Confused person at T5A
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2021
Programs: Ba Exec club
Posts: 31
Confused person at T5A
Boarding a flight to Jersey at A15, I was at the gate, had just had my boarding card checked and was walking towards the jetway when someone waiting at the adjacent gate asked me in accented but fluent English if I was going to Jersey and I confirmed I was. 'Newark in Jersey?' he asked, 'no Jersey channel Islands'. 'New Jersey?' he persisted, 'no just Jersey'. 'Jersey USA?' 'No, just jersey, Old Jersey'. I would have held the queue up if I'd explained any further not that I could make it any clearer whatever I said.
If he'd been heading for Newark I could understand him being concerned he was at the wrong gate. But he was at an A gate himself, so why would he care? He wasn't making conversation out of curiosity he was talking as though he needed to know and anyway I was was walking past him not just standing about. Some kind of intentional distraction? but from what?
If he'd been heading for Newark I could understand him being concerned he was at the wrong gate. But he was at an A gate himself, so why would he care? He wasn't making conversation out of curiosity he was talking as though he needed to know and anyway I was was walking past him not just standing about. Some kind of intentional distraction? but from what?
#2
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Lisboa
Programs: BAEC Gold, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, IHG Spire, Easyjet Flight Club
Posts: 454
Perhaps they booked to Jersey, CI instead of New Jersey by mistake ?
Budapest instead of Bucharest, anyone ?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/t...t-booking.html
Budapest instead of Bucharest, anyone ?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/t...t-booking.html
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA Gold, SQ Gold, KQ Platinum, IHG Diamond Ambassador, Hilton Gold, Marriott Silver, Accor Silver
Posts: 16,382
I suspect he was travelling to EWR, but had followed the gate number for your flight to JER.
#6
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 64,150
I've told this anecdote before, but I was once on an airside bus from T5 to T3 and I noticed the person near me had a boarding pass for a domestic flight from gate 3. I managed to get Special Services to ferry them to the right place.
#7
Moderator: British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: TPA/ABZ
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold. GGL/CCR.
Posts: 13,303
Many years ago, I was on the North - South transit in LGW and a lady asked me whether we were on the train to Brighton. It wasn't clear how long she had been going between North and South but we managed to get her to the railway station.
#8
Join Date: Oct 2005
Programs: BA GGL & GfL, AA LTP, Marriott (sigh) Ambassador, Hilton Diamond, Accor Gold, Avis Preferred
Posts: 3,270
#9
Airports are just a massive stress situation anyway for most people, so you can't be surprised by people occassionally going to the wrong continent or indeed sitting in the wrong (my) seat. Airport staff have seen every one of these mess ups before multiple times and will do the best they can to sort it no matter how lame brained you have been. Like I said, there but for...
#11
Join Date: Sep 2019
Posts: 273
#13
Join Date: Feb 2016
Programs: BAEC GGL
Posts: 856
A long while ago (this was I think the days of paper tickets) I booked (or so I had thought) SFO->PDX; PDX->JFK->LHR. However, the agent (VS I think) had booked SFO->PDX; PWM->JFK->LHR (that's Portland Maine, not Portland Oregon). I turned up at PDX and found the airline I'd been booked on didn't even fly from the airport. They acknowledged it was their fault but I needed to pay the fare difference (I should have pushed on that one I think, but I've learnt a lot in 20+ years), and I ended up on a later TATL back.
#14
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Aberdeenshire
Programs: BA Exec Silver, Aeroplan, Hilton Honors Gold
Posts: 1,131
#15
The only proper mess up I've done like this was booking a hotel on the east coast of the US in the wrong town with the same name. (In my defense they were only about 50km from each other)
When I got to the hotel and we figured out what had happened they were so used to it that my reservation was changed in a few seconds.
Last edited by DeathSlam; May 5, 2024 at 2:40 pm