Article: I Nearly Missed My Flight And Forgot How to Navigate an Airport

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I Nearly Missed My Flight And Forgot How to Navigate an Airport is an article written by the AFF editorial team:


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I did something similar in Japan recently.

Overslept and gave myself too little time to get to Narita for a morning departure. I had a prepaid ticket for the Narita express but panicked and went directly for the fastest option on google maps (Skyliner). Despite having a Suica on my phone, it had a low balance and in the moment totally forgot that it was linked to my mastercard so headed for the first ATM I could find to pull out ~$100 to load to the physical sucia card I had.

The metro over to the Skyliner station felt like it took forever and I had a 5 minute change knowing I also had to purchase a seat reservation for the Skyliner, I got up to the Skyliner platform but couldn't find the seat reservation machine (it was actually an office on the platform further down the other end) so rushed back to the main gate line/ticket area only to be told it was too late (train leaving in 2 minutes).

At this point another non express option that would get me to the terminal with 10 minutes to spare before check in cut off appeared so I went up to that platform and waited. It showed up and around an hour or so later I was at Narita but just like the article I got off at the wrong terminal, very confused looking at screens trying to find my airline. I then googled and realised I had got off at the wrong terminal, so went and asked the help desk where the transfer bus was, luckily the bus was fast and I arrived at check in cut off 52 minutes before departure (2 minutes before check in closed).
 
Yup, I've also become an overthinker about checking the terminals & attempting to view the terminal maps online beforehand. Having a mental image of the lay of the land has been helpful e.g. in LHR so that I can orientate myself quicker for which way to the gate. Or be there 30 mins early.

The stress level jumping up when you get off-course or delayed right before cutoff does your head in easily. All that practice in mindfulness and meditation is great but won't move the check-in desk any closer, you still need to run...
 
The only time I've had a problem was a short overnight connection at IAH. ~6 hours. Didn't leave the airport. I found a quiet area near the gate for the next flight.
A few hours later, I wake up to find my alarm didn't go off and they are calling me to board (last pax to board).
In my rush to the gate, my headphones fell out of my bag and I had to get new ones at a later stop over.
 
The metro over to the Skyliner station felt like it took forever and I had a 5 minute change knowing I also had to purchase a seat reservation for the Skyliner, I got up to the Skyliner platform but couldn't find the seat reservation machine (it was actually an office on the platform further down the other end) so rushed back to the main gate line/ticket area only to be told it was too late (train leaving in 2 minutes).
I had a similar experience trying to catch up with friends in Tokyo before rushing over to NRT. I purchased a Skyliner ticket online on their official website whilst riding the Yamanote line towards Ueno Nippori, thinking it'd be faster than lining up in person (I expected a QR ticket or an arrangement like some other Japanese trains where you pay the base fare on IC card then just show the ticket on your phone to the conductor as your Limited Express ticket), but it turns out you have to line up at a manned counter to convert your online purchased ticket into a physical ticket. With only a 6 or 7 minute transit, it was painstaking waiting for the tourist in front of me to be explained how to use IC card + magnetic ticket at once when using the transfer gate.

Thankfully I made it, because check-in would've closed had I taken the next Skyliner.
 
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I always get to the airport early esp if it is a new airport....eg 3-4 hours before flight
 
I Nearly Missed My Flight And Forgot How to Navigate an Airport is an article written by the AFF editorial team:


You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.
Not quite the same story - but even worse panic! I used to fly to Frankfurt Airport each year, Business Class to Sydney. This time, I had a three hour wait at Changi Airport. My mistake was in not checking the airport clocks! I did not realise my watch had stopped! When I realised, I rushed to the gate, but had missed the flight by 30 minutes.

Unlike you, I became very emotional and went to the Singapore Airlines Counter in tears. They were wonderful - the next flight to Sydney was in twelve hours. I paid them the penalty amount (about $400) and they set up a sleeping spot in the lounge for me.

All was well in the end - but any analog watch I wear always plays up at Changi Airport!
 
I missed a connection at Frankfurt. Lufthansa tickets and flights.

I knew exactly where we had to go and exactly how long we had to get there - 30 minutes from notional arrival to departure due to a 12-hour delay in Singapore.

I'd had the entire flight from Singapore (thanks to in-flight WiFi) to plan my run through the airport so was ready, and nearly made it.

On the flight out of Singapore was given some comfort by a regular flyer who said that this flight usually arrived 30 minutes early, but as it turned out, we arrived dead on time, so we had 30 minutes.

I left our travelling party behind and ran all the way and made it to the departing gate while crew were still there, with 10 minutes before departure, but they said they'd closed the flight - not surprised. If I hadn't had to go through a secondary bag screening because I was carrying a drone and a camera in my carry on, I might have made it before they'd closed the flight, and then might have convinced them to hold the flight open for the other three in my party who were a few minutes behind me. But I didn't.

As it turned out we landed at the furthest gate (E10, so not only had to clear passport control), but get 2.2km to the A gate where our departing flight was leaving from).

