Yes. I’m an actuary. No one has ever cared exactly what time i show up. In the pandemic, i log on sometime between 8 and 9:15 am. But I’ve always had at least half an hour of leeway.
This doesn’t resonate at all. I hate airports. The whole time I’m there i worry about catching the plane. (And i have come close to missing a flight despite being right there, because i wasn’t paying enough attention.) I intentionally spend as little time as possible in airports, and work hard to be approximately “on time” to avoid being in the airport longer than i need to.
That sure sounds like you are creating your own problems. You worry about missing a flight so you leave no wiggle room for any possible delays and end up rushing. Just get there early and there will be no more need to worry about missing it.
Did you miss that i have nearly missed flights because i stopped worrying about it? I was there in plenty of time, and because of that i wasn’t worrying about catching the flight so i didn’t notice it had moved over one gate and had started to board…
It’s only because they made a last call for me and my friends using our names that we noticed. And it was one of them, not me, who noticed.
A good friend DID miss a flight because he had plenty of time and so fell asleep.
No, you have to keep thinking about catching the flight full-time at the airport. I mean, maybe YOU will just notice that the gate moved. If I’m not paying attention full-time, i may not. Airports are inherently stressful.
OK. Thanks.
This, I don’t get at all.
My Wife and I live a solid 2 hours from the airport. Mountain roads, have to cross the continental divide twice to get there. A lot can happen on that drive. Once we are at the airport, we can relax 'cause we aren’t going to miss our flight.
I don’t get it either. The only time I ever missed a flight was when I left three hours before the flight for an airport an hour away from where I was. Three hours should have been plenty of time to get to the airport, drop off the rental car and get through security - and it would have been if it hadn’t been for the accident that closed the highway and turned a hour-long drive into 2.5 hours. And when I get to the airport an hour or two early, I don’t have to think full-time about missing my flight nor do I depend on just noticing that the gate has moved - I’m in the gate area at least 30 minutes before boarding starts and if they changed the gate that late, there would be an announcement.
I’ve learned (the hard way) to get there early, AND get a seat close to the gate with a view of that podium. And stay awake…
Oh, and I got called by name once, at O’Hare. I was indignant: “Why did you call my name? The flight doesn’t leave for forty-five minutes.” “But, sir, we want to make sure everyone’s on board half an hour earlier.” “But it’s… never mind. I’ll go get crammed in and breathe warm airplane air… sigh…”
I’ve never run into that “Everyone has to board forty-five minutes early” before or since.
Yeah, I’m definitely of this type. I’m positively weird because I like hanging out at airports and always try to get there at least an hour and a half before the scheduled departure time. It’s a time where I can mentally destress and be in this “limbo” zone, existing in a place that is neither here nor there. It’s a time I look forward to. I love walking around, checking the various stores, sitting at the bar, sometimes getting into random conversations with fellow travelers. I’ve never had an issue with missing a flight because I was too early because I check the boards and the gate intermittently to make sure I’m at the right place and that the flight hasn’t been delayed.
My wife, on the other hand, generally likes to get there much closer to departure time but, with a couple of kids now, we both actually get there early enough that we’re both happy with the balance.
Sorry, I’m with everyone else in thinking how weird this is. Once you are at your gate, you’re good to go. And I don’t understand why the solution to “I get stressed at the airport because I worry about catching a flight” is to get there at the last possible minute so that you are always rushing and stressed. Makes no sense.
Doesn’t everyone have the airline ap on their phone at this point? If there’s a gate change or a delay, I get a text and an alert on the ap.
As long as I’m moving, I’m not stressed, or, at least, I’m doing something about it, so i feel comfortable. But just waiting at the airport i feel anxious. I’m probably a little agoraphobic. Too many people. Also, airports smell nasty. (Except the one in Honolulu, which is open to outdoor air.) And there are creepy security guards wandering around, and I’m irrationally afraid they will hassle me. Getting to my gate half an hour before boarding is perfect. Not so long that i will lose track, but enough time that i don’t need to run, and i can stop and grab a sandwich if i want to.
