2 missed flights, whilst sitting in the lounge – sympathy or no sympathy….?
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MartynSinclairParticipantAfter 30 years of travel, I managed to miss 2 flights yesterday & to make matters even more embarrassing, I only have myself to blame. I can’t put an insurance claim in or scream and shout at BA or even BAA. It was my own fault.
The cause – I bumped into a very good client in the T5 lounge and we were just passing the time of day and before I knew it, I had missed the departure time by a good 20 minutes.
The added problem was, flight 1 was a positioning flight and flight 2 was the first sector of an ex-Europe flight to Asia & I knew I would not get away by just turning up at the gate early evening. In full panic mode, I went to the lounge ticket desk, expecting to be hit hard financially. I even agreed to pay for an upgrade to F, if it helped. To be fair to BA, it took them around 30 minutes to sort it out and the penalty was very surprisingly not as much as I thought it would be, even with the paid upgrade to F.
HOWEVER – there is always a however – could/should the airlines do more to assist passengers running late or who have been distracted OR should the system remain the same i.e. it’s the passenger’s responsibility, despite late boarding costing the airlines significant amounts of money.
With boarding passes being scanned at every conceivable point along the route to the aircraft, could airlines use this as a means of identifying where passengers are within the airport. In yesterdays example, BA could have easily identified not only was I in a lounge, but which lounge I was enjoying.
I realise its totally impractical to have announcements in the lounge, but is there technology that would allow announcements through Bluetooth headphones on a voluntary basis or even feed into the announcements from the main terminal, to the passengers who request the service.
Then of course there is the app… which I do use, but clearly not well enough. I tried asking a BA rep is it possible to get buzzing warning notifications for example to say, time to go to the gate. No BA lounge rep I spoke to knew the app well enough.
For me this is the first time it has ever happened, my fault totally & I want to make sure it never happens to me again.
So… will I get any sympathy from anyone or is it just tough luck… should have looked at the departure boards….
Finally, anyone else willing to own up to missing a flight whilst sat in the airlines lounge..?
22 Aug 2018
at 17:53
FrDougalParticipantThe airlines do more than enough short of holding your hand.
And as for T5, your scanned at security and scanned entering the lounge, you are not scanned leaving should one decide to go shopping, you are not scanned as you move around the T5 satellites.
Use the app, enable push notifications and they’ll even tell you when boarding is commencing.
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22 Aug 2018
at 20:05
christopheLParticipantGiven more and more flights are departing late and lounges have less and less flight information screens I would appreciate annoucements in lounges for any flight departing with some delay.
When flights are not delayed the most efficient way I found not to miss my flight is to use the alarm of my mobile phone 🙂
22 Aug 2018
at 21:19
PatJordanParticipantMartyn, I must confess to doing exactly the same thing in the Aer Lingus Gold Circle lounge in Dublin several years ago.
I was flying to Heathrow, and when I looked at the information screen, I completely misread the data. It wasn’t until after the seceduled departure time that I realised my mistake! Seeing “my” aircraft pushing back from the gate was a jaw dropping moment I can tell you! Particularly so as the only direction I could point the finger was at myself.
That said, I telephoned the (then) head of the Gold Circle Club and made grovelling apologies for my stupidity. I was very grateful to be told to return to the ticket desk landslide where a ticket for the next flight would be waiting for me. I duly expressed my thanks and heeded the advice to take greater care when reading flight information screens in the future!!
22 Aug 2018
at 21:36
stevescootsParticipantI dont think they can do any more apart from potentially calling someone’s phone. That’s possible, I know many of the apps can integrate with a phones calendar to notify a change or boarding time but often that just a single “ping” maybe airlines can integrate some form of alarm into their app that either connects to the phones alarm or to the phone as a call with a voice alert?
I have done it twice, like you on a positioning flight in LHR a few years ago and I got away with it at no cost. Another time was PRG when I dozed in the lounge without setting my alarmI have been called from the lounge before but only because they decided they wanted to leave early (CX out of SGN)
23 Aug 2018
at 02:53
capetonianmParticipantA friend of mine (honest!) who is more of a ‘plane spotter’ than I am, was sitting in the lounge, I think it was at DCA, watching the movements on the airfield and comparing them with FlightRadar24 whilst waiting for his transatlantic, and suddenly realised that the 787 that was taxiing out to depart was his!
He was lucky, probably because he was honest and went to them cap in hand, they put him up for the night and gave him a seat the next day.
23 Aug 2018
at 07:13
AndrewinHKParticipantI imagine it was IAD not DCA, no transatlantic or long haul flights of any kind from DCA. Not much sympathy, the airline is not responsible for getting you to the gate, the response seems good from BA, i imagine they could have been much more difficult.
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23 Aug 2018
at 09:40
RichardBParticipantI was sat in T3 BA lounge and got a phone call from Finnair gate staff to tell me the flight was closing. It was partly their own fault really because the company handling AY at LHR T3 update the flight status which is shown on the airport monitors with a different understanding of english to mine. “boarding” actually means the gate is open. When it shows “final call” that means people have started to board the plane (other airports use the word “boarding” to show this phase). I questioned them on this (since they do it every time) and they explained it was to get people to hurry along to the gate. Full marks for the phone call though.
23 Aug 2018
at 10:19
capetonianmParticipantYes, I meant IAD, and I think it was UA he was flying on.
23 Aug 2018
at 10:23
TiredOldHack2ParticipantConfession time: I damn nearly made the same mistake while chatting with a friend in a lounge. Noticed just in time, and we were the last two people to board.
So sympathies, Martyn: it’s quite easily done but yes, you have to berate yourself for being a silly b.
23 Aug 2018
at 13:25
TheCountParticipantThe answer is to confine your travels to Ethiopian. In the various Addis lounges they don’t just announce impending departures, they come round and make sure you know. The late-night waits tend to be incredibly long so many people go to sleep. It’s annoying to hear the names of innumerable capitals shouted out but a lot safer.
23 Aug 2018
at 13:36 -
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