Tl;dr I forgot my passport to go on a flight to attend my friends' graduation and I realised i forgot my passport when the gate opened. I have now booked the first flight back to my home country but I will still miss my friends' graduation.

I fucked up big time. I had a flight planned for months to attend my friends' graduation in my home country. Everything was set up, dress for the graduation, flight booked, OOO on, taxi booked, friends informed and family ready to pick me up from the airport.

I arrived in the airport 2 hours and a half earlier because I was afraid the passport control line could take too long. Suprisingly the airport was empty so I took my time in the airport.

The gate opened so I promptly made my way to it, and as soon as I arrived there I just had a horrible feeling. I only realised at that time that I did not have my passport with me. I did not ever remember whether I put it in my bag or not and I immediately felt my eyes get watery.

I went to the first airline assistant to ask what the hell I could even do since I did not have my passport, and I could not find it. He told me to check through security at the airport just to be sure, which I did.

I literally rushed to security crying with my boyfriend on the phone, for the people there to be nice and check my bag to find a passport while trying to reassure me. Until my boyfriend send me a picture of the infamous passport I left on my desk...

The rest of the time was spent with the customer service team to find the first available flight to my home country to no avail. This all happening while I was crying and sobbing the whole time. What a mess.

Anyway, the people at the airport were so lovely, honestly, they made my night. But I still could not find another available flight to my home country.

After one nightmare night at the airport and one long phone call with my family, we managed to find the first flight back to my home country for today (the previous flight was scheduled for yesterday night). It just so happens that it is in a city 100km from where I was scheduled to land so I will still miss my friends' gradutation. Ugh.

Just to say that I never thought it would happed to me but guess what lol it did.

Sorry for any mistakes I'm on 2 hours of sleep

Comments

HotPrior477 t1_j05m9a2 wrote on December 14, 2022 at 5:58 AM

#926,158

Years ago I did something similar. I forgot my birth certificate, before 911 that's all Canadians needed to get into the USA. I live a 13 hr drive away from border I got up at 4 a.m. and got in my car, I didn't realize that I had forgotten it until th border guard asked for it.

He was cool though, I showed him my hot reservation and he let me in anyway.

EinsTwo t1_j05mis3 wrote on December 14, 2022 at 6:01 AM

#926,176

I'm sorry this happened to you! I've literally had this nightmare a dozen times, but fortunately every time it was actually onky a nightmare (that is, I was asleep).

I hope you're able to spend quality time with the people you love, even if it looks different than your original plan.

DanMelb t1_j05puu5 wrote on December 14, 2022 at 6:39 AM

#926,333

It sounds like the time my other half and I turned up at the airport for our vacation trip, only to discover at check-in that our tickets were paper tickets, not e-tickets, and they were still sitting at the travel agent (this was about 2005 when airlines were in the process of switching e-tickets but unbeknownst to us they hadn't all completed the process.

A very rushed cab ride back and forth between the airport and travel agent later, we just made our flight, but it was touch and go.

Out of interest, how did you manage to get to your gate without showing anyone the passport? Was your first flight a domestic one?

CompetitiveAd1600 t1_j05vowk wrote on December 14, 2022 at 7:53 AM

#926,587

I once went on a trip to the Netherlands by train (from Germany). Several days go by and we wanted to rent a canoe and they asked for our IDs for deposit and to check our age. Then I realised I forgot my ID at home in Germany. My friends were pissed we couldn’t rent a canoe but the rest of the trip I was so afraid someone would randomly control our IDs (for whatever reasons but we were foreigners speaking another language so you never know). On the train across the border I was even more paranoid I hid on the toilet all the time which caused a ticket check with two people as they assumed I didn’t have a ticket and wanted to run off. But after telling them I just have a weak bladder and showing them the valid ticket they just laughed. Didn’t need my ID once, not even while crossing the border, but I was soo paranoid I always check if I have my ID or passport several times before leaving and forgot other stuff like chargers because I was so focused on my ID

Van_GOOOOOUGH t1_j06689b wrote on December 14, 2022 at 10:21 AM

#926,949

Replying to HotPrior477 (#926,158)

What is a hot reservation?

spaghettni OP t1_j067xru wrote on December 14, 2022 at 10:45 AM

#927,019

Replying to DanMelb (#926,333)

That must have been so annoying! At least you managed to make it in time for your flight.

It was an international flight but international in the sense of UK-EU so I didn't need to show my passport / ID until before the gate and then go through passport control at the airport of arrival.