Forgotten At Check In

[PAXboy]

What is the worst thing you have forgotten? Passport probably? Ticket (in the old days) Cash? Lock the front door?

I'm not sure which is worst for me but I recall an amusing one. From Dec 2000 to June 2001, I was on a project in EDI that took me LTN~EDI~LTN on U2 most weeks, staying away for three or four nights. One Sunday evening, I got to LTN promptly and parked in the old mid-term park and took the bus. After clearing check in and my case, I realised I had forgotten the power unit for my laptop. Alternative power units were not readily available, Telecomms consultant turning up without functioning laptop is not good. I looked at my watch ... I got back to the car, 20 minute drive home then back and got through security in good time!

[Asturias56]

I know someone who forgot a child.................. they were through security when they were approached by a large policeman who asked if "this" was their's?

[S.o.S.]

Ouch, that's a classic. In the early 1990s, my partner was due to attend a conference in India but the travel agent had failed to mention that she needed a Visa! It was also before the Net made finding out these things easy. So, she returned home from LHR! She was not that disappointed as she had not really wanted to go and was glad of the excuse. It was in the days when you get a refund!

[Kiltrash]

My footballing buddy and I were on the v. Early Ryanair flight Stansted to Estonia. At Airport and check in, Passport please. I had mine mate only could produce his photocopy kept securly in his sporran. That's no good said the desk staff. .. he had left his passport on the scanner at home and only brought his copy. Frantic call to his home and SWMBO was not impressed at silly o'clock to get in her car and hot foot it to the airport. Long story short I went on our flight, he bought a seat on the afternoon flight, same plane no refund for the unused sector. I shacked up at Estonia Airport bar and waited etc till he arrived.
Next day got to the ground for the game and that was the one where the ko time was changed due to the floodlights not being up to UEFA standard and the Home team refused to play and the game was postponed. .. so lodsa cash later and no game we trooped off to the bars in town and home.

[treadigraph]

My sister didn't forget her passport when she checked in at Heathrow to visit my brother in Annecy a decade or two back. She explained to the BA desk staff that she didn't need it as she was flying to France which is in the EU which has abolished all internal border checks. "You still need your passport when in France" said the agent "and in any case you are flying to Geneva which is in Switzerland which isn't in the EU and hasn't abandoned any border checks". She was so woebegone they transferred her to the next day's flight with no charge...

[Asturias56]

"You still need your passport when in France" said the agent "and in any case you are flying to Geneva which is in Switzerland which isn't in the EU and hasn't abandoned any border checks""

I seem to remember that Geneva Airport is in both France & Switzerland - there's some sort of agreement.............

[Hartington]

In the late '60s my father had deposited his passport at the Polish embassy in London to get a visa. About two weeks later we were due to go to Brussels for a wedding. The embassy wouldn't/couldn't give his passport back. He phoned the passport office who told him to go to a room in Queens building at Heathrow. They typed his name on the front page (the one that starts "Her Britannic Majestey......) out of a passport (just the page) and sent him on his way. When we arrived at Brussels the border officer looked at it, shrugged, and let us through.

About 20 years later my mother was off to New York on her own. She presented her documents at T4 checkin to be told her passport was out of date - she'd picked up the wrong one (despite the cut corner). Luckily she only lived in Chiswick so when she phoned me I told her to get a taxi home, get him to wait and when she got back to T4 to grab the first BA person she saw, explain what happened and hope!. It worked although I'm not sure she enjoyed the experience as they rushed her through all the formalities!

My wife got pickpocketed as we walked out of Milan station. We phoned the embassy and they told us they couldn't do anything until Monday (this was Friday night). The passport was in a wallett that had some personal value so she decided to try and find in by looking in the rubbish bins outside the station. We were rummaging in a bin when an "urchin" came up and asked if we had lost "this" - the wallet. The money was gone but the passport was still there. He got a reward. I'm not sure the embassy believed the story when we told them!

[treadigraph]

I seem to remember that Geneva Airport is in both France & Switzerland - there's some sort of agreement.............
I most certainly was required to show my passport each time I used Geneva Airport though I I don't recall ever being stopped at the border posts on the road down to Annecy. This was during the 1990s...

[BRUpax]

Back in the eighties my wife, kids and myself had already made a few trips to the USA. We were on our way to the airport for another week in Florida when I realised that although my wife's and my visa were valid I had completely forgotten to check if my kids' visas were in order. They weren't. They had expired! Being a Saturday nothing could have been done until the Monday, with perhaps travel on the Tuesday. It just wasn't worth the hassle for the few days which would have remained. I'll skip on the details but there ensued some frantic reorganisation and we ended up making our first visit to the Algarve in Portugal. Loved it so much that it became one of our fairly regular destinations thereafter.

[DaveReidUK]

I seem to remember that Geneva Airport is in both France & Switzerland - there's some sort of agreement.............

I don't know about Geneva, but Basel/Mulhouse airport has separate exits to the two countries.

