Missed flight due to National Express incompetence

J_B

Pollycat wrote: »

We live almost 200 miles from LGW and when we fly from there we allow plenty of time to drive down the M1 and round the M5.

Interesting route

Is there a 2 missing perhaps??? :rotfl:

McKneff

The driver is supposed to count passengers after stopping and before departing.


You would be the first one to complain if you bf had got off the bus for a toilet stop or a quick ciggie, and then watching the bus pull away, because the driver had not counted and checked he had the correct amount of passengers.

Pollycat

J_B wrote: »

Interesting route

Is there a 2 missing perhaps??? :rotfl:

There is most definitely a '2' missing.

We go via the M21 and then down the M5. :rotfl:

Whoops!

SW17

Pollycat wrote: »

But unless you live next door to the airport and can walk from your front door to Departures , surely you need to factor in the possibility that you may have some sort of travel disruption.

We live almost 200 miles from LGW and when we fly from there we allow plenty of time to drive down the M1 and round the M5.
This means that if we get a trouble-free run, we may be at the airport 4 or more hours before our flight departs.
Much less stressful (imho) kicking your heels in Departures or Duty Free shops than sat in a traffic jam panicking about missing your flight.

That's for your situation, and may be advisable with such a distance, but Luton isn't 200 miles from London (at least not geographically).

Pollycat wrote: »

Maybe one wouldn't generally expect delays at that time in the morning but there's nothing to say a lorry won't shed its load and block the whole of the M1 5 minutes before your National Express coach gets to that point - regardless of what time of day it is.

Sure, but in the interest of staying OT, that didn't happen in this case. Nobody on this thread (including me) knows for sure why the delay occurred, it could as easily have been the driver's fault as any other reason (and traffic is pretty unlikely at that time, neither was it mentioned).

Your view isn't right or wrong, and neither is anyone else's. I travel to airports for flights over 50 times a year, I never aim to be there more than 2 hours prior. I take reasonable precautions but am not going to spend unnecessary hours in airports. I'm not going to take every journey on the basis that the motorway will be closed, and try not to judge others on whether they do or don't do the same as me.

I still wonder what the actual cause of the delay was, if it wasn't traffic-related. Either way, as I mentioned in post 4, it's highly unlikely any claim would be successful unless it could be proved the driver was entirely negligent (and even then probably wouldn't be worth it).

zagfles

SW17 wrote: »

That's for your situation, and may be advisable with such a distance, but Luton isn't 200 miles from London (at least not geographically).



Sure, but in the interest of staying OT, that didn't happen in this case. Nobody on this thread (including me) knows for sure why the delay occurred, it could as easily have been the driver's fault as any other reason (and traffic is pretty unlikely at that time, neither was it mentioned).

Your view isn't right or wrong, and neither is anyone else's. I travel to airports for flights over 50 times a year, I never aim to be there more than 2 hours prior. I take reasonable precautions but am not going to spend unnecessary hours in airports. I'm not going to take every journey on the basis that the motorway will be closed, and try not to judge others on whether they do or don't do the same as me.

Same here. Never missed a flight in my life. One day I'm sure it'll happen, and it'll cost me a few quid which I might get back on insurance or might not, but over my lifetime it'll have saved me hundreds of hours hanging about at airports so it will be money well spent.

Besides, as with the recent M25 closure thread, even someone who was planning to arrive 5 hours before the flight would have missed it

I still wonder what the actual cause of the delay was, if it wasn't traffic-related. Either way, as I mentioned in post 4, it's highly unlikely any claim would be successful unless it could be proved the driver was entirely negligent (and even then probably wouldn't be worth it).

It's always worth trying, saw another thread where someone missed a train they'd got a cheap advance ticket for and they were refunded in full by the train company even though it wasn't their fault!

Pollycat

zagfles wrote: »

Besides, as with the recent M25 closure thread, even someone who was planning to arrive 5 hours before the flight would have missed it

Not necessarily.

With all that extra time, it may have been possible to find an alternative route away from the M25 and still arrive in time for a flight.

Allowing the minimum of time would almost certainly have resulted in a missed flight.

zagfles

Pollycat wrote: »

Not necessarily.

With all that extra time, it may have been possible to find an alternative route away from the M25 and still arrive in time for a flight.

Allowing the minimum of time would almost certainly have resulted in a missed flight.

Or it could work the other way round! Someone leaving 4 hours contingency might leave before any problem on the motorway became apparent, and end up getting stuck between junctions unable to do anything.

Someone leaving 1 hour's contingency may leave after the problem became apparent and so could take an alternative route/public transport! ;)

Pollycat

zagfles wrote: »

Or it could work the other way round! Someone leaving 4 hours contingency might leave before any problem on the motorway became apparent, and end up getting stuck between junctions unable to do anything.

Someone leaving 1 hour's contingency may leave after the problem became apparent and so could take an alternative route/public transport! ;)

You stated categorically:

zagfles wrote: »

Besides, as with the recent M25 closure thread, even someone who was planning to arrive 5 hours before the flight would have missed it

That's patently not true.
You do not know that for sure.

zagfles

Pollycat wrote: »

You stated categorically:

That's patently not true.
You do not know that for sure.

So it could be true then!

Pollycat

zagfles wrote: »

So it could be true then!

It could also be untrue.

zagfles wrote: »

Besides, as with the recent M25 closure thread, even someone who was planning to arrive 5 hours before the flight would have missed it

If your post had stated "Besides, as with the recent M25 closure thread, even someone who was planning to arrive 5 hours before the flight may have missed it" instead of "would have missed it", I would have not disagreed with it.