I don’t think there’s ever been a time I’ve gone through an airport and not seen someone running. The times I didn’t, it was because I was the one running. Which is why one of my top travel tips is to allow plenty of time to get to the airport so you don’t have to make a mad dash or stress like this Frontier Airlines passenger did.
In a video (embedded below) posted on Instagram by @Denvertoday_ with the caption: A man at the Denver airport missed his boarding time, so he decided to push the gate agent and run past her to his flight, but they pushed up the stairs before he could make it 😭🤦🏻♂️
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Who knows why this guy was late. He could’ve woken up late, been stuck in traffic, had trouble finding parking, got flagged at security or waited in a long Starbucks line. No matter what the reason, there’s no excuse for his arrogant behavior.
In the video, you can hear the agent say, “I didn’t scan his boarding pass,” after he runs by her, so he now becomes a security risk. As my buddy Matthew Klint from Live and Let’s Fly eloquently wrote: “He runs out to the aircraft. A member of ground staff lifts up the ramp to the aircraft like a drawbridge to an ancient castle being raised. The man stops and tries to find a way through, but the defense proved impenetrable.”
I bet if the man used a different approach, the agent would’ve let him slide because there were still people on the remote jet bridge waiting to board.
This story reminded me when I once ran to my Qatar Airways gate in Frankfurt after being delayed for hours in Porto, Portugal, thanks to an ATC strike in France (what else is new?) and then got held up at German immigration because the agent couldn’t find my original entry stamp into the EU. Tip: If you have a lot of passport stamps in your book make sure you make a note where you entry stamps are and that they used enough ink.
Fortunately, the agent finally found it and when my wife and I arrived at the closed gate to fly to Doha on Qatar’s new A350 aircraft, we were kind and understanding. We missed the flight. I pleaded nicely, and thankfully a few other late passengers showed up and they opened the door back up and let us on.
The last time I ran to catch a flight was just a few months ago at LAX when Fiji Airways paged my whole family for final boarding (here’s my trip report). We were late because my wife legally changed her last name to mine but wasn’t able to change it on time with her NEXUS, Global Entry and Known Traveler ID, so she didn’t get TSA PreCheck and the regular security line was so long. On top of that CLEAR was closed.
I’m not sure what happened to this passenger, but I suspect he was arrested for trespassing and battery because he allegedly pushed the gate agent to the side and most people in the comments section weren’t very sympathetic:
@aj_malvae: If you’re asking why they didn’t let him on… you can hear them say “I didn’t scan his boarding pass,” so he refused to show his boarding pass, which is now a security breach.
@starrtender: The fact that I see comments about why not just let him on is crazy to me. A person who can’t follow the rules on the ground is definitely a person who more than likely won’t follow the rules in the sky. It’s really simple to follow rules. Nine times out of ten, his seat was forfeited 15 minutes before the flight departed and given to a standby passenger, which would make his boarding pass voided. Not to mention he breached a security area. So yeah, there is a long list of “Why not just let him on?” All airlines tell you the gate closes 15 minutes before departure, but let y’all tell it, y’all act like y’all don’t know. The people who disrespect and disregard the people just doing their jobs are the same people who want to be respected as a passenger. Make it make sense. Just follow the rules.
@mimireigns: Now you missed your flight AND go on the no-fly list.
@pr_photography3333: Love it when some people think that rules don’t apply to them.
@alvdavo: I used to work at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in the early 2000s. There was a man who worked there since the 1960s and he said in all of his 40 years of working there, he’d only seen one instance of the door closing and the aircraft pulling away from the jet bridge and returning for a passenger. That passenger was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963 as he was leaving Detroit after the 1963 Freedom March on Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit. He says the media was in the airport crowding and interviewing Dr. King as he and his staff were walking to their plane, and the jet came back to make sure he wasn’t left.