[occasional]

Flying from Bristol with my other half who does not speak English and had passed through security with two 10 kg cases, when I remembered that I had left my sweater in the hire car. Returned to the hire car and collected my sweater, but when I returned to security they would not let me through because the flight had been cancelled (??).
At the same time there was some kerfuffle with an ambulance so that when I eventually found someone who was authorised to go through security and carry messages, said person was attending to the kerfuffle.
In the end my unfortunate OH was left standing in the airport with 2 cases for about 3 hours wondering whether the ambulance had anything to do with my absence.

[SimonPaddo]

Returning from Amsterdam with a colleague with a model of ESA’s ERS-1 satellite we checked in and proceeded through security. In the departure lounge quick look at each other, where’s the model? I thought you had it he said. I thought you had it I said. Explained to security who escorted us back to check in, just as several armed police were deciding whether to evacuate the terminal. We couldn’t apologise enough and they were gracious if clearly not amused.

[blind pew]

Geneva had exits in both countries along with different car hire fleets.

[PAXboy]

occasional Hopefully, mobile phones have got us around that problem but it must have been very scary for her. I know in busy Terminals my OH has used her phone to find me - sometimes we are only 20m away. Probably not such a problem these days.

I do recall a problem that occured whilst I was in the air, so not a Check In but sort of: In 1987 I was on a biz trip to NYC. I took the daylight over, for a quiet Sunday evening. At check in at the usual hotel my company used - my credit card was refused. It transpired that, whilst in the air, the card company had decided I was too late with a payment and stopped the card. It was in the middle of my divorce and my brain was adrift. Fortunately, I had a second card. In those days, there was no way to make a remote payment. I scraped through the week.

Unfortunately, I had something similar in 2001. I was on a project in EDI (as mentioned at the top of the thread) and my father died suddenly. A couple of weeks later I had a 'discussion' with another card company as to why I had forgotten to make the payment. They were not interested. So I cancelled that card.

[TLDNMCL]

By my own admission, I am pretty slapdash in many areas of my life, but international travel is the one area in which I am really meticulous.
I have never forgotten anything at check in, but I did once, and once only forget something at security checkout!
If you have you have ever been to HCMC (Saigon), it's not uncommon to have to go through a security scan upon arrival,
I never let vital stuff leave my person when travelling, so passport, cards, travel docs and keys live in a body belt. This also has to be removed and put through the scanner, as well as your bags.
Through I went, collected my bags, and went to the arrivals area to organise myself. I intended to take a taxi to the hotel, so went to pull out my booking form to show the driver the address - no body belt. Talk about blood running cold!
Ran back to security, and there it was lying on a table at the end of the scanner. Never again.

[Hartington]

I once looked for the exit to France at Geneva. It wasn't very obvious. Once I knew it existed I looked at hiring a car there instead of Switzerland - wasn't worth it and, as Treadigraph says I simply sailed through the border posts.

[pax britanica]

Happened to me twice

Once in Melbourne flying to Tazzie. Changed some money into AUD at a small kiosk with flustered clerk , trying to serve two people at same time she gave us back wrong passports. Flights elft at simialr times but virtually opposite ends of Airport , mine domestic other guy international.

When i explained my suspicions the excellent gate staff rang the currency kiosk who gave them details of the other party -we were ona 717 they were on a 747 so much harder to find the other guy in time. However Qantas accepted my BA Gold Card as ID -to my surpiose and said they would not let the other guys flight leave until they checked everyone. They found him and couriered my passport down to Tazzie. Couldn't ask more than that -or could I.

Some years earlier when I lived in Bermuda I often had to do a day trip to NYC on business. 0700 departure out and 1900 departure back from JFK. Early check in and with Bermudas one car one family rule a long early morning bike (90cc Yamaha!!) ride from my home to Kindley Field young children so a bit of muddle chaos at home at 0500. No passport check at check in since US immigration pre clearance was right behind the desks. Hand in pocket no passport. No chance of getting home and back in time and wasn't a meeting I wanted to miss. However the previous weekend I had played golf with a police sergeant (special branch as far as Bermuda had one) friend and his buddy who was supervisor of Immigration and customs at Bermuda airport. ( i think that was pretty good duty in US immigration service)

So I ask the stern faced lady in her booth if Mr So and so was around and she took a little persuading but she sent a colleague to find out if he was on duty and thankfully he was. I explained the situation and he says no problem wait here. Comes back with an envelope and says open that. Inside all nicely typed is a formal letter explaining (massive exaggeration) that my visit is of significant importance to USA Bermuda relations and I had mislaid my passport but that he was able to vouch for me and requested that I was 'accorded every facility' . And indeed I was very much the VIP when I got back to JFK that evening.

So, ive done it twice- its a horrible panic inducing feeling and I know I have been incredibly lucky on both occasions so I really triple check everything whenever I go anywhere near an airport , Both incidents pre 9-11 and I am pretty sure the same wouldn't be allowed happen today

[davidjpowell]

More travel than flying

Twice forgotten laptop charger. Now carry a travel one in my backpack

Once, had a nice hotel with hanging space hidden behind bed. I traveled from Limerick to Belfast before realising that I had forgotten to pick up a week's worth of clothes. They were very good at posing them back. I went shopping in Belfast.

