[Trvlr]

I received my boarding pass a full 40 minutes before take-off with no checked baggage. However, due to the completely useless TSA deciding to justify their paychecks, I arrived at the gate 6 minutes before my flight was scheduled to take off. I was told that because I was 4 minutes inside the 10 minute cut-off for boarding that I would have to wait approx. FIVE HOURS for the next flight to my destination, even though the plane was sitting right in front of me with the gate tunnel still attached - i.e. I could have EASILY boarded the plane and made my flight. I sat and watched as passengers were boarded TWO MINUTES before the scheduled take-off of the next flight, and on the flight they put me on, TWO passengers were boarded THREE MINUTES INSIDE the 10 minute boarding cut-off time. These were the only two other AirTran flights departing that day. It is my opinion that my seat was sold out from under me and I was bumped to a flight which arrived SIX HOURS later to my destination that was not fully booked as it was a less desirable flight which arrived late at night rather than early evening. It is also my opinion that this inconsistent, discriminatory policy was utilized intentionally for profit by the female airline boarding agent who didn't have the guts to show her face at the gate again after she royally screwed me over. My first and last time flying AirTran.

[Jetliner]

The 10 minute cutoff time is there to 1- process standby passengers and 2 finish the required paperwork. If anything is going on that is taking a couple extra minutes then they will go ahead and let the passengers board if they are behind.

Even without luggage, the airlines are still advising people to arrive as much as 2 hours early. Any chance of letting us know what city this happened in, and on what day?

[The_Judge]

Rules are rules............that being said, if the agent was any good at his job, 6 minutes is an eternity. Curious to know what the gate agent was doing for 4 minutes.....why the passengers didn't board at the 9 minute mark.

I guess you probably have no recourse, other than to not fly them, but as I said before....6 minutes is a long time to get one passenger on. Especially if the seat hadn't been filled yet which it seems it hadn't.

One other note.........you really should complain to TSA. They are technically the ones who held you up. If your quote of 40 minutes before is correct, that should have been plenty of time to clear security, in most cases.

[airhead]

I agree with Jetliner. If all passengers were allowed to board just minutes before departure then those flights will take delays. The final processing requires that all passengers be present AT THE GATE or already boarded so that stand bys can be processed. Many things have to be COMPLETED minutes before the departure time. If you are not there then you are entered in the roll call as not on board. Get to the airport earlier and don't blame others for something you could have avoided. If the TSA really did hold you up that long then file a complaint with them and provide proper documentation.

[Trvlr]

Jetliner: The city was Las Vegas, and it was a Thursday (if memory serves). I can't comment as to your "2-hours early" claim, however I think you will agree with The Judge, that 40 minutes with no checked baggage is plenty of time to get a passenger on a plane, just as 6 minutes is plenty of time for a passenger to walk from the gate to the plane - hell, I sat and watched a plane I could practically touch sit still in front of me for 6 long minutes before it left. The time was on my boarding pass so there can be no argument there. I arrived at the airport about an hour before the flight left. You state "If anything . . . will go ahead and let the passengers board if THEY ARE BEHIND." So if the airline employees, who are BEING PAID to be there and are in far more control of their surroundings than a passenger, run behind on their duties that's okay, but if a passenger who IS PAYING to be there runs a few minutes behind, or is held up by airport security they get screwed? Methinks you are an intelligent person who now gets the core of my complaint. See below for more . ..

