[Gromit801]

Flights close at about 10-15 minutes before departure. That means the paperwork and manifest is finalized, and stand-by passengers have gotten the empty seats. All airlines do this. So all those customers already on the plane, and ready to go, should now have to wait for you? Maybe miss THEIR connections? Being a bit selfish there.

As far as the staff goes, maybe they were rude, maybe not. I wasn't there to see it. From experience observing agents in high stress situations (like a late flight) most of the time they tend to reply in kind. If they're treated rudely, they might react rudely. That's human. They probably shouldn't, but at the end of the day with someone in their face, I can just image how it might go.