A very good friend of mine arranged their tickets, all excite to get away! Get to the airport at about 6:00 a.m. for a 6:56 take off...
ahem, the flight was 6:56 PM! LOL....
this person has travelled right around the world... boy-o-boy, are they "chagrined"

Better that than the other way around..

Another argument for the 24 hour clock.

Sounds like a few pre-travel nightmares I've had!

Something similar happened to a friend. Leaving Bermuda all excited to come home (Jamaica) for Christmas...Ticket was for the 20th December. She purchased it a little under a week before she left, thinking that she had at least two weeks to go! The evening before she was scheduled to leave (early AM flight) her DH asked if she was all packed and ready to go. She looked at him and laughed, thinking he was teasing her. When he brought the calendar to her she totally panicked! Luckily her DH and her daughter were coming on a later flight and could bring all that she forgot to pack in her mad haste!

I know a guy who showed up exactly a week early for his flight -- he had cancelled the mail and hired the cat sitter and eveything, but forgot what date was on his ticket.

He was too embarrassed to go home, so he re-scheduled to depart the next day, and spent the night in the airport.

Someone I know meant to book a trip for July but booked it for June. A few days before his intended departure date he called to reconfirm his reservations and he learned that he missed his trip.

Another friend of mine bought 2 tickets to Ireland on priceline. The day before they left, she discovered that she booked the return flight for one month later than intended. Priceline offers NO flexibility on changes or cancellations, so they had to buy a one-way ticket home from Ireland. That was an $1,800 mistake.

Correction--they had to buy TWO one-way tickets home, total cost $1,800.

Coming home from London my travelling companion and I (on my advice) once got all packed the night before our return flight, woke up nice and early, checked out, and got on the Gatwick Express only to find out our tickets were for the next day. We laughed went back to the city, checked back in, spent a surprise extra day on vacation. Then proceeded to have way too much to drink that night, and woke up the next morning hungover and having missed our real flight home.

still haven't lived that one down.

Anna that is totally funny! Should have done what capxxx's friend did!

I got a great deal on tickets for our family to DC for a family event. We got there just fine, returned to the airport at the end of the weekend to come home, and they couldn't find us on the flight list. Turns out I had booked it for a month later! (hence the great fare). Note- check what you enter in those pull down screens. I thought I had clicked on Sept., but it had slipped to Oct.- that was a very expensive lesson, since the tickets I had to buy to go home that day were a lot more expensive!! Now I make DH check my screens before I click 'purchase'. No more late night bookings for me.

Somebody posted on Fodor's about attempting to check out of a hotel in Europe a day early. The clerk asked what was the problem. After a short confusion on both sides, the Fodorite was happy to have another day in Europe!

This tought me a lesson. I bought a tiny travel alarm clock WITH A CALENDAR

Friends of ours got caught out with the 24hr clock and turned up in Prestwick at 19.30.00hr for a 20.00hr flight to Malaga. They totally mixed things up and thought 20.00hrs was 10pm! doh!

A young mum & her kids were in front of me in the line at the airport & she had arrived a day early for a Hawaii flt...I could hear her children asking what they would do & she said we'll just go home & come back tomorrow...

on a recent flt to Phoenix, before the plane took off, the flt attendant announced that the passanger who was to go to Pittsburgh needed to deplane. (Yes she had to walk from the back of the plane too, for all to smile at her)

The first time I went to Positano we tried to check into the Villa Franca and the owner said there was no reservation. I was so disgusted and thought oh typical Italy, no order about anything!! Then he flipped the reservation book page and there we were all signed up the next day! We had arrived a day early because we had lost track of the days while driving down from the North.

He was very patient about it and gave us a wonderful room anyway and we became friends over the course of the stay, comping us on drinks, etc.

And then there was the time the plane pulled away, and the stewardess said, ``Welcome to Air Canada flight xx to Toronto,'' and the passenger in front of me said, ``You mean to Montreal'' and the stewardess said, ``No, I mean to Toronto.'' The passengers chimed in, ``Toronto.''

There was a short silence, while they stared at one another, then the stewardess walked up to knock on the pilot's door ...

On our first trip to Paris, our overnight flight left DC on a Tuesday evening and we arrived at the hotel on Wednesday morning. The desk clerk wanted to know why we were a day late. DH sheepishly admitted that he forgot about the overnight flight concept and booked the room for the day we left home, not the day of arrival. Yes- they charged us for the room (and were also quite scathing about our mistake.) It was our one and only expereince with the stereotypical French rudeness, so at least we didn't miss out on that cultural expectation. Once my husband kicked himself a few times, we had a wonderful trip.

Had a similar expereince in Australia but with a different ending. We were driving from Sydney towards Narooma, on the coast, where we would be staying with our daughter and her Australian boyfriend. They were with us in the car when her cellphone rang; it was the hotel in Narooma asking where we had been last night - guess I had double booked and never caught the mistake. They were quite pleasant about it, seemed more concerned that we had gone missing and no, they didn't charge us for the night we had missed. Admittedly it was their off-season but they could not have been nicer. And yes, I felt rather stupid about it.

Chicago February 2002 very snowy day and I was taking an afternoon flight to Vegas to visit the parents. I get in the cab and get to Midway to check in at continental. What do you mean there is no flight? I have a ticket. Yeah, and you are flying out of Ohare. Geez, another cab ride and 100 dollars later I finally make it to Ohare. It was so snowy ,there were exactly 6 people on the plane.

Two years ago I was flying from Las Vegas to Philadelphia on USAir. The man seated next to me asked the flight attendant what time the plane was expected to land. She replied, "We should be landing in Pittsburg at 6 PM." I said, "You mean Phildelphia," being absolutely alarmed. "No, I mean Pittsburg," she answered back. A lady behind me overheard the conversation and stood up shrieking, "This plane had better be going to Philadelphia because I have a connection to make to Ft. Lauderdale." The FA looked around and saw another co-worker and asked her where the plane was going. The other FA replied, "Philly." The FA looked flustered and actually said to all of us looking on, "Pittsburg... Philadelphia...I knew we were going to a city in Pennslyvania that began with a P." She then walked away.

I have never been able to get on a USAir flight since.

OH, LaArtista, now I'll have to check if Chicago has more then one Amtrak station - I will take the train home.

Last time going on vacation I reserved a shuttle to the airport. There are 2 main airports in San Francisco: SFO and OAKland. The driver asked everybody twice if we all go to SFO. I bet he took people to the wrong one