The Judge: "Rules are rules . . . " - apparently not. According to Jetliner, the rules are applied arbitrarily by the boarding agents, and this is the core of my complaint. The agent was a 'she' by the way, and curiously, almost all the power-hungry control-freaks I've encountered have been female - they bore an unsettling resemblance to the frigid nuns from Catholic school quite frankly, but I digress. I'm not sure what you are getting at with your time frame references, but I can tell you that when I arrived at the gate, everyone was already on the plane, and thank you for stating that six minutes is an eternity for any competent agent; that's what I thought, and is part of my complaint. However, instead of simply putting me on the plane during this time, the agent was too busy bumping me to another flight; hence my opinion that in fact the seat had been filled. Furthermore, if you read my post again, you will find that the 'rules' didn't apply to the only other two flights that day (including the one I was bumped to). As for the TSA, I have nothing but disgust for them, as did the service (non-airline) employees at the Vegas airport; they HATED the TSA people because they were arbitrarily abusive even to them. I had 5 hours to find out what complaints could be lodged, and who I should complain to. There is no way to 'complain' to the TSA (so I was told), other than the repeated comments I made while being subjected to their ridiculous exercise to the tune of "I'm missing my flight because of this, could you please step it up?" A very nice woman (surprise!) who had worked at the Vegas airport for years in the information/general customer service booth told me quite a few things about the TSA; some I already knew some I didn't - none of them were what you would call positive. She told me, as you stated, I really had no recourse other than to complain to the airline, which involved filling out a form that (as she informed me) would, for all intents and purposes, go nowhere and do nothing for me. Her assessment is consistent with other reports I've read on this website.

airhead: "If ALL passengers were allowed . . ." hmmm, interesting jump to hyperbole that isn't relevant to this post. I guess if ALL boarding agents were allowed to fall a few minutes behind in THEIR work flights wouldn't take delays? If you agree with Jetliner, then you also agree that I was at the airport in plenty of time - how about the airline employees and the TSA learn how to do the job they are BEING PAID TO DO properly before they point fingers at the passengers who, for all intents and purposes, ARE PAYING THEM. Don't blame passengers for inefficient airport/airline employees - again, the latter is being compensated for their time, the former is paying to have their time wasted. i.e. Telling a passenger they have to show up at an airport two hours early for an hour long flight to compensate for whatever problems the airline/airport staff may encounter is bad business, inconsiderate, and insulting. I have better things to do with the time I've already paid someone else to manage properly than use it to compensate for THEIR inadequacies. Your attitude reminds me of the banks existing today on taxpayer dollars that have the audacity to foreclose on same taxpayer's homes. Again, what the hell would a complaint to the TSA yield, even if it could be lodged? A free ticket on TSA airlines? Really, your predictable buck-passing is tiresome. Passengers have lives and schedules to follow too. Your moniker is appropriate, and your bias as a former self-serving airline employee is clear.

[The_Judge]

You've completely missed my point. What I meant by my timeframe was that any agent worth his (or her) salt could easily have gotten you a seat in 6 minutes. Using your point of view on the time, at 2 minutes before departure, passengers were boarded. That means either they didn't follow the rules and they showed up after you and they put them on or (more probable) they assigned them seats from a list and put them on. Depending on what type of passenger they were (standby revenue from a later or earlier flight or employees) they could have put you on and rather easily with 6 minutes to go. But if they were revenue passenger for the same flight you were who were also late but showed up before you (which I don't think happened) they would put them on first.

My point......you were admittedly late but the agent had time to put you on, IMO.

As for nowhere to complain to the TSA......this is directly from their website. Google is your friend.

How to contact TSA on other matters, such as watch list issues, claims issues, general questions, or to share your opinions or comments with us.

For additional information and contact information concerning watch list issues, please see the DHS Traveler Redress Inquiry Program's webpage at: http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/custome...ess/index.shtm.

For additional information and contact information concerning claims issues, please see the TSA Claims Management Office's webpage at: http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/customer/claims/index.shtm.

To ask general questions or to share your opinions or comments with us, please see the TSA Contact Center's webpage at: http://contact.tsa.dhs.gov/default.aspx.

http://www.tsa.gov/research/civilrig...travelers.shtm

[The_Judge]

I forgot something and couldn't edit my previous post. I forgot (as I've been gone too long apparently) that with my airline, we were to close the aircraft door 3 minutes beforehand on domestic departures and 4 or 5 (can't remember) minutes before on international. So possibly, showing up 6 minutes before really gave the agent only 3 minutes to do the extra work. Still enough time but really shouldn't be asked to do it.

