3 reasons why a time management expert missed her flight
You may think, as a time management expert, that I have a perfect life as far as time goes.
Wrong!
I’m human and in addition to being late sometimes, I’ve also had some major bloopers, like the time I missed my flight from Dublin.
We were travelling from Dublin back to Johannesburg via London. At Dublin airport, we missed check-in by 5 minutes even though we were in the queue on time.
I must confess that I broke down and SOBBED!
As a result, we had to take a later flight from Dublin to London… that landed at a different airport, Gatwick. Our taxi broke many speed limits getting us to Heathrow on time for check-in but again there was a mad rush to get us on the flight leaving for Johannesburg. It was like The Amazing Race as we ran through the airport terminal for 20 minutes, only worse, as we were also out of shape.
If memory serves me correctly, we were in the last batch of 4 people who managed to squeeze through the aircraft’s doors on time. What should have been a stopover of 7 hours turned into a second, nearly missed flight!
How on earth does this happen, you ask?
Well, let me share the 3 critical mistakes I made:
Not leaving enough buffer time for the number of people involved
The more people you have to accommodate, the more time you need. We had been staying with a friend who was also going away that weekend and we (mistakenly) assumed that he’d take the same amount of time to get ready as we did.
We usually leave enough time to get to the airport and then add on another 30 minutes’ buffer time. In this case, we should have added on an hour.
Assuming that things are the same on weekends
At the time there were major roadworks in Dublin. Our friend was used to the detours during the week but not over the weekend. On this particular weekend, the highway was worse than it was during the week. Maybe it was the best time to work on the roads, but not for all of us travellers.
Not planning for different cultures and/ or countries
In South Africa, I’d had many, many customer service interactions where I could talk and reason with the people and get my way. South Africa is known for hospitality, friendliness and helpfulness.
The ground staff at the Dublin airport were not having my logic (that we WERE in the queue on time) and didn’t care that we might miss our flight to South Africa and that it was the last one for a whole day. I even started crying from sheer frustration and those cold-hearted ladies didn’t budge an inch.
This whole experience cost a LOT of money (had to get new tickets and pay a taxi to take us 50 miles to the correct airport) and time with friends (with our Dublin friend as we had a very unsatisfactory, quick good-bye and we totally missed meeting up with another friend at Heathrow), and was really not worth the extra 30 minutes it would have taken to let things work out perfectly.
Hopefully you can learn from my mistakes because I can assure you, you NEVER want to go through an experience like that.
I flew internationally twice after that incident and both times left an extra TWO hours’ buffer time as I never, ever, ever want to go through that again!
Have you ever missed a flight? Share in the comments.
Want to use this article in your ezine or on your blog? You may, as long as you include this complete blurb.
Marcia Francois is a time management and organising coach who empowers small business owners and other busy professionals who want to make the most of their time. You’ll get simple, practical organising and time management secrets to help you work less and enjoy life more! Visit http://takechargesolutions.org for your free Organising Success Pack.
Tags: planning, time management
On the bright side, it was a blessing you had that 7 hour stopover or you would have really been in trouble!
Absolutely!!!
I didn’t take plane that many times, but my dad almost missed our flight once. We were going to the USA from Geneva (with a small stop in Frankfurt, Germany) and we first had to take a 2 hours train trip from our town to Geneva. We left with plenty of time but when we arrived at the train station my dad realized he had forgotten his passport. Uh oh! Luckily there was another train 30 minutes later and he was able to get back home, find his passport, go back to the station and catch that train. What a stress it was!!! I’m often late but it’s getting better, and I haven’t missed a train since many years!
“The ground staff at the Dublin airport were not having my logic (that we WERE in the queue on time) and didn’t care that we might miss our flight to South Africa and that it was the last one for a whole day. I even started crying from sheer frustration and those cold-hearted ladies didn’t budge an inch.”
In many European countries, there’s a lot of pressure at airports. Possibility of unnanounced strikes, thorough security checks etc.etc. This is why we are asked to arrive at the airport 2 hours before departure.
“Those cold-hearted ladies” were only carrying out instructions. Particularly in Europe, there’s absolutely no possibility of avoiding certain procedures, for one’s own safety. Even luggage. Bags now generally do have to be of a certain size, in order to be accommodated aboard the aircraft.When we travel, we have to respect, conditions, regulations and cultures.
I live on the same continent as yourself, however I moved here from Ireland. and I’m sure that if you do your homework, you’ll find that the Irish people are among the most welcoming and friendly in the world.
Fiona, thanks for your comment.
I do get the procedures and whatnot…hence the rest of the article…
I did find that Irish people outside of Dublin were very friendly. In fact, we stayed at a B&B near Cork with the most hospitable lady ever! Ever!
It was really hard to find “real” Irish people in the city though. The lady at the check-in desk was not Irish, btw.
Hi Marcia,
When i was going to drop my Brother to Delhi Airport, He missed the flight by only 5 mins.
In morning time it was 40 min driving from my home to airport but in our conversation i did not check the time and he missed the flight by only 5 mins.
I gave the flight takoff time and i was relaxed that i have the said time in mind but after loosing the flight i came to know the check-in time is 30 min before the flight time.
regards,
Suneel Jain
Thanks for commenting, Suneel.
It’s very inconvenient and a waste of time and money missing flights
Fortunately, I have never missed a flight. My goodness that sounds so nerve wracking. I love to travel and when I do I like it to be somewhat leisurely. I have, however, made a mad dash through an airport (a couple of times) because of flights arriving late. The dash was with my 6 year old daughter (who’s now 19), she would just hang onto my belt loop. LOL. As she got older I would say, “Stay with me!” And she’d mirror my every move. I would never try that now ’cause my younger children are now 6, 5 and 3. LOL. Well, I guess I could link them all together and drag them along. Great tips you offer here.
Petula, LOVE the image of you running with the kids behind you
Very Right