Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

I had an interesting situation come up at the airport the other day and so I was curious what others might do in a similar situation. I’ve actually seen this come up a few times, and while I think it’s going to depend a lot on a variety of factors, I thought that it was an interesting thought experiment while I waited for my connecting flight. I actually had a similar story in my “posts to write” folder from a View from the Wing article from awhile ago, where he asked When Family Members Get Held Up At The Airport, Should You Board And Travel Without Them? which was a slightly different story and situation.

Boarding Door Closing In Boston

In my situation, I was sitting at my boarding gate, waiting for a flight from Boston to New York LaGuardia (LGA). I had about an hour to kill and no (good) access to an airport lounge, so I was just relaxing at the gate. Then I noticed a commotion at the next gate over. There was an American Airlines flight to Miami that was nearly completely boarded, and a family that had just made it to the gate. It appeared to me to be a woman with a child around 7 years old and an older woman. The woman was on the phone, and it appeared that she was waiting for her husband who was not yet at the gate. The gate agent was asking where he was, and she was saying that he was “right there”.

I will say that the gate agent was INCREDIBLY patient with her, but also trying to tell her that the door was closing and she needed to either go down the jet bridge RIGHT NOW or that none of them were getting on the plane at all. And he was saying that he could get her husband (?) on the next flight but that he didn’t have room to get all 4 of them on the next flight to Miami. She kept trying to get him to wait, explaining that her husband was “right there”, but it became clear that he was not, in fact, right there. Eventually, after WAY longer than I probably would have waited, they shut the door and the 3 of them did in fact get on the flight. It was probably 10 or 15 minutes later that I saw the gate agent talking to the gentleman who eventually showed up and I assume they put him on the next flight to Miami.

A Few Times In My Life When I’ve Been Late To The Gate

I thought of a few times in my life when I’ve been in at least a somewhat similar situation. There was the one and only time I’ve heard my name over the loudspeaker (“Miller – Party of 2 – Please Make Your Way to Gate 9“) where I ran through the airport and had to tell the gate agent that my traveling companion was “right behind me”, though in this case, he actually WAS right behind me (or at least closer than this guy was). In that case in Kauai we did end up both making it onto our connecting flight, which was a good thing because we had a long day of connecting flights that would have really gotten thrown off if we had missed that flight.

There was another time when we had a flight from Cincinnati to Houston where we got held up in the economy parking lot

(SEE ALSO: I almost missed my flight (again))

In that case, I ran through the airport (leaving my wife behind) to get to the gate agent to let them know that we were there. In that case, they weren’t quite closing the door yet, and by the time she got to the gate, there was plenty of time for us both to get onto the plane.

The Bottom Line – Should You Leave Family Members At The Airport If They’re Late?

So what would you do? Would you leave your family members at the airport if they’re late? Of course the situation is going to depend drastically depending on the overall situation. In the situation in the VFTW article I linked where the wife ran off to get Starbucks, I think it’s clear that the husband was right to get on the plane and leave her behind. And even in the story I saw in person, I think that the family made the right call to board the plane rather than ALL get stuck at the airport. On the other hand, when our family got caught up in the Delta Crowdstrike meltdown, we made the decision that we were either all going to go to California or all stay together, rather than leave some of us behind.

What would you do? Would you leave your family member behind at the airport? Leave your thoughts in the comments below


This site is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as thepointsguy.com. This may impact how and where links appear on this site. Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers and that compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. Any opinions expressed in this post are my own, and have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by my advertising partners and I do not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers and other offers and benefits listed on this page. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more. Other links on this page may also pay me a commission - as always, thanks for your support if you use them

User Generated Content Disclosure: Points With a Crew encourages constructive discussions, comments, and questions. Responses are not provided by or commissioned by any bank advertisers. These responses have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the responsibility of the bank advertiser to respond to comments.

BoardingArea