[Trvlr]

I'm with you now - I don't have the knowledge you do of the internal workings of an airline boarding system so I was a little unclear about all you were stating about the times. Thanks for clearing everything up. I believe I did get the part right where you stated in essence that the agent could have boarded me in plenty of time but chose not to at least, so we are in agreement. And, I think we both agree that the "rules" are not uniformly applied.
As for the TSA complaint, thanks for the heads-up on the website as it will be good for future reference (in case I ever fly out of a US airport again and they screw me over). I don't have the flight documentation any more as I didn't see any point in keeping it, so I don't think lodging a complaint at this point will serve me, but I wonder if I could have lodged a complaint directly at the airport at the time, and if so, what, if any, satisfaction would have come from it; the nice lady at the airport with years of experience seemed to think it would be just as fruitless as a complaint to the airline, otherwise I'm sure she would have mentioned the option. Regardless, it seems an awful lot of time and energy on my part to rectify a problem that shouldn't even exist; if as you suggest, perhaps the agent only had 3 minutes to do the extra work, but "really shouldn't be asked to do it", exactly how is it that I, as a paying customer, should be asked to spend 5 additional hours at an airport and several more in web correspondence for time and inconvenience I can't get back? Over three minutes of work some prima donna didn't want to do but was being paid to do? A possible flight delay of 2 - 4 minutes? And this is only IF she had a mere 3 minutes? The later boarding times I think reflect otherwise, and I think you understand why I will never book with this airline again.
And yes, Google is our friend. Cheers!

[Silent Bob]

I don't think you have recourse on the TSA complaint either. I honestly travel to Vegas whenever I need a breather, which is ten or more times a year and their checkpoints on any given day are usually packed, though they do a damn good job of shuffling people through, you can usually expect a wait of 30 - 40 minutes easy. Plus, depending on where Airtran is, you have to take the train to the main terminal. I don't fly Airtran, so I don't know where they are located, but their TSA? yea it's usually quite crowded.

[airhead]

I appreciate you comments and I hope others, including yourself learn from the bad and good experiences of air travel and take the posts on this site as a means of education.. So many people think the gate agent has control and that is not true. Since you want to use fancy words, I have questions. I am sure the majority of the general public may not understand what you are saying. The "moniker" (I appreciate your use of name calling) used deems appropriate if you have read any of my past postings.

How can I use a hyperbole if it is not relevant to the topic? Apparently my hyperbole is enough to excoriate a lengthy response in regard to your benevolence and I find that ironic, which I respect. I agree that it "should" be bad business, inconsiderate, and insulting to tell a passenger to show up to an airport so dern early. Yet, so many people still buy tickets and so many still show up late. Even with the worldwide declining number of ticket sales, millions are flying despite the problems. I don't get that.

The airline PAYED me to get the flight out on time SAFELY. Anything else in between was a headache which I was personally blamed for those who did clear through security in enough time or were not allowed to board. I hated that! You tell me what is right when you have a 5 stand bys waiting to get on board and the last few confirmed passengers have not showed up to the gate at the minimal time. In most cases, those stand bys were late for the last flight and if I let the next late passenger on, I have even more problems. What would you do? What is your answer? You can't board everyone. Most flights are full. Not to mention I am responsible for the next flight out in 45 minutes and I still have to work the weights for the current flight and confirm boarding status to the captain before it is allowed to take off! All this before the scheduled departure time. That does not give me enough time to resolve current passenger issues. Its not that I didn't care. I really did! My employer did not give me enough time, resources or training to do my job and some things have to give. I am so sorry, even though I was not your gate agent, but that is the nature of the beast. Which is why I no longer do that job, the other reason was dealing with ignorance on the passengers' part. I can handle that too if I was given enough time to do my job, but the personal insults crossed the line. It sucks both ways my friend.

Why was TSA so slow? Was it because the airport was crowded, or perhaps they were understaffed like usual. I realize that filing a complaint is futile but it is certainly better than not saying anything at all. Governments may be inefficient but they are consistent with keeping records and that has to count for something in the long run once we have people in Washington who know what they are doing and not wasting our tax dollars with issues that are apparently not helping the economy. By the way, I have no remorse on those who took home loans they could not afford. If you make $50,000 dollars a year then you have no business buying a $250,000 home in my opinion. Why should the tax payers pay for that? I did not vote in the presidents of the banks who approved of these loans nor did I vote for any of the Senators, Congressmen (except for one..he will not be getting my vote next time) and the current president who is trying "bail out" every large corporation with my tax dollars. If I screw up I on my bills, it is my responsibility to have prevented it or face the music. Maybe that approach is cold but I just don't agree with more debt to solve an awful debt problem that is threatening my home country!

