Here's the thing, I agree with Leatherboy in that names should not be posted here in a forum, unless they can come here to defend themselves. I know they are allowed to, but I doubt they're actively searching the internets for a specific complaint about themselves. The OP made an assumption that because he was allowed to check in either at or just past cut off before, that it can/should happen again. However was met with a surprise of an agent who actually stuck to the cut off rules. Can you really blame the agent? Maybe in the sense of not trying, but clearly they were in the right to refuse check in. Vegas is not a simple airport that you can just walk in and boom your at the gate, you actually have to pass through a TSA checkpoint then take a train, and depending on the line it could take some time.
There was a situation, just recently, where I was checking in for a flight and right next to me a guy was berating an agent who would not check him in for a flight he arrived late for (I was there when he ran up to the counter out of breath). The guy looks at me and says "can you believe this horrible customer service?" I looked at the agent, looked at him and said "No habla englese." got my ticket and walked away. Which goes into Jetliners statement; folks don't accept personal responsibility. If you've read this thread -
http://www.airlinecomplaints.org/showthread.php?t=4393 which has a very, very similar situation to this one, the OP here claims bad customer service when they were clearly and so obviously late. he even admits to arriving 30 minutes before departure and wonders where everyone went? As much as we want the airlines to take responsibility for their actions, we as passengers need to accept responsibility for our own actions as well. We can't use excuses like "I was stuck in traffic" or "My car broke down", lateness happens and I am actually grateful to Continental (And United as well) because whenever I arrive late, they have never charged me a penalty, just "here's a boarding pass for the next flight, have a good trip."
Wow I hope Continental Employees start postin here... things could get... interesting...