The hire car in Dublin that froze my phone. Had to find an apple shop as I could not google how to do a hard reset.

The Mercedes B class hire car in Aberdeen that had a USB 3 socket. Not convenient. Oh and it had lane assist which would try and throw you off the road if you cut the centre line on a corner..

[DaveReidUK]

Oh and it had lane assist which would try and throw you off the road if you cut the centre line on a corner..

One can but hope that they eventually fit that to all cars ...

[25F]

Gatwick to Barcelona about 13 years ago. Me, the not-yet-ex, a toddler and a baby. When we arrived at security I was for some reason carrying the n-y-e's backpack. When we got to the aircraft door I realised that we'd left it at security. (Because I had checked that I had *my* stuff and the *kids'* stuff). I hurried back there to see it on the floor with the security bods. Pointed at it and asked to retrieve it. Security bod then picked it up and plonked it on a desk and slowly and carefully started unpacking it - small cuddly toy, packet of biscuits, "my first words" book, etc. I pointed out that it had already been through security and if I waited any longer I'd miss the flight. I was a bit frantic. "You're not helping yourself, sir" was the response. I asked that if I left without it would it go to lost property? "No guarantee" was the helpful answer. I gave up and hared back to the gate. (If you really want people to stop and stare at you, running full-pelt through an airport is as good a way as any).
A few days later a relative who lived not far away *was* able to retrieve it from lost property - so no loss in the end, apart from my respect for Gatwick security personnel.

(BTW - pprune's spell-check seems to be American? Prefers "realized" over "realised").

[deja vu]

My story is not so much about what is forgotten at check in but rather at checkout.

Rostered , early 1990's, to return a 737-200 back to the owner, a leasing company, from Hong Kong to Oklahoma City via the long way round. After 4 great days, 3 overnights we arrived at OKC Will Rodgers, having come from last stop Sept Iles, Quebec, 2 Aussie pilots and one Brit riding engineer, we were directed by ATC to the ILFC aprons and hangars for parking. We were then required to pack up all company documents on the aircraft for shipment back to HKG before leaving, including Jepp charts, pax briefing cards, QRH, checklists, tech log, etc etc. This took awhile and when completed handed these boxes to ILFC for shipment back to the company. We then piled into a Cadillac and driven off the airport through a back gate and to a nearby hotel.

Next morning we got a call from ILFC to say the US immigration were looking for us and we needed to appear pronto at their offices in downtown OKC. We had completely forgotten to clear Customs and immigration and now there was an APB out. Duly arriving at the very crowded immigration office we were told to take a number and wait to be called, several attempts were made to tell the lady at the enquiry desk about our case but she insisted we take a number and wait. 2 hours later we were called and it was a comedy scene. They were terrific about it and all had a good laugh.

I wouldn't want to do it in this day and age.

[Asturias56]

"BTW - PPRuNe's spell-check seems to be American? Prefers "realized" over "realised")."

It belongs to a US company who sell advertising - they have dozens of similar websites - hence the spell checker and the occasional strange change in the site ....... technically & financially its run by the company but day to day by the Mods (who I understand are unpaid volunteers) - who occasionally admit they have limited influence over the techies

[S.o.S.]

Thank you Asturias56, saves me the trouble of saying that.

[25F]

"BTW - PPRuNe's spell-check seems to be American? Prefers "realized" over "realised")."

It belongs to a US company who sell advertising - they have dozens of similar websites - hence the spell checker and the occasional strange change in the site ....... technically & financially its run by the company but day to day by the Mods (who I understand are unpaid volunteers) - who occasionally admit they have limited influence over the techies

Oh I see. Back when I joined it was definitely UK-centric.

Please don't blame the techies - I am one. Usually it's management responsible for idiocy. Ever got annoyed with "enter bank number without spaces"? Any quarter-decent programmer knows it's one line of code to remove non-numeric characters from whatever is entered and without any loss of security. In other words if I enter my bank sort code as " (12+ 34=#56!)" it's equivalent to 123456 (or 12-34-56 if you prefer). But management somehow think that if it is more difficult for a human to enter correctly then it's more difficult for an automated script.

[S.o.S.]

Agreed! We could start a thread about modern websites and what they do/don't expect. All I'll say is, there used to be a well known airline that if you put in the three character IATA code of a place they served directly on their own metal - it said 'Huh?' You had to put in the whole name of the destination - correctly.

This wonderful PPRuNe website, internationally recognised as a collection of high level information and accurate comment, was founded by a British airline captain (who still visits these forums now and then) but it is now owned by an American company called IB Internet Brands. You can follow the links at the bottom of this page.

[DP.]

I don't know about Geneva, but Basel/Mulhouse airport has separate exits to the two countries.

Indeed - along with the customs road that begins around 100m into Swiss territory and has no exits between there and the airport. I haven't been through the 'French side' of Geneva but I believe the set-up is similar, with a road leaving the airport and joining the French network just beyond the customs checkpoint.