legends · 4 min read ·
Gate Announcements
An airport's announcements call a passenger to a gate for a flight that left decades ago.
**Northfield International Airport · PA Announcement Log · Terminal 1, Gates 1–20**
**Operator:** Automated system with manual override (duty officer: F. Garrow) · **Date:** 24 Oct
· · ·
**06:12** Good morning, and welcome to Northfield International. Flight EL 118 to Lisbon is now boarding at Gate 7.
**06:20** Passenger Edward Lowe, please report to Gate 7. Your flight is boarding.
**06:31** Passenger Edward Lowe, final call for Flight EL 118. Please proceed to Gate 7 immediately.
**06:38** Flight EL 118 is now closed. Passenger Edward Lowe did not board. Passenger has been marked as no-show.
*Gate agent note (Gate 7): Passenger Lowe was seated in the boarding area throughout. He did not respond to calls. He was looking at the departures board, and when the agent went to speak to him, he said, "I'm not on the flight. I'm taking the next one, the one that goes further."*
· · ·
**07:04** Passenger Lowe, please report to Gate 12. Your connection is ready.
**07:10** Passenger Lowe, your connection to Athens is now closing at Gate 12.
*Gate agent note (Gate 12): No connection exists for Passenger Lowe. Duty officer checked the booking system. Booking shows flight to Athens, confirmed, departure 07:10, departed. Passenger was not on the manifest. The aircraft was pushed back at 07:12.*
· · ·
**08:45** Would the owner of a small grey suitcase, left unattended at Gate 3, please come to the information desk.
**08:52** The owner of the grey suitcase at Gate 3 has been asked to come forward. The case contains a briefcase, a packed lunch, and a passport for a Mr. Edward Lowe.
*Duty officer note: passport photo matches the adult passenger from Gate 7. Date of birth on the passport: 1939. Passport expired 1989. Contents of the lunch box: one sandwich, cut in four, one apple, one biscuit. The sandwich has not been eaten.*
· · ·
**10:30** Good morning. Flight BA 6471 to Rome is delayed. Passengers from Rome, please remain at the baggage hall.
**10:44** All passengers on Flight BA 6471 are asked to return to the holding area. The holding area is closed. Please take a seat wherever you can find one.
*Gate agent note (Gate 14): Holding area has no seats. Staff counted 210 people standing in a space that holds 60. They are all facing the same direction, toward the window. None of them have boarding passes. All of them say they are listening for their names to be called.*
· · ·
**13:15** Passenger Helen Garrow, please report to the information desk. Your flight has been cancelled, and a seat has been reserved for you on the next departure.
**13:16** Passenger Helen Garrow, please report to the information desk.
*Duty officer note: the duty officer on the desk is Frances Garrow. The name on the announcement is her mother's. Her mother died in 1998 and her name is not on any flight record.*
· · ·
**16:02** This is the final call for all passengers travelling on Flight EL 118 to Lisbon. Passenger Edward Lowe, your seat is still available. Please proceed to the aircraft.
**16:03** Passenger Edward Lowe, your seat is already occupied. Please return to the departure lounge.
· · ·
**Passenger complaint letter (Miriam Yates, 26 Oct)**
*To Northfield International,*
*I was on the same flight as Mr. Lowe, which the airline says was never operated. We sat together for three hours in the departure lounge, and then we boarded a plane together, and then we landed in a city I didn't recognise, and then we were in the lounge again, and each time the announcement said we'd been transferred. I still have the boarding pass. It says "Passenger: Yates, M." and "Seat: 14B." Next to it, in pencil, somebody has written "Edward's mother."*
*I'd like a refund for the flight I didn't take. I'd also like someone to tell the owner of the grey suitcase that his sandwich is going stale.*
· · ·
**Final PA log entry (24 Oct, 23:58)**
Automated announcement generated in error.
*Gate 7 has been closed and reassigned to maintenance. Cleaners report nine paper boarding passes left in the seat rows, all for the same flight, all dated next Tuesday.*