I was pretty pleased with my effort, even if I failed.

It was an impossible connection, due to a delayed departure out of SIN. I knew it was impossible 48 hours before I missed it but couldn't do anything about it; despite calling my travel agent and Lufthansa, was basically told "they'll fix it in Frankfurt if you miss it".

When I back tracked to customer service, the security guard at the customer service desk (yes, they needed one) asked what I wanted and I explained, and he said "oh, that's an impossible connection".

When I got to the counter, the CSA said "oh, that's an impossible connection" and went looking to re-book four people in J to Reykjavik. I hadn't been able to find any flights for a couple of days, but, to her credit, she found flights the next day via Geneva, including a leg on Swiss from Frankfurt to Geneva, and then Iceland Air from Geneva to Reykjavik.

Iceland Air had great in-flight service, and brilliant lost-bag tracking and delivery service, since only one of our three bags made it onto the first flight out of Frankfurt. The others took between 3 and 7 days to follow.
 
I always get to the airport early esp if it is a new airport....eg 3-4 hours before flight
Same, and for a new airport, there often is a new lounge to relax in!

I also try to arrive earlier at airports that I haven't passed through in a while or research and refresh my memory of the terminal layout, connecting transport locations etc, especially if the trip scheduling is tight, with no time to be presumptuous.
 
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Connecting between the Yamanote and Skyliner is much easier and faster at Nippori.
Correction: I meant Nippori, misremembered. I don't think Ueno even has a transfer gate between JR Ueno and Keisei Ueno due to the greater distance.
 
Correction: I meant Nippori, misremembered. I don't think Ueno even has a transfer gate between JR Ueno and Keisei Ueno due to the greater distance.
Not when JR Ueno and Keisei Ueno are separated by 2 roads. There is a tunnel between them, but that's to access the subway.

For one trip, my plan was to meet up with a friend but flight issues caused a delay (wind in SYD lead to delays to all flights which would have caused a missed connection from CBR which resulted in a reroute to NRT via MEL and HKG).
Once I got to the CX lounge in MEL, I contacted my friend and had her meet me 9 hours later then planned on the JR side of the JR-Keisei Nippori station transfer gates.
 
A girlfriend and I travelled to Italy & UK about 10 years ago both in our 60s and a fair bit of travel under our belts. We had about 5 hours to kill at Heathrow and kill em we did. Had lots of fun in the shops. My friend was getting full makeup done at a cosmetics counter (as you do) when I casually looked at the departure board only to see our flight listed with final boarding light flashing. Our QF flight leaving from just about the last gate. Picture two portly ladies doing a chariots of fire run! Fortunately there was one passenger after us. Ever since I sit in the Qantas Club or gate lounge obsessively checking the time.
 
We overnighted at the Hilton Garden Inn FRA on Tuesday night for a 10:35am FRA MCT from terminal 2 which we nearly missed. Yes I was a bit lackadaisical but FRA has gone from a great airport to a terrible one. Oman Air checkin backs onto the street unlike pretty much every check in in the world. Not only that it is desk 98 but there are no overhead signs, only at the desk so we breezed past it looking for the numbers on the desks where you expect them to be. Also no signs for the hotel when arriving at Terminal 1 and an information person who wanted to send us downstairs not upstairs to for Hilton checkin. The shuttle from T1 to T2 like Matt took forever to pick through the multiple building sites and again we were lucky we were J, the aircrew were the only people yet to check in. In short, I think FRA contributed to your woes, maybe it will be brilliant again when the take the multiple hoardings down.
 
I’m sorry Mat, that was so funny to read, and if an expert can coughoo, then I don’t need to worry haha!!
I have travelled from Sydney airport many times, but this time for some reason upon entering the airport, I just sat down on a seat waiting for the time to board!
Then horror struck me, I ran to the boarding area, out of breath, said to a male attendant I’m so sorry, have we boarded yet? He said Well you’re definitely not Business class are you! Sit over there. So with head hanging downwards, I sat down on the table part dividing the seats! never looked up and never moved until it was time.
 
Yup, I've also become an overthinker about checking the terminals & attempting to view the terminal maps online beforehand. Having a mental image of the lay of the land has been helpful e.g. in LHR so that I can orientate myself quicker for which way to the gate.

........ still need to run...
Knowing we just scraped in with MCT recently, and if our incoming AMS flight arriving at the very busy Schipol was delayed by more than 15 minutes, we would miss the last flight of the day to LIS, we found YouTube a great resource with quite a few good videos @tdimdad
Having seen these, helped us considerably as we raced from F8 to C13 through security and passport control in about 15 minutes - thought Mr Flyfrequently was going to have coronary though!
 
The Guardian has an article that paints a grim view on the Deutsche Bahn's (DB) performance and sounds like it will keep going downhill for the next few years, at least. Currently, 36% of long-distance and 9% of regional trains are delayed (>6 mins). This is something to keep in mind if you use DB services as a connection.

 

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