But as mentioned above, once you are at your gate you are NOT good to go. In my experience, gate changes are fairly common, and then you have to gather all your crap and find the new gate.
I used to get stressed out by the need to make a flight on time, until I realized the answer to “What the hell am I doing with the time I spend cutting it close?” was “Nothing very important.” Instead of figuring out that instead of cutting it close, and getting to the gate in the minimum time required by the airline (and getting stressed at every red light on my cab ride to the airport), I could get there HOURS early with zero stress, and I could read my book or draft a memo to a colleague or do ANY of the time-consuming things I would have done at home sitting there at the appropriate gate, the whole thing became stress-free.
I feel ya. I don’t find airports relaxing either, although I think my overall anxiety level is probably lower than yours. I went to Europe on a school trip; they had us get to the airport several hours early, which makes sense for traveling with a couple dozen teenagers. But I still remember how unpleasant that was. I do feel a slight decrease of tension with each step completed-- get to the airport, check in, get through security, board the plane–as it means fewer things can go wrong now. But you’re quite right that things can still go wrong once you’re at the gate, and you can’t just relax and tune out completely. I think in a sense this whole thread has been people who can accomplish something with a minimal level of attentiveness that doesn’t feel effortful to them, asking why to those who find it much more difficult, and just not being able to grasp that they’re different.
Not really. Those who accomplish the goal of being on time simply put in the attention and effort in order to accomplish that.
I don’t have a clock in my brain, I actually have to look at a clock in order to tell what time it is. I have other things that I have to do that I need to finish or postpone in order to meet at an agreed upon time. It’s really no different. It’s just that I choose to make that effort, rather than make people wait on me.
Others have different priorities, and find putting the dishes away to be a better use of their time than showing up when they said that they would.
Case in point.
This is all well trodden earth in this very thread. Scroll up a few hundred posts. No one is going to convince anyone else.
Interesting that I disagreed with you, but you took it as agreement.
It is difficult to show up on time, to fulfill obligations freely entered. But I do make that effort. And if something comes up that will put me behind, I let those who would be waiting on me know.
I just think that to do so otherwise is pretty rude, and I don’t like to be rude. Others don’t think that making people wait on them is rude, and that instead, expecting people to follow through on what they said that they would do are the rude ones. I think that’s the real disconnect here.
I’m with you, puzzlegal.
I HATEHATEHATEHATE airports, and just thinking about them raises my heartrate. Packing to get there, driving to get there, negotiating all the hurdles to get to your gate, and then – wait tensely, checking your watch and the gate number over and over to make sure it hasn’t changed. How delightful.
Oh, I get there in plenty of time all right, because cutting it close would move me into the almost-hysterical category.
Pretty much everyone who is on the “being on time is a choice” side of this discussion completely ignores the several people who have told them that getting to places on time is extremely stressful to them, for sundry reasons. When this is the case, the person is not making a choice to just plan a bit ahead and summon a little discipline, but the choice to engage in a painful process in order to not disappoint others. The PAIN part is what is being conveniently ignored here.
That is the reason that those particular people can get somewhere on time if they absolutely have to. It isn’t proof that they “can if they want to”, but in fact the opposite. They force themselves through the stress and anxiety of it because it is important. When it doesn’t seem so important, they opt for the less pain approach.
Of course there are selfish people who “just aren’t feeling it” that day. I’m not talking about them. I am simply pointing out that being somewhere on time is not as stress free and simple for some, as the time nazis believe it must be, because it is for them.
I’m not sure what you mean by “time nazi” but I do get to places when I commit to doing so. Always. It isn’t stress free and it isn’t simple. I have to plan ahead and have contigencies in place. I put in the effort because it is worth it to me and, more importantly, I do not not want to break my promise to othersand let them down or put them out.
If you don’t do that then I can only assume you think the amount of effort you have to put in is not worth it. That seems obvious, otherwise you’d do it.
I get that it’s more stressful and more difficult for some people. Those people simply shouldn’t make commitments relating to being on time.
And don’t ever fucking call me any kind of Nazi.