did not permit web checking, I think it still doesn't) - it was really long. While I was still in the tail end of the queue, I saw agents calling out for passengers to Kochi & Agati - jumped the queue with their help, and was directly taken to a special counter for check-in. I had less than 15 minutes to go for boarding closure time now!

With all the crowd, I was sure what would be in store at the security check - ran to the upper level where security happens. It was crowded like a market - but as luck would have it, I got through in about 10 minutes. This particular flight of Air India Regional, always departed from Gate 20, which used to be the very last gate on the lower level - So I had to run the entire length of the airport to get there. I finally got into the tarmac coach as the very last passenger! That was one real close call - and largely due to my fool-hardiness of waiting outside the airport.

Since then, I always avoided the curbside shops and always preferred paying a little more and eating from inside the airport. With lounge accesses, eating inside has been the choice always!

[Garth]

Incident 1 - Traveling from Delhi to Cochin. I was traveling with family. We were having a nice relaxed breakfast at the airport, and then went to the wash room, and taking a leisurely walk to the gate, when I realized that we were a bit late. Then the three of us ran to the gate, to realize that we were the last passengers. They put us in a bus to the plane (we were the only passengers in that bus). Reached the plane, and everyone was giving us the looks.

Incident 2 - I was flying from Bangalore to Dublin via Frankfurt. The connection time at Frankfurt was really short like 45 mins or so. As luck would have it, the plane was like 10 mins late to reach Frankfurt. After getting down, I just ran for my life to reach the gate for Dublin. half way through I realized the gate was on the opposite end. Somehow I made it, maybe with 5 mins or remaining to departure. The air hostess was on sweet old lady. As soon as she saw me panting and sweating all over, she gave me a warm hug and said, we have got you my boy, don't worry. We wouldn't have left without you. She accompanied me to my seat, and gave me a glass of water to make me comfortable.

[manjunathkl]

This has to be one of the most interesting part of our life. I'm not a great writer - so trying my best to get the intricacies of the situation here.

2004 Nov (Bangalore): We get (love) married after good amount of resistance from both families. In-laws/relatives still not sure we can make good of the life ahead.

I had booked honeymoon tickets X-Chennai to Mauritius - travel agent took care of tickets. Visa was on arrival. So far it was smooth. On the day of the departure to our honeymoon - relatives who had come home were just leaving. So, was busy seeing them off. There were lot of things we bought during marriage for gifting etc, we had to ensure everyone gets its etc. We had to finish our packing too. Was busy the whole time during the day. Train was around 4PM - Shatabdi Express to Chennai. Booking was done online. We get ready soon and leave around 3:20pm board an auto to go to city railway station. It should actually take us about 25-35 mins. So that's our bad planning in the first place. My in-laws wanted to see us off at Railway station - they said they will meet us there.


First issue - No contingency planning at all.

Next issue we face - that auto must have been the slowest auto in entire world. It was literally crawling. We are getting tensed. Asking the driver to hurry but the auto never went above 25kmph in spite of his pedal to metal. Lolz. With a lot of anxiety we sit. Every now and then we think of getting down and catch another auto - but also afraid that by the time we find another auto, unload-load luggage it might wipe off any time saved. So kept a lot of patience and somehow made it to Railway station at 3:55pm, had the change ready so paid the auto and ran like thieves running from police. Our in-laws had reached the platform 20 mins earlier. All this while they were calling us worried why we haven't reached - train is about to leave. On that day the train was on the dot. (Dr. Murphy never fails).

Next issue we face - Platform is some 15th or 20th platform - a long long way. Still carrying all the luggage we sprinted like as if marriage is at stake. We arrive at the platform. The train is LEAVING. we run and run but miss the train by about 10-15 meters. That sinking feeling. We quickly assessed if we can make it to the next station before the train - but you can't race a train in city traffic. Realization struck. All that stress, running and panting all went in vain. In-laws' expression said it all.


