Originally Posted by
vagabond
12. The late arrival
This is the passenger who somehow remembers to check in his bags but then forgets about his flight. Gate agents page him at every terminal, and when he does not respond, are forced to remove his bags. The problem is that it takes about 30 minutes to locate luggage in the cargo hold, and the errant passenger usually shows up after 15 minutes. Biggest excuse? "I was in the duty-free shop and lost track of time." Really? You show up three hours prior to departure and it flies by just like that?
A couple years ago my boss (a Major in the US Army, so you think he'd know better) came back from a vacation to the states with almost that same story.
He was headed back to visit his kids and checked in at Frankfurt four hours before departure. He figured dropping his car off at Rhein-Main Air Base, the bus ride to the other side of the airport, and check-in would take a while, but he was flying during that odd time in the morning between the rushes that it took him no time at all.
He went to grab some breakfast and catch up on a little reading in the Terminal and lost track of time. 30 minutes before departure he realized he was late and made a mad dash through passport control and the two different security screenings only to arrive at the gate after the door was closed, but the aircraft was still there. They wouldn't let him board and he waited at the gate area while they searched for his luggage and removed it from the plane.
Ended up taking an evening flight to Amsterdam and then a flight stateside the next day.