Missing a work flight

Over the past decade I haven't flown much for work, the previous twenty years I flew on a regular basis and never missed a flight - this was all to change.

So when I missed a 7am flight for work, I knew I was in trouble. The flight was paid for by the client whom we were consulting as they outsourced their maintenance training. We were experiencing a number of difficulties due to non-aligned strategies and whilst we had plenty of reasons for this, we needed to get back on track quickly - this just blew that.

I was booked to fly Virgin Australia from Perth to Kalgoorlie and there wasn't another flight to Kalgoorlie by Virgin until around 4pm. I had effectively messed up a two and a half day visit. I was thinking, this could be the issue that really blows the relationship apart.

Breaking into a stressed state, I felt like throwing up, this missed flight was my mistake and I knew it. I had ordered a taxi and it was late to arrive, I am guessing this is when the taxi drivers cross over from nightshift to dayshift. I went onto their automated booking system and booked the taxi later than I should have.

Regardless, plenty of people make it to the airport on time so there is only one responsible person at fault here. There is no value trying to apportion blame to taxi drivers, it was me who booked the taxi too late and left no room for late arrival.

Enquiries with the Virgin floor staff were no help so I quickly jumped onto a terminal bus and made my way to Terminal 4 and purchased a ticket with Qantas on a midday flight. This last minute flight was fairly reasonable and since this was my mistake I didn't mind placing this charge on my credit card.

Trying to call our office and going onto voice mail didn't calm me, I rang the phone number on my business card and it wasn't working so I know why clients get agitated. I couldn't get through to the client either, they went to voicemail too so I was really getting annoyed.

I am of the belief that whilst it isn't ideal when you make a mistake, the way you approach the solution is the primary factor in achieving favourable outcomes. Despite my initial stuff-up, I was determined to ensure this was a successful trip for both the client and ourselves and it turned out to be exactly that.