Uni Student Misses Flight To KL Because She Couldn’t Read Military Time

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Some time ago, some whispers claimed children these days have trouble reading analogue clocks due to their reliance on digital clocks and watches.

Despite the reliance on digital clocks, some people still struggle with telling time in the 24-hour format or military time.

A recent case of a woman missing her flight due to her inability to read time in the 24-hour format has left many people chuckling or shaking their heads.

Based on a Facebook post, a young woman missed her flight from Sandakan to Kuala Lumpur because she wasn’t sure if she was on an early morning or afternoon flight.

The picture of her flight ticket showed the departure time was at 1:15. For those who frequently fly, the time 1:15 means it was a 1.15am flight. If it is a flight departing at 1.15pm, the time on the ticket would show as 13:15.

Needless to say, the young woman had to “burn” her flight ticket worth nearly RM500 since she missed the flight.

The young woman’s brother said the flight fares back to Kuala Lumpur are expensive and his sister had to take extra leave from university due to this.

He also thought his sister was the only one who missed the flight but he found out others missed their flights because they couldn’t read the time in the 24-hour format either.

He reminded everyone who plans to fly back home to double-check the time on their flight tickets.

People asked, “How?!”

Netizens were stunned and had questions about the whole thing. A netizen said people could choose the flight time while buying tickets and wondered why the young woman did not know her flight time.

If the ticket was bought on her behalf, the netizen added that the young woman should have checked with others instead of waiting for the time to pass.

Meanwhile, another person explained that it was unusual for the airlines to have such an early flight from Sandakan to Kuala Lumpur. They reasoned that it was partially why the young woman was unsure.

Based on the other comments, some people also had problems telling time in the 24-hour format and missed their flights.

Do children and adults struggle with telling time?

Reading an analogue clock takes practice, especially when young children are starting to learn how to read and interpret numbers.

However, some people might have a learning disability like dyslexia which can make reading the clock a little tougher.

Just like reading an analogue clock, the ability to tell the time in a 24-hour format or the “half past/quarter to” method also takes practice especially when one isn’t used to it.

How to read military time?

The easiest way is to remember that 0 starts at midnight. Which means 1 to 12 is 1am to 12 noon.

Once the number starts to say 13, it indicates the time is moving from noon to night. All you have to do is minus 12.

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