An Expensive Mistake: How I Overslept and Missed My Flight

It’s been quiet around the blog this week because I’ve been traveling. I’m becoming a pretty seasoned business traveler. I rarely check my bags, I know how to get free first class upgrades, and I have no sympathy for you if you don’t have your belt, shoes, laptop, and plastic baggie of liquids in your hand before you get to the metal detectors. But last week I made an embarrassing – and expensive – mistake: I overslept and missed my flight.

Photo by greg westfall.

Nearly missing flights is nothing new for me. I hate waiting in airports (and in idle aircraft), and I like living on the edge.

I have, many times, walked onto an aircraft and had the flight attendants shut the door behind me instantly.

Now that’s close.

But last week I wasn’t even close.

I had a 6:00 a.m. flight out of Boston. To make 6:00 a.m. flights, which I take often, I am usually up by 4:00, on the road by 4:15, at the airport at 5:00, and at the gate by 5:30.

Last week, I woke up at 6:30!

I could give you the malfunctioning alarm clock excuse, which is partially true (I set two; one broke and I didn’t hear the other), but at the end of the day, I was to blame. I overslept, and I missed my flight.

And I knew it as soon as I woke up.

That, by the way, was a surreal experience. I imagine oversleeping before a flight as chaotic, and usually, it is: I awake with barely enough time to make the airport, so I rush, I speed, and I sweat, possibly all in vain. But when I woke up and the plane had already left, it felt like I was guilty of a crime, but was already caught, so I mind as well go back to sleep.

Despite that feeling, I couldn’t go back to sleep, because I needed to be in Indianapolis by noon. Ha!

I wasn’t really thinking straight, so I just hopped in the shower, grabbed my suitcase, and headed for the airport, albeit in rush-hour traffic. As soon as I was on the road, I was on the phone with Delta’s SkyMiles Elite line to discuss my options. The nice thing about being an elite traveler, at least with Delta, is that I have an 800 number that goes to a real person, in America, more-or-less instantly. Aside from that, however, they don’t do much differently than any airline ticket agent. When I talked with Delta, my fears were confirmed.

Discount coach tickets (the kind you and I buy about 99% of the time), are non-refundable, meaning if you decide not to travel, or miss your flight out of your own fault (I couldn’t find away to pin my alarm clock woes on Delta), you lose the ticket. Period.

Now, these nonrefundable tickets can be changed in ahead of time for a $50 fee, plus the difference in ticket price. Not cheap, but better than loosing one ticket and buying an entirely new one. But these changed reservations need to be done in advance. So if you miss your flight, they need to be done at least before the plane has taken off – even if you aren’t on it.

Then, I understand, especially if you are at the airport, the airline may treat missing your flight as any reschedule, and can get you on the next flight for those change fees.

But for me, calling up, after the flight had taken off, I was out of luck. My ticket was gone. If I had a “full-fare” ticket, had I missed my flight, I would retain the value of the ticket, and could just apply it, in full, to any future flight.

So now that I found myself out of about $240 (the one-way cost of the round-trip ticket), I still needed to get to Indy that day, no matter what. This was also during the days of the American MD-80 inspections, so with hundreds of American flights grounded, every airline’s planes were packed.

As I was dialing in the airlines, I was also punching Indianapolis into my GPS. I had made the 13-hour drive with my family dozens of times to visit my grandmother as a kid, I could do it again if needed.

Delta had nothing. Continental had nothing. She I checked Northwest, and they had a flight at 3. I passed, and I called U.S. Airways, whom I knew had a direct flight form Boston to Indy. Success! There was a seat on the 9:30 flight. But at what cost?

$691.

Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.

I don’t care if that’s out-of-pocket or out of an expense account, or who’s paying for it, that’s one expensive mistake.

Another tidbit I learned through this whole debacle: is to let your airline know immediately that you want to keep that return ticket! Assuming you don’t rebook your outbound leg on your original airline, they will cancel your return itinerary, also at your expense.

Have you ever missed a flight because you overslept, or something else that was your fault? What happened?

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some comments

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Richard 24 April 2008 at 10:02 pm permalink

Ouch! Its been my worst nightmare for a while — sleeping through an early morning flight. Glad to hear you made it eventually.

I have actually overslept a flight once, and lived to tell the tale — on American Airlines they’ve been fairly accommodating to me (I do have AAdvantage elite status, though). Officially, if you let them know before a flight takes off that you can’t make it but still intend to fly, they will let you standby for later flights same-day for no charge. Unofficially, if you call within two hours after a flight they’ll still let you standby for free, but more than two hours after a flight takes off, and the reservation is voided. Granted, there has to be room on those later flights, but its quite a flexible system.

