GO TO GATE

Back from my holiday.. actually came back last Monday!! We were supposed to reach monday morning but reached late in the night .. but we missed our flight!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even after we took our boarding pass ... we were sitting probably about 20 mt from the departure gate.. sitting and sipping on coffee!!! And eating ... the full english breakfast (they serve the entire day), some bread with oil.. and 2 bowls of fries... and so on and so forth....

You see we were relying on the information board to help us out... we decided that we will lounge around at the coffee shop till the flight status turns to "now boarding". We had some friends with us .. who could also come into the airport all the way till the departure gate .. such an alien concept! But anyway we all ( there were 6 of us, incl of 2 kids) were chatting , eating.. but kept our eyes on the information board.. checked every 2 mins (really, we did!!), sitting there over-confident that the board couldnt possibly be wrong! So all the while, we were sipping on coffee, there were ppl walking to the departure gate.. we ordered for some food and ppl would have been going thru the security check.. we ordered for 2 fries (pls note, not 1 but 2 fries) and some more mayo and ppl would have been boarding... i think it was when we were watching the football match, that the flight would have taken off!!!

And all this while we were contemplating .. no not the meaning of life... but the reason for flight delay.. the reason why the information went from "GO TO GATE" to "FLIGHT CLOSING" for all other flights except for ours. And we were still lolling around.. one of us did finally get up to enquire only to come back after 5 mins saying "no one on our floor.. who is gonna go down.. i am sure flight is late"... it was finally after the football match, which we very patiently sat and watched, at 9.40 pm (our flight was at 9.25pm) that we finally decided to enquire about the reason for delay and the attendant (i didnt witness this as i was still lolling around in the lounge) said... DELAY, WHAT DELAY.. THE FLIGHT HAS GONE".....

And then suddenly we all started running (i had no clue that the flight had already gone.. so i was running aimlessly) along with attendant.. you may ask why exactly did we run since the flight had already taken off.... i do not know why.. i think its a typical reaction.. maybe we all thought could stop the flight like Bruce Willis did in Die Hard, was it?

And then started the fight.. we argued with that person.. a) information board is wrong b) you cant charge us 88 pounds more!!!!!!!!!!! But he got stuck on one point....

Airways official - "What did the information board say"
We say - "GO TO GATE"
Airways official - "Why didnt you do what the board said?" Why didnt you go to the gate?
We say - ummmm ahhhh... but the information provided was wrong.. what is the point having information boards with wrong info...
He Says- All the 255 passengers went to the gate after reading that.....
We say - ummmm ahhhh we want to talk to a superior!!!

(there was lot more discussion, have only put in the key theme of the argument!!!)

So we tried valiantly ... for half an hour.. the conversation not really moving from the Gate business .... tried all tactics.. scaring, cajoling.. but nothing doing.

So now we know... when the board says "GO TO GATE", you must go to the gate!!!!!!!

*Some dialogues are not my own... as in, we reconstructed the whole scenario post this debacle, so some of the portions of what is written above is as per my memory