dagblog - Comments for "On Missing the Airplane"

Heh. In case, the

CaliforniaPaige — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:24:42 +0000

In reply to I've never tried the credit

Heh. In case, the ticket-buying was an act of desperation more than liberation. But I love knowing I could do it again, if I wanted to.

My worst Heathrow security line experience was on a flight back from Scotland with my family a few years back, right after the "liquids" scare. He had to reclaim our bags, wait around to confirm that one had been lost, re-check in the rest, and then wait in the 1hr security line -- all in a 90 minute layover. Only reason we made the flight is that my mom managed to convince the other cross, frustrated passengers that we should go ahead of them. I think she's half-Jedi.

I've never tried the credit

NeuroTick — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 05:45:00 +0000

In reply to I once missed a flight home

I've never tried the credit card at the airport thing. Sounds like an expensive way to experience a sense of liberation. Have you considered running naked through a field?

I took a flight from Heathrow a few years ago and also underestimated the public transit time. I still would have been OK were it not for ticketless travel. The Brits were a little behind on that one. I stood in line at the ticketed security check-in for 20 minutes only to discover that I had to go to the ticket desk and have a paper ticket issued. The security people didn't even know what ticketless travel was. Another 20 minutes and then back to the security check-in. They mercifully let me cut to the front of that one so that I could make my flight, but by the time I made it to the gate, I had lost my window seat and had to sit in the middle. It wasn't the Worst Seat On The Plane but not far from it. Six hours in a middle seat after only two hours sleep and with a wicked hangover is not an experience I recommend.

I once missed a flight home

CaliforniaPaige — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 05:07:58 +0000

In reply to On Missing the Airplane

I once missed a flight home from Costa Rica because I was not aware of airport policy: you have to check in for international flights 1 hour before departure. (I arrived at the airport slightly under an hour before my flight, thinking I had plenty of time. Imagine my surprise when the desk agent looked at me incredulously, as if the idea of checking in for a flight a mere 55 minutes minutes before departure was utterly ludicrous.) It had been a stressful vacation due to some crossed wires with my friends about what our budgets were and what sort of activities to do; so all I wanted to do was get home. Somehow. Anyhow. I asked around, and at some point in the process managed to find out there was another flight that could get me as far as LA, with a change of planes in Panama. I pulled out my credit card, and bought a new ticket. There is something incredibly liberating about buying a ticket at the airport. Makes you feel like you can go anywhere, even if you're just trying to get home.

Then, there was the time I had two weeks between terms when I was studying in the southern England, and I under-estimated the amount of time it would take to get to Heathrow by public transport so badly that I arrived at the airport half an hour after my flight had been scheduled to *depart.* When I walked up to the desk, I learned that the flight had been delayed. By an hour and 15 minutes. Because of fog. That's right. Fog delayed flights out of Heathrow. You'd think they'd have figured out how to deal with it by now. Which was rather fortunate, since the dorms were shut down for break and I didn't have anywhere to stay in England.