First Flight I Ever Missed: Part One

Below is the story of how I beat the odds and made it home. I have edited the text to make it PG, however you are free to use your imagination. This post was written up some years ago and entered into a “Horror Story” competition, and I won!

I had flown out to London for a midweek getaway. I was due to land at Gatwick, go to Lingfield for a couple days, and then fly back to OAK for work. I’d chosen a happening hotel in Lingfield, near Gatwick but not right next to Gatwick. Everything went great. The flight out was easy, and my stay went smoothly. The night before my flight I ended up staying awake until the kitchen opened at 6:00am. I decided it was time for some breakfast. After enjoying a full English breakfast I was full and now extremely tired. I went back to the room and went to sleep. Thinking I would have a short nap and then catch my early afternoon flight.

This was the life.

Well of course I woke up late – around 11am – for a 12:45flight. I jumped up and called downstairs for a taxi. The taxi took a long while to arrive, and I managed to get to the check in gate just a few minutes after the 60 minute rule. Now the truth of the matter is the 60 minute rule wasn’t new to me, especially with Norwegian.

As a matter of fact, I had sweet talked my way past the 60 minute rule on the flight out of OAK to LGW just a couple days prior.

This time however, I was not as lucky.

The British gal made clear to me that there was nothing her nor her manager could do as the rules state they can’t check me in once there is less than 60 minutes until boarding. I tried my luck and pressed on with my pleas. I was simply told that even though I had no luggage to check, I wouldn’t make it in time. None of my offers were accepted and she seemed to chuckle when I explained I would run to my gate, and that I’m confident I will make it in time. Once again she let me know I just wouldn’t be able to make it in time- per the rules.

Eventually, I accepted defeat. This was the first flight I ever missed and my lucky streak had finally hit a bump. Showing up with less than 60 minutes till boarding meant I wouldn’t make the flight- yet it turned out the plane was delayed for another two hours. So I could have made it with AMPLE time to spare.

I went outside LGW and looked at flights. I did not have a lot of money and had used my check from my minimum wage job to fly over here. Now I needed to buy another flight back… I wasn’t looking forward to shelling out 600 to 700 dollars for a flight. To my surprise, a few days later there was a flight for $200 USD to SFO. The flight was with WOW air. I had never heard of them before, but it was cheap so I jumped on it. I had an extra day or so in London- Gatwick- to enjoy the cloudy weather?!

Things were looking up- at least I convinced myself that.

What could go wrong?