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Mel 30 August 2008 at 3:21 pm permalink

Delta had no help for me. I am not sure if I pick that airline company next time. I just missed my flight today, even though I had two clocks set. None of them came on… I woke up before the departure time and there was no way I could get to the airport on time.So, I called Delta to let them know about my situation and possibly re-schedule with a minor loss. I also asked them what if I drive to JFK to catch my second airplane to go overseas to complete my trip. I was told that just because I missed my first one, all my scheduled flights would be cancelled anyways. I was shocked to hear that. Can’t you just make a mistake once!!! They offerred me to re-schedule with a price difference plus penalty charges so that I wouldn’t lose my money. But, what they told me was way more than what paid at the first place. That was a big Ouch for me to digest. I was mad at myself to make the most expensive mistake of my life, and also to Delta that they had no mercy over an honest mistake. Anyways, I just bought those expensive tickets and on my way to go to my vacation…

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Anon 6 October 2008 at 12:59 am permalink

I missed a flight with Delta today because I forgot my wallet and had to go back home to get it. I still thought I could make it back in time, but I didn’t because I got stuck in traffic (an event nearby had just let out). By the time I got to the counter it was an hour after takeoff. I didn’t mention the wallet thing and only told them about the traffic and they put me on the next flight for a $50 fee. I’m really glad now that I didn’t mention the wallet because that would have been admitting it was my own fault and they might not have been so nice. I checked the new ticket # and the return flight is still confirmed.

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Sam 3 January 2009 at 10:31 am permalink

Today, I missed my flight and this was thge worst day of my life. I am a 21-year-old student from Germany. I decided to spend my Christmas and New Year in Dubai. Today I had a flight at 7:40 AM. I woke up at 5:30. I took a shower and everything was easy. I calculated the time and I thought there still was time to spare. So I left my home at around 6:20AM, my friend brought me to the airport. Walking slowly and easy to the check-in for Turkish Airlines I was wondering where the queue is. I looked at the monitors and my flight was blinking red (CLOSING) – so I rushed and the lady on the check in “Sorry Sir, Check-In is closed” I was in the check in at around 6:40 – one hour prior departure. I begged her. I had another flight to catch and the train I have booked in Germany from Frankfurt to Bremen (4 hours) which also was confirmed already. Not to meantion that I am a simple student – meaning not having thousands of Dollars on my account.

I felt some tingling in my belly and legs. Strated to feel dizzy. Not knowing what to do – looking at the lady at the Check-In, seeing her shaking er head. Impossible to get on thatplane, even I stil had 1 hour (!!) to get to the gates.

So I went back out of the Check-In area, called my friend back, who already left for work. I went to the Travel Service Counter, they told me I need to go to the Turkish Airlines Sales Centre in Dubai, which is far away – I knew I was screwed.

I called Turkish Airlines offices in Turkey, 20 Min talk. With international mobile phone. (Looking forward to the bill)
They said no more seats at all everything overbooked. Next flights are next week. OH MY GOD!! The feeling you feel at this moment is the worst you can ever have – I wish nobody of you guys reading this here will ever have the same experience or feeling – ever.

Rebooking was not possible. Only Business Class the next morning where available $400 plus charges plus fees plus taxes.

In the end you really don’t mind anymore, because you just want to get home anyhow! They found a flight from Dubai – Istanbul – Hamburg with 10h stop over in Istanbul.

Train ticket in Germany is gone, lost $100 plus my flight ticket.
I am so screwed – so bankrupt for this month – I am so dead.

Year 2009 can’t begin worse than this for me.
From now on I will be always 2 hours minimum at the airport before departure.

Thanks to my friend, who came late to work and had so much patience with me – I’d me more than screwed if not him.

God Bless You Guys – Learn From The Mistakes Of Others.

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Steven 6 March 2009 at 2:46 pm permalink

I always have an issue where my flight has been overbooked and I get bumped. Sometimes you get some type of monetary compensation but that is not why I booked the flight. I booked the flight to get somewhere at a certain time, Time is money you know. Airlines say they overbook flights to cover losses incurred when travelers don’t show for the flight, I call this DOUBLE DIPPING. I have missed a few flights in my time and have never gotten a refund and in most cases the ticket is now void and not worth credit on a dfferent flight it is just recycle material now. What the Airlines do is sell to many seats on a flight and then hope for no shows so that they can resell the seat at even higher price paid by you. This sounds to me like some sort of criminal offense but sense all of our Governments collect huge taxes on air travel they have no incentive to stop this unfair practrice. When will We be treated as I’m sure the top execs at these airlines EXPECT to be treated in their day to day lives? First step I guess is to get rich!!!!!!!!! I need to find a scam like the Airlines, LEGAL??????

