And the clue was in the last sentence, ‘seasoned traveller’. So seasoned I can’t believe how stupid I was…

I was due to fly on the 6.40 am ‘Jet 2’ service from Newcastle to London Gatwick. I purchased my ticket online, even paid the extra £15 to pre select my seat, checked in online and printed my boarding card at home. Here’s a question, it may sound like a trick question – you decide.

If you printed a boarding card (pic attached) for a flight that flew at 6.40 am and the boarding card had printed on it ‘Boarding Time 0615’ what time do think the flight would be boarding? Now the ‘seasoned travellers’ amongst you would think boarding would START at 6.15 am but no in the world of Jet 2 boarding CLOSED at 6.15 – Brilliant!

Naturally being stupid I turned up at 6.19 and expecting to board the plane only to be told the doors had just been shut and I’d missed it! Of course I gave it my best shot; I protested, begged and even managed to squeeze out a tear. So in my state of high anxiety you would think the staff at the airport would want to help. But no, nothing can quite prepare your for the attitude of the ‘I’m wearing a uniform so I’m more important than you’ ground crew as they repeat over and over that you have missed the flight and there is nothing they can do. My first time ever.

So what next? Well obviously you go to the Jet 2 Customer Service Desk who delight in telling you (before you have even finished explaining your plight) that, ‘everyone else managed to catch the plane’. I, of course, already knew that as I watched them peering at me from the window of Gate 6.

My next action is a letter is to Jet 2 Customer Service at the PO Box address given to me by the ‘Customer Service Representative’. Unfortunately she isn’t entitled to do anything other than sell tickets and hand out cards with the customer service address on it.

I’m writing this sat in the BA lounge as I am now booked on to a Heathrow flight which leaves in two hours and I’m going to be an hour late for an important appointment. I’ve checked with BA and they assure me that as my boarding card says GATE CLOSES (as does Easy Jet, FlyBe, KLM and all the other airlines I checked before realising I was being obsessive) then that will be the time it closes. Boarding time will be around 20 minutes earlier. I hope I make it!

So as my dad would say, ‘What have you learned?’  Well I’ve learned that:

• The people who miss flights on those airline programmes have probably got a pretty good reason (paradigm shift 1)
  
• Give a person a uniform and they think they are important – but hey if it makes them happy to feel important then why not (paradigm shift 2)
  
• BA was actually very good! (paradigm shift 3)

You don’t realise how important some things (most things) are until you miss them.

Be Brilliant!

Michael