Travel blunder
Went on another trip last week. Flight attendant came to my seat and informed that my gate was H2. Got off the plane and verified it was H2. Have an hour to my next flight. Got Starbucks coffee and parked at my gate H2 - strange, there is no one here. Double-checked the departures screen and I am at the right gate. Watched some TV, looked over my meeting materials and people start to show up at the gate. When they started boarding, I noticed that it was going to Louisville, KY.
AAAHHHH!!! I was mortified! Rechecked my boarding pass and saw that I was 15 min past my connecting flight. 3 standbys later, I managed to get on the 3rd flight out to Dallas and was 45 min late to my meeting which I was hosting. 2 VPs, 4 Directors, 5 Managers and 4 consultant partners stared at me as I calmly sit myself at the front of the conference table. My boss, one of the VPs, made eye contact with me and smiled. After the meeting, I went to everyone in the room and apologized. That's the only sensible thing I can do since this workshop will go on for another 4 days!
Later, in my boss' office, as he looked over his work ...
Boss: "What the hell do you mean you missed the connecting flight? VERY BAD."
Me: "It's a long story. I am mortified."
*** Silence ***
B: "If that's the worst thing you've ever done, that's ok." ** smile **
Me: "Yes but this is inexcusable."
B: *** smile *** "Enough said"
In case you were wondering how the week went...productive and "GREAT WORK" from all around! :-)
....
On my flight home, I rechecked my connecting gate and tried to make sense how the blunder happened. This time I have 1.5 hrs to my final connecting flight. I parked and cleaned up some emails. Then, I noticed that there are way too many people at this gate. Checked my time, walked over to the screen and noticed that the gate changed! I don't recall hearing a gate change. That's how it happened.
Lessons learned
1. If you are flying into Chicago on American Airlines, triple check your connecting gate as it WILL change. Don't count on the overhead announcements as you an bearly hear all of them - it's a very BUSY airport and you can easily tune out the announcements as background music.
2. Never give up, remain calm and stay focus on the end goal.
AAAHHHH!!! I was mortified! Rechecked my boarding pass and saw that I was 15 min past my connecting flight. 3 standbys later, I managed to get on the 3rd flight out to Dallas and was 45 min late to my meeting which I was hosting. 2 VPs, 4 Directors, 5 Managers and 4 consultant partners stared at me as I calmly sit myself at the front of the conference table. My boss, one of the VPs, made eye contact with me and smiled. After the meeting, I went to everyone in the room and apologized. That's the only sensible thing I can do since this workshop will go on for another 4 days!
Later, in my boss' office, as he looked over his work ...
Boss: "What the hell do you mean you missed the connecting flight? VERY BAD."
Me: "It's a long story. I am mortified."
*** Silence ***
B: "If that's the worst thing you've ever done, that's ok." ** smile **
Me: "Yes but this is inexcusable."
B: *** smile *** "Enough said"
In case you were wondering how the week went...productive and "GREAT WORK" from all around! :-)
....
On my flight home, I rechecked my connecting gate and tried to make sense how the blunder happened. This time I have 1.5 hrs to my final connecting flight. I parked and cleaned up some emails. Then, I noticed that there are way too many people at this gate. Checked my time, walked over to the screen and noticed that the gate changed! I don't recall hearing a gate change. That's how it happened.
Lessons learned
1. If you are flying into Chicago on American Airlines, triple check your connecting gate as it WILL change. Don't count on the overhead announcements as you an bearly hear all of them - it's a very BUSY airport and you can easily tune out the announcements as background music.
2. Never give up, remain calm and stay focus on the end goal.
posted by C.P. at 8:37 AM
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