Bizarre reasons why Brits have missed a flight

One in five travellers have missed a flight and it is men who are most likely to fail to catch the plane on time, according to a survey of 1,000 travellers conducted by Skyscanner.

Traffic jams top the list of flight delay excuses, while travellers also admit to some bizarre reasons for missing a flight – one in ten have overslept, 4% got to the airport but on the wrong day, while 1% failed to even turn up to the correct airport in the first place.

Almost a quarter made it through security with time to spare but still failed to board in time: 12% have missed their flight being called, 5% got carried away in the bars and restaurants or lost track of time shopping and 3% of
holidaymakers fail to make the flight after not leaving enough time to get to the departure gate.

Although men are most likely to miss their flight, they are most willing to get creative in order to catch a free transfer to another flight, and are more successful at it than women.

Results show almost half of men will try to charm their way onto the next available flight with an improvised excuse of why they are late, with one in five claiming it worked. This compared to one in three women that try it, with only 14% saying it worked.

Despite the array of nearby airports and great, high-speed connections, one in five Londoners still claim to have missed their flight.

Victoria Bailie at Skyscanner comments, “The sinking feeling of having missed a flight is all too common for a fifth of travellers, with many of those who admit to it, being repeat offenders. It’s particularly interesting to see how many people still manage to miss their flight despite having arrived through to the departure area in plenty of time. Changing flights can be very expensive so it’s important to keep switched on at airports, at least until you’re safely seated on board.”

Reasons given for missing a flight:

1st I got stuck in traffic 21%
2nd I missed the flight being called 12%
3rd I didn’t leave enough time to get to the airport 11%
4th My connecting flight was delayed 11%
5th I overslept 10%
6th I forgot my passport 7%
7th I lost track of time in the shops and bars 5%
8th I misread the time of my flight 5%
9th I went to the wrong terminal 4%
10th I got the dates wrong 4%
11th I didn’t realise the distance to the gate 3%
12th I went to the wrong airport 1%
Other 6%