Recently an elderly friend asked me to pick her up at the airport ..so I arrive close to arrival time and drive the "circle" watching for her to come out of the terminal for about 40 minutes......finally park and go in, no friend. Flight had arrived on time.
After going home, I contact her son where she had been visiting who then had to call the airlines to track down her whereabouts.
(According to son, she has a cell phone that she never uses..keeps it in the glove box of her car for "emergencies")
Turns out her connecting flight was delayed due to weather and she missed her connection so was put on a later plane.
Days later in conversation with her, I gently remind her that if she had her cell phone she could have called to let me know not to go to airport, and her son could have called her directly to find out what happened to her
. After all wasting 40 minutes of my time and gas is important to me..tho I didn't say THAT to her...
. Her reply? " I guess you don't pick people up from airport very often most people call first to check if flight arrived"....!!!!!!
I said "Mary", your flight DID arrive YOU WEREN'T ON IT! She looked at me blankly...in her mind, if she missed the flight it never arrived at all ..and the cell phone..she didn't take it with her to her son's home, because all the calls would be long distance if she used it......this is a well off woman who still drives, has a health club membership and is of normal intelligence.