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Heather 18 March 2009 at 11:42 am permalink

My husband and I were on our honeymoon and we had missed our flight due to communication error from our hotel on how to get to the airport at 6am. We are flying out of Rome trying to get to the USA and we missed our flight. We were flying Northworst KLM and they said they could reschedule us 4 days later. We had jobs to get to so, after freaking out. We ended up have to buy new tickets in EUROs. It was about $2,700 that we had to pay to get home. NOW that was expensive. I can’t believe airlines can’t work together to get someone home. It is very ridiculous! And there was nothing we could do about it. We couldn’t get our money back from the airlines, we couldn’t get anything out of the hotel for telling us wrong information. Never fly international on Northwest!

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Alice 25 June 2009 at 12:35 am permalink

I missed mine today, and I am just feeling awful. And when I feel awful, I usually Google away my sorrows..

This morning I had a flight at 8:30am, but I am currently in Beijing, and the transportation time to get to the airport from where I live (bus, then shuttle bus) is about an hour and a half, which meant that I had to be on the road by 5:30am to get to the airport in time for my flight (I play it safe).

However, last night I ended up packing last minute, and made it to bed at 3am. I set my alarm and even considered staying up because I didn’t want to miss the alarm, but I figured some sleep was better than none. This morning I awoke to sunshine, and immediately my stomach dropped. There is no sun at 5 in the morning! I looked at my phone, which read 7:20ish. I immediately woke up, started running around frantically, called the airline while brushing my teeth…It was like realizing one of my nightmares. I know exactly what you mean. That panic you get when you miss class or the last bus in your dreams is totally real when it happens in full consciousness.

My alarm rang at 7:24am. I don’t know if I should be mad at my phone or glad that it wasn’t my fault. Either way, I’m still extremely disappointed in my myself. AND my phone. I have no idea why it decided to ring 2 hours and 24 minutes later than its set time, when it usually rings at the time I need it to.

But long story short, I ended up changing my flight. It only cost me about $15 USD to book the flight tonight at 8:55pm. The only thing I’m mad about is that my trip was only Thurs-Mon, and now it’s basically Fri-Mon, so I won’t be able to enjoy it for as long. My flight back is at 7:30am, so I guess I won’t be sleeping that night.

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JJ 11 August 2009 at 3:57 pm permalink

We missed our flight to Lima today at 6am from Delta/Northwest. The people at the ticket office offered us no alternatives, and shuffled us back and forth between the Delta and the Northwest counters, both saying the other had to help us with this or that detail. Then we had to call a phone number so we couldn’t even talk face to face with a person. We ended up with no other options but to buy new tickets for $1500 each. That included a change fee of $250 – which of course makes no sense, because I could have bought a brand new ticket from them online for $1200 for the next day. We considered forfeiting the ticket and simply buying new ones from another airline at $700.

Then we called Orbitz who (thank god) we had bought our tickets from. The agent was on the phone being shuffled between Delta and Northwest for almost an hour. Apparently neither would take responsibility and she had difficulty locating the ticket numbers and exchanging our tickets. Eventually she took care of it and changed it to the next day for no charge! Thank you Orbitz.

My advice is NEVER fly with Delta/NW. If you must, then at least wait a year until they are merged so you don’t get stuck in the middle like we did.

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JH 7 September 2009 at 12:57 am permalink

Missing a flight with Delta can be a costly proposition, but here is any alley I took that only cost me $50 to get on a different flight.

I called Delta and explained to them I was not on my morning flight and that I would like to take a later flight. LUCKILY I had a decent person helping me on the customer service line and he explained to me the concept of Same-Day Confirmed Travel. See: http://www.delta.com/traveling_checkin/ticket_changes_refunds/sameday_travel_changes/index.jsp

What you do is call Delta 3 hours before a scheduled flight you would like to be on and say “I would like to do Same-Day Confirmation for ‘X’ flight.” Hopefully they will not that you have already purchased a ticket, but would like to take advantage of the $50 Same-Day Travel change as apposed to purchasing an entirely new ticket. If there are seats available on that flight it would only cost you $50 to get a confirmed seat on that flight.

The risk to this is if all the flights are booked on your scheduled day of travel then this alternative will not work.

Overall, I was pretty satisfied that this opportunity existed. It even allowed me to get better flight times cheaper than I could have secured through booking online.

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sebastian 11 September 2009 at 10:51 am permalink

United lets you go standby at no extra charge until you can get out.

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