Fix - How to fix this, we lost the train - we can't miss the flight from Chennai. The only option is fly to Chennai soon. So, we call up the travel agent - he says he cannot book for today's flight - we have to try our luck at the airport. So without wasting any time, we caught a healthy looking taxi (pre ola-uber days guys) ask him to get us fast to the airport - which is the old airport in Domlur. Luckily we got a well maintained Omni which promptly dropped us off at airport in about 1 hour. Still we don't know whether we will get the tickets. So rush to Indian Airlines counters - luckily to our relief there were more than 2 seats on Chennai flight. Without asking for the price - just swiped the credit card and got tickets - flight was in just 1.5 hours. So rushed inside, checked-in the luggage, went through the security and there were a few minutes before boarding call - finally got a chance to sit for a few minutes and think what just happened. It was a huge financial loss + all the mental stress + loss of face in front of in-laws.

We were newly married (and stupid) - we kept blaming ourselves - It was my mistake - no no, it was my mistake. (Now, in such situations will have totally opposite outcome).

After that the journey was normal and we had a memorable trip. On the bright side, it tought us some important lessons - Never be late to anywhere. No one except you are responsible if you miss a flight/train/play etc. Touchwood, because of that mistake we always are atleast 30mins before any departure.

At the end - nice story to tell kids and grand kids I guess.

[glovins2004]

I missed international connecting flight due to eating Idli’s, sounds funny isn’t. This is how the story goes, I was on a business trip a year back and waiting at the counter for domestic and international boarding pass at BIAL, much to my surprise the domestic connecting flight got re-scheduled more than three times and finally got cancelled.

Airline personal trying to get seats from other star alliance partners, most of them got and few didn’t, I’m one of them. Time is running out and its less than an hour from the departure of original flight, further delay might put me at risk missing the international flight.

After several rounds of negotiation, they finally got seats for nine of us but tagged all luggage’s in one passenger name due to time constraint. well, I got the boarding pass and looked at the departure chart, still 30 minutes available for boarding so thought of having a quick breakfast. Steaming Idli’s and sambar bowled me over and I relished as If I’ll never see Idli’s again. Very well, quickly washed my hands and started running towards the boarding gate.

As I was running, I looked at the departure chart but couldn’t see the flight listed. Oh, what happened, is it cancelled again? but at least they should say cancelled. Anyway, I continued running and reached the boarding gate and I could see full of passengers.

The DRAMA starts here. I went to the front desk near the gate and politely asked “Mam, may I know when the boarding starts for this flight? Sir, the flight just left, can you look there, its taxiing on the runway. Oh my god, with in few seconds I was drenched in sweat, shivering and almost gone blank and don’t know what to do next. I started to plead the airline reps and security personal to somehow stop the flight and board me. I got this reply - Sir, even if you fall on my feet, we can’t do anything at this moment. Q: What about my bags Mam? Ans: it’ll be at Airline back office counter at New Delhi.

They cancelled my boarding pass and asked me to look for next available flight. At this moment, I just had 6 hours to board the international flight from New Delhi. I rushed back to the same airline counter and explained what happened, they were stunned and the expression on their face made me feel so embarrassed. However, the counter lead acted swiftly and put me in next available flight boarding in 30 minutes. I was surprised that they did not take any extra charges, don’t know why. I thanked them for their support and finally boarded the domestic flight at BIAL.

2nd Challenge – While touchdown at New Delhi, I just had 2 hours left for the international flight departure but my bags were at another terminal. If I had to go, then it’s minimum 20 minutes by bus and another 20 minutes to return, so ideally, it’s going to take at least an hour and by the time I come back, I’ll be left with less than an hour to clear immigration, go through security check and board the flight. I was already exhausted and can’t afford to make the same mistake again, so I made up my mind to travel without my bags. I usually keep all my travel documents in my laptop bag, so in-terms of immigration/boarding there shouldn’t be any issues. I just walked towards the immigration counter with just my laptop bag as if I’m going from Bellandur to Ramamurthy Nagar in our famous 500D.

Finally, I boarded the flight and reached the destination on schedule. Meanwhile I was thinking what I’ll wear for office next day, its already 11pm and all shutters pulled down. Luckily, I was pleasantly surprised to see one of my colleagues from another group and he was kind enough to lend his T-shirt “only”, I was bit relieved that I can at least change my shirt for office next day.