"I guess if ALL boarding agents were allowed to fall a few minutes behind in THEIR work flights wouldn't take delays?" That sentence makes no sense at all. I understand typos though. Please clarify this one for me.

I really do appreciate your comments as I want to learn more from those who travel often. Hence my name. Good luck to you in the future.

[airhead]

For the record, I did not work for Airtran.

[Trvlr]

Silent Bob: I agree with you, and I never thought for one moment that lodging a complaint with the TSA would go anywhere. And, I had to take the train to the gate after the TSA was done with me, and to make matters worse, after everyone boarded the train and stood around waiting for it to move for a good minute or two, the doors opened and we all had to switch to the other train!

airhead: Glad you don't work for AirTran! Sorry if I came across a little strong with my last post, but having 3 people reply to my thread that were all "former airline employees", ONLY having "former airline employees" reply to my thread, then having the authenticity of MY posts being challenged was a little too reminiscent of the hypocritical, ad-hominem experiences I relate on this website.
I'd also like to interject that I have taken several very pleasant flights on quite a few airlines (Air New Zealand, Emirates, American Airlines, Southwest, etc.) and I always thanked and complimented the flight crew as I left the plane, and I have in the past, and will continue to, put my money where my mouth is, in that I will gladly pay more for a ticket on an airline whose staff has treated me well in the past. This being said, please don't expect to read anything like it from me again on this site, as this is a complaints site, and I hope given this, you don't think all my air travel experiences have been negative. Fair enough?
By hyperbole, I meant that my story is a specific occurrence involving one person who arrives at the gate "technically late" - not ALL passengers arriving at their gates late for ALL the flights in the world ALL the time - a concept to which you seemed to be relating to my specific complaint.
I could have made the statement to which you refer at the end of your post a little clearer, but sometimes I think much faster than I type. What I meant by the statement, was that the entire "delayed flight" paradigm is horrendously and inappropriately stacked against the passenger - by the airline.
If you go to this web address: http://www.interesting-people.org/ar.../msg00435.html
you will see why I am a little harsh on airlines and the way airports function these days in general - the subsidies, coupled with the blatant misallocation of human resources really make a difficult or uncomfortable flying experience truly unpalatable. Number 7 on the list REALLY pisses me off. i.e. Just as you don't want to see homeowners which as you perceive, can't handle their finances properly supported, I don't want to see industries that can't manage their finances, personnel, or infrastructure efficiently and ethically supported either.
I do thank you for your apology on behalf of the offending agent, and I do empathize with the fact that many times airline and airport staff are caught in a bad situation their employer and more powerful government institutions (and as you've stated, even passengers) have created, but I don't think this is what went on in this particular case.

With regard to the foreclosure debacle: IMHO - Allowing institutions to loan people money that the institution well knows (or bloody well should know) in all probability will not have the ability to repay, is inexcusably irresponsible and is a practice that should always remain within the very places to which it is currently legally confined: Nevada, Atlantic City, and American Indian Reservations - if you catch my drift. I don't really want to debate this issue at length, especially because it really isn't appropriate on this website, but IMHO, the banks acted irresponsibly, not the homeowners; the homeowners were just being good little consumers like they've been trained, and the homeowners (who are taxpayers too remember) are paying for the failed policies of government and lending institutions twice-over. i.e. the very taxpayers that are bailing out the banks are having their homes foreclosed on by those same banks. Cheers!

