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

[Seat0B]

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.

‘It’s the same daily misery’: Germany’s terrible trains are no joke for a nation built on efficiency

Deutsche Bahn’s once-admired service has descended into chaos. Whether decades of poor investment or the company’s unusual structure is to blame, it’s a huge headache for a coalition trying to meet climate goals

www.theguardian.com

I posted about our abysmal experiences with DB in my belated trip report. It is certainly something to consider that never had to be considered before. German punctuality was always a given.

Belated TR: Middle East and Central Europe Dec 22-Jan23

Thank you so much for an interesting and informative trip report. My days of flying are now non existent due to my own health journey. I wish you the very best in your health journe.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[Scarlett]

Something similar seems to afflict Mrs Scarlett, but interestingly only at LHR T3 when flying to FRA.

First time: I could only guest one member of family into LH lounge prior to flight and Mrs graciously suggested Mstr Scarlett should go and she’d find a cafe and meet us at the gate. After some nice bacon and eggs and coffee (and gummy bears - for breakfast - for the yard monkey) we sauntered down to the gate when boarding appeared on the lounge monitors. No Mrs to be seen. Waited. All other pax boarded. Still no sign. I ask gate agent to page my wife by name: No they don’t do any gate announcements or paging. Okay. What to do? This was the first leg of LHR-FRA-LCA for a week in Cyprus. Leave the three boarding passes with the agent and Mstr standing there and run off through the terminal hoping against hope. Glad I’d been regularly running and was wearing running shoes that day! Did one lap and no luck so back to gate to see if she’d shown. No! Arrggghhh. Sprint off again thinking that I’d remembered seeing an LH Jet an hour ago at some other gate a ways away. Find Mrs there. Yell at her to RUN right now (quite a startled face she made ) and I race back off to the gate hoping we’d be allowed to board. Mstr Scarlett is saying something unhappy as I get there but all I’m focussed on is the gate agent: ‘found her’, I say in my best pleading voice. Gate agent scanned the passes and let us (Mstr and I) wait at the door whilst Mrs arrived.
I reckon that’s about six minutes of my life I never want back.

Episode II: this time Mrs (now a *G as well) and Mstr are in the LH lounge at LHR T3 awaiting LH flight to FRA and I’m flying from elsewhere to meet them there in FRA. Somehow Mrs forgets which flight they are on, doesn’t look at the boarding passes she has, and realises about 20 minutes after the flight has left that there is a problem. (no chasing up pax by the lounge staff either)
Lounge staff did rebook them on the second subsequent flight out (LH are scheduled almost every hour I think between LHR-FRA) and relieved my credit card of about the original cost of the flights again.

Mrs is an intelligent woman who has done her fair share of flying and has been to many, many airports around the world. LHR T3 might just be her nemesis. I should test the situation by booking her another flight out of there with the cheapest ticket I can find, just to see what happens! Does bad luck really come in threes?

 

[tdimdad]

Mrs is an intelligent woman who has done her fair share of flying and has been to many, many airports around the world. LHR T3 might just be her nemesis. I should test the situation by booking her another flight out of there with the cheapest ticket I can find, just to see what happens! Does bad luck really come in threes?

Quite some adventures you are getting with her when in LHR. I don't know whether to laugh or cry but the events would sure keep you awake...
If you are game enough, do test with something small and harmless. But perhaps at a time when you can be in a connection with her to save her day, if needed.

In general, you could debate whether she's relying on you to rescue her and consequently deactivates that part of her awareness and thinking. If she had to fully look after herself during those connections, perhaps she would pay attention to it differently. But that's an after-dinner talk inside the house.