So, should I blame Idli for all this circus, definitely not. I actually overlooked the departure chart, the 30 minutes time given on the chart is for the departure but not boarding, that means it was already in the final stage of boarding and gates are about to get closed.

This is a good Lesson learnt in a hard way, I’ll never forget and hopefully don’t repeat.

[kraken]

All the time scouring through Team-Bhp and I wonder how I missed this thread ! Well I've 2 great stories and let me say, one of the them is quite a hit at parties.

So we travel to 2012, me a fresh MBA, campus recruitment done and dusted , back in college after a short break at home for graduation ceremony. And icing on the cake is the Goa trip we've planned the next day. Just to be safe we've booked an afternoon 2 pm flight from BLR to GOA. So in the evening festivities start, there's partying, there's drinking, there's ... well let us just say there were some activities that really made you crave snacks and food.
Fast forward next day, we're in the part of Bangalore called Banshankari, at a friends place, a 2 bhk. Earliest anyone wakes up is 10:45am. 7 guys with their own weird bathroom routines have 2 bathrooms to finish what they've started. No OLA, no Uber. In the end we have hired 2 taxis and even though we raced to the airport , we missed the flight. To be fair we reached only by 1:50. We ditched our plans, had subways to eat and returned.
Moral of the story: Never book tickets the day after you're gonna party like there's no tomorrow.

[vikasshu]

Two stories from my side as well:

Way back in 2014, I was on a international trip to New York for a very important project where I had to share findings of my initiative. Since I received an important data set very late, I could not send my powerpoint deck to the organizer. I promised them that I'll come to the place all ready and will present my stuff.

With this promise, I started my journey. I was travelling by Etihad airways with take off from Delhi-Abu Dhabi-New York circuit. I had a lay over of 2 hours in Abu Dhabi. Reached airport well in time and finished all formalities. And then the wait started. Delhi-Abu Dhabi flight was expected to start at 4 AM but because of fog and some other delays, it started around 7 AM. Thankfully we were served at Delhi international airport by Etihad airways. But because of all this delay a lot of passengers who were traveling to US, missed their connecting flight from Abu Dhabi. There was chaos at Abu Dhabi and passengers were very angry. It took airport staff to control things and bring the temper down. It was decided that all passengers who were supposed to travel by 9:00 AM Abu Dhabi-JFK flight will now take 1:00 AM flight same evening. This meant more than 12 hour stay in Abu Dhabi. Thankfully airlines accommodated all passengers either in hotels near airport or in airport lounge. I got myself a seat in the lounge. I must say it was a nice lounge with great food and cozy corners to work peacefully. Now my first worry was to finish my presentation. With free wifi and over snacks, juices and coffee, I finished my presentation by 3-4 PM and sent it to organizer. I was dead tired because of my 4 AM flight and then all melee that happened since then. It was a tough job but I was able to finish things. At 4 PM I took some lunch and then spread my legs for a quick nap. I only woke up by 9 PM. My whole body was aching but thankfully they had provisions for a shower as well. I heartily tried that and felt well relaxed. Post that I finished my dinner and left the lounge around 11 PM to reach my terminal and also to check out some of the shops on my way. This time every thing went fine and flight took off on time. I was also very lucky to get a bulkhead seat with good legroom and no other passenger in my row. For the first time in my history of flying, I slept so well that I only woke up an hour before landing. I think it was a 13 hour long journey and I slept for 11-12 hours.

I landed fresh in US and got my ride to travel to my office in time. And to end this story, my presentation went extremely well with some amazing results to be shared with our executive team. I went through a tough test during this time but every thing ended so picture perfect that this journey is etched in memory for the whole life.

Second Story

My father was a government servant and he took LTC for us to travel to Bombay and Goa from Delhi. I think it was in the year 1991. We reached Bombay and had great time there. And then for our second part of journey, we had to take a train from Bombay to a station by the name of Miraj and then from Miraj to Vasco-Da-Gama.

