A man was so busy using his Facebook check-in feature at Heathrow to boast he was going on holiday that forgot to check in for the actual flight.

Recruitment consultant Gerry Dammers, of Halesworth, Suffolk missed his flight with pals to Las Vegas and had to pay more than £600 to buy a ticket for the next day.

As soon as he arrived at Heathrow Airport he had begun posting on Facebook about his dream trip while all his followers were busy grafting away at work.

Then the 27-year-old used the Facebook check-in feature to show how impressive it was that the flight would leave Heathrow, head over the Atlantic and across America to Nevada.

Look at me: Man’s airport boast cost him his flight

But while refreshing his Facebook feed constantly to see if anyone had ‘liked’ his showy status, he completely forgot that he needed to actually check in at the airline desk for the flight.

When his friends, who had already checked in and gone through security, eventually rang him from the gate, it was too late.

Travel expert Roger Wynn-Jones said: “People seem to think everyone else will be totally impressed if they update their Facebook status with a check in from the airport.

“The reality is that everyone else is busy working and don’t give a toss, so it is rather amusing that this man missed his flight because of it.”

Mr Dammers was too embarrassed to speak to the Suffolk Gazette from his room in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas today.

“Let’s just say I won’t bother posting a check-in status from the airport before I fly home,” he said.