B737 flight crew reported they braked suddenly while taxiing to avoid a conflict with another taxiing aircraft crossing their path.
Synopsis
B737 flight crew reported they braked suddenly while taxiing to avoid a conflict with another taxiing aircraft crossing their path.
Narrative
Upon clearing Runway XXL; ZZZ Ground told us to turn right onto taxiway 1". As I made my turn; I saw another company A320 that had also crossed Runway XXL at taxiway 2. I don't think that ZZZ Ground realized that he had put two aircraft at the same intersection at the same time. As soon I saw the other aircraft; I immediately hit the brakes to avoid a close interaction with the other aircraft. ZZZ Ground and the other company A320 thanked me for stopping so quickly. The A320 passed in front of us and went to their gate. ZZZ Ground told us that we were "cleared to our gate XX." In retrospect; I am not sure that he actually verified that our gate was open and likely just wanted to expedite us to our gate as he was very busy at that exact moment. We continued to taxi down taxiway 1 and were told to "give way to a company B777 at taxiway 3 and continue our taxi via taxiway 1 to hold short of taxiway and continue the gate as able." There was a lot of congestion in that area while we waited to continue to the gate. It looked like all of the gates were occupied; but my view of our assigned gate XX was blocked by a company B777. As the outbound aircraft moved; I had access to the gate and saw that the XX sign was directly in front of me and was attached to the terminal building before the jetway extended outward toward the ramp. Since that was the ONLY open gate at the time and ZZZ Ground had cleared me to the gate; I believed that it was our assigned gate of XX. I turned left onto taxiway 4 and immediately made a right turn onto taxiway 5 to position myself to make another quick turn into the gate. The safety area was extremely congested; but nothing was in the safety area and we had two wing walkers; as I made my turn toward the J-line. Oddly enough; and I don't think I have ever seen this; the marshaller quickly walked toward me; raising his hands upward and then slowly started walking backwards; while marshaling us into the parking spot. It was at this time that I noticed the XY painted marking on ground next to the J-line and I asked my First Officer "why does it say XY if we were parking at gate XX?" Before he had a chance to respond; I looked up at the XY sign attached to the terminal building on the jetway to my right and it was at that moment that I realized that we were at the wrong gate.I did not have enough space to turn around and there was another B777 to the right; waiting to go into the Gate alleyway; so I could not turn to the right either. So; I decided that the safest course of action was to slowly continue to park at what I now realized was gate XY. About this time; I heard one of our company aircraft say that someone had taken their gate of XY and that confirmed to me that we were at the wrong gate. After coming to a stop; I set the parking brake; we shut down the engines and completed the Parking Checklist. Then I contacted company operations and told them what had happened. The other aircraft also contacted company operations to see what they should do. A supervisor came on the frequency and said that it was "ok." The other aircraft said; "well; actually it's not; because we don't have a gate." Company operations said that they would have to wait for XX; which was on a short maintenance hold of 15-20 minutes. I felt awful that I parked at the wrong gate and inconvenienced the other crew and their passengers. I apologized to them on the Ops frequency and they said "it's ok." I still felt bad about it though."
Second reporter narrative
Parked at gate XY and we were assigned gate XX. After landing at ZZZ and taxing to our gate area the ramp and taxi ways were very busy and the radio transmissions were busy as well. We had to stop on taxiway 1 and give way to a company 777 on [taxiway] 3 and then given the clearance to taxi to the gate after the 777 cleared off 3. We sat with the brake set for a few mins and could not see our gate area as it was obstructed by the 777. Once the 777 cleared and we proceeded to the gate we did see what we thought was gate XX. As we were pulling into the gate the CA stated why is XY painted on the ground in front of gate XX. I thought when we were pulling into the gate area that the signs were confusing however this does not excuse the fact we parked at the wrong gate. By the time we realized what we did; there was not enough space or clearance to reposition out of the wrong gate. We decided the safest option at that time was to continue into the gate. I felt awful and embarrassed that this happened; inconveniencing the aircraft that was assigned to the gate we parked at; our customers; and gate agents.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.