Our Bombay Miraj train got delayed and by the time we reached Miraj, our Kolhapur-Miraj train had already left for Vasco. There were lot of tourists with us who were traveling to Goa and all of us got stranded. A lot of negotiation, requesting, fighting happened with the station master. And finally he agreed that a train from Delhi (don't remember the name) going to Vasco will pass through Miraj at 11 pm and they'll attach two additional coaches in it for all the stranded Goa passengers.

I think I was in class 9 in 1991. We were traveling with another family so there were three of us for all mischiefs. . My Uncle's son who was in class 7-8, my younger brother and myself. All three of us loved trains and we had field day because of God and watched so many trains passing the junction that day. I think Miraj had meter gauge line and there were loads of steam locomotives that we were lucky enough to witness that day. We also had opportunity to make friendship with loco pilots and see the insides of those steam beauties. Miraj in those days was a very small station and used to be deserted throughout the day. But that day the whole station came to life because of loads of kids. There were just two small canteens at the station. And they were having small quantities of food as per their daily expectation. But that day they were unable to fulfill all the needs of the people. I remember my first experience of curd rice with nimbu ka achar from that Miraj station canteen. Still today I remember that meal. Unfortunately, in those days, we had film based cameras and reels in those days were precious and luxury. I could not take any pictures and I still repent that thing.

Finally at night the train from Delhi came and two coaches were attached to it. To the utter surprise of passengers, they were general class coaches without any soft seats. But we could not complain and continued the journey. We left that beautiful Miraj station where I collected memories for the lifetime. I still have a desire to visit that station once and see how it looks now. May be ONE DAY

[StarrySky]

Not quite sure if this counts as a "missed" flight, but..

I was once scheduled to travel from Mumbai to Europe with Gulf Air. Before I started my journey, the travel desk in my office informed me that the flight from Mumbai to Abu Dhabi was delayed, which meant I will miss my flight from Abu Dhabi to the destination. They said Gulf Air will provide accommodation in Abu Dhabi. After reaching Abu Dhabi, sure enough, I "missed" my original scheduled flight. After a bit of haggling with Gulf Air, they provided all of us accommodation for the night. I had a wonderful time after "missing" the flight at a 5-star beach resort with stay, travel to/from resort to airport, all meals and one international call paid for by the airline

One the same trip, a colleague and I decided to travel one weekend for some sightseeing. We went by train and were scheduled to return on a Sunday. Our train was in the afternoon. On Sunday morning, we were having breakfast at our hotel, when we noticed that the clock in the hotel was showing the wrong time. We wondered why didn't the hotel staff correct it. Anyway, after roaming around the city in the morning, we reached the train station with well over an hour left before the train's departure, or so we thought. My friend went to get something. He came back running within a few minutes and said, "There is some problem, all clocks are showing different time". Then we realised it was the day DST was starting, so the clocks had moved forward and we didn't have an hour to board the train. Thankfully, we had reached the station early enough.

I have once come very close to missing a train in Bangalore, and have been the last passenger to board the flight a couple of times (during transit), but have not otherwise missed a train or flight yet.

An incident that I will always remember when talking about missed flights happened with a close friend. He had come to India from the US after a gap of 4 or 5 years. The day before he was scheduled to return, I went his home to spend some more time with him before he returned. While we were talking, he got a phone call from his friend in the US, welcoming him back, and he mentioned that he will leave in a few hours' time to pick my friend up from the airport. That is when my friend realised his mistake. His flight was scheduled for 0130hrs or so on the next day. He always thought of it as 0130 "at night" on that date and thus believed he was travelling one day later. He had booked his domestic ticket to Mumbai also for the afternoon on the next day. By then, it was too late to catch another flight to Mumbai. There was no option but to reschedule his travel to the US.

Funnier thing is that the next time he was visiting India, he was again arriving at Mumbai and he asked me to book tickets for the domestic leg from Mumbai to Kochi and back. With the previous experience in mind, I asked him to re-check all his travel plans before I book. He confidently told me he was sure and I could book and I did. A couple of days later, he called me to say that he had indeed made the same mistake again Not much harm done this time, as we were able to reschedule the domestic flight well in time without drama.