Missed Flight to Lisbon: Almost!

With gazillion miles under my belt, I would never have thought that I could make such a stupid mistake.

We had booked the train journey to the airport and looking at the various arrival time at the airport, we chose one that left at 6.40am and got into Fiumicino at 7.19am.  The flight leaves at 8.55am and as we only had hand carry and already checked in online, this gives us more than an hour to get through security and to the gates.  Plenty of time right?

That’s a given provided we had taken the right train.  For whatever reason, I was focused on the arrival time of the train into Fiumicino at 7.19am and when we were setting the alarm for that morning, I told Luca to set it for 6am and we would leave the house by 7am.

(Note: We didn’t take the Leonardo Express which is direct from Termini to Fiumicino as we felt it would have taken the same amount of time since we would also need to get to Termini)

Getting to the train station, we checked the train departure screens and didn’t see any train for Fiumicino at 7.19am but rather there was one at 7.25am. At that time, it still hadn’t hit us as to the gravity of our situation.

Boarding the 7.25am train we setoff and at one point we even thought we were on the wrong train. However, at the next train stop that fear was unfounded.

Seeing that there were many stops on the route, we realized that it was already 7.45am and the train was still within Rome! Luca took out the train tickets to double check the times and it was then that it hit us.  With a sense of panic, we realized our mistake and the likely possibility that we wouldn’t make our flight.

What seemed like ages, we finally pulled into Fiumicino at 8.05am and made a dash to the assigned terminal. We literary ran from the train station to the security gates only to be disillusioned by the long line there.

Then it really struck me that this could be the first time I miss a flight!

With not much alternative, the only way to make the flight was if we jumped the queue. I am not one to cut lines but this was an emergency!

I kindly explained our dilemma to the person in front of us and asked if we could go ahead of them. They willing allowed us to do so and I had do this with rest of the people who were ahead of us! (It took a while and most were cooperative – I am so grateful for those understanding passengers who let us through!).

When we got to the front of the queue, the security personnel checked our boarding passes and as he saw we were headed to Lisbon, he stopped everyone else who already had their belongings in the trays and had us go through the security check first.

It wasn’t easy to rush through security as we had to also take off our jackets and shoes. When we got through, the security personnel said “Run”.  We ran alright but we couldn’t find any information screen to find our gate.

As we had to a make a choice between going left or right, fortunately Luca went left and after passing two other gates, we by chance saw the one for Lisbon!

It was only when we got on the bus to transport us to the airplane that we breath a sigh of relief. Relief from the run (heck of a workout!)and the fear of not making it to Lisbon. That would have been a real tragedy as we already had everything planned down to the minute.

You have to idea how relieved I was to be on this flight to Lisbon!

I know some people who intentionally get to the airport just in time so as to not waste time waiting at the airport but they have missed their flights more than once. I, for one, prefer getting to the airport in ample time to ensure I make my flights.

The lesson to be learnt from this experience is that regardless of how often you have traveled, check, recheck and triple check your travel arrangements to avoid mishaps like this. For me, this is definitely one experience I would never forget and hopefully, never occurs again.

Have you ever cut it close or missed your flight?