[jimworcs]

This is the best post you have made Trlvr, and I agree with almost all of it. The link is priceless.. it maps out much of what I have said in other posts. The special rules, hidden subsidies, protectionist laws, aggressive anti-consumer rules and exemption from state laws have created an environment in which airlines and their employees behave as if they are above the law. After 9/11, many airlines and their employees have exploited the tragedy to exercise their power over consumers in such a way that their behaviour is morally bankrupt and they appear to have immunity. There are countless examples of the abuse of power by ground staff and FA's and I believe the only way to address this is to re-regulate the industry, break up the "fortress hub" monopolies and allow some of the airlines (such as Delta) to go bankrupt.

[wkharris2001]

I don't work in the airport nor do I think I ever want to....but in all honesty of this situation where you weren't allowed to board 6 minutes prior to departure, your seat was probably given away to a standby passenger. I can't count the times i've barely made it onto a plane and only because a person did not show up for a flight. whenever someone asks me how far in advance to get to the airport I always quote the required 1 1/2 to 2 hours....and when they ask me the absolute minimum i tell them boarding usually starts 30 minutes prior to scheduled departure. and if you're not there 15 minutes prior your seat is subject to release (in most airlines contract of carriage) I know it was probably a frustrating situation for you. but by you not being there "on time" you probably made an airtran employee very happy that they got to board the flight to go on vacation or go home. btw i don't work for airtran either

[airhead]

I read the link was glad to learn a few things, although not surprised. Thanks for your response. And I do agree with you on the finance issue too. Cheers!

[bah humbug]

Once you are not boarded 10 minutes prior to departure, you are removed from being checked in. At that time stand-by passengers (revenue and non-revenue) are processed. Once the boarding door closes, the flight is closed. That means all paperwork has been printed and is on the way to the captain or is already in the hands of the captain. I know it sounds easy to just open the door and let someone on, but that means you have to be re-checked in, new paperwork has to be printed and taken to the captain. Nothing can be hand written like the old days, it all has to be computer generated...and that takes time. The door has to then be closed 4 minutes prior to departure so the captain can get clearance and push on time.

[Trvlr]

jimworcs and airhead: Thank you both for your responses and compliments, and I'm glad you found the info useful.

wkharris2001: Thanks for confirming what I already suspected, and "frustrating" is what I would call catching too many red lights on the way home from work; being kept from my destination an additional six hours was nothing less that unethical, self-serving, discriminatory B.S., not unlike bah humbug's response . . .

bah humbug: Thanks for attempting to explain what transpired, however, your bias is glaringly apparent. You obviously did not read (as, IMHO, your status in the industry precludes you from recognizing the truth) the portion of my post where I personally witnessed every "requirement" you mention violated. FYI: Arbitrarily enforcing the "rules" for the benefit of fellow "airline employees" to the detriment of PAYING CUSTOMERS, is bad business and discriminatory, which in this this country, is not not only ignorant and unethical, but illegal.

[justme]

Originally Posted by Trvlr

bah humbug: Thanks for attempting to explain what transpired, however, your bias is glaringly apparent. You obviously did not read (as, IMHO, your status in the industry precludes you from recognizing the truth) the portion of my post where I personally witnessed every "requirement" you mention violated. FYI: Arbitrarily enforcing the "rules" for the benefit of fellow "airline employees" to the detriment of PAYING CUSTOMERS, is bad business and discriminatory, which in this this country, is not not only ignorant and unethical, but illegal.

Bah, you agreed with me on something else, I'm going to have to agree with you here. Quite simply put, there is a cut-off time for a reason. If gate agents allowed one person to get on after the 10 or 15 min cut-off, where do we draw the line then? 7 minutes? People would still miss and complain. 4 minutes? People would miss and complain, plus every flight would be late. Departure time is the time the AIRPLANE LEAVES THE GATE, not what time the boarding door is closed. Understandably you are upset that you watched the very "rule" that kept you off of your flight be violated twice more after your flight. The case may have been though that the passengers that were boarded after the cut-off time had been told, as I have on more than one occasion, there is a seat for you because someone did not show up, but we have to wait until the cut-off time to go down to the airplane to give them a chance to show up. Also, you say it is discriminitory to allow airline employees on an airplane you were late to. Doesn't matter why you were late, fact is, you were late and they were not. They very well could have paying passengers like yourself that missed a flight earlier in the day and had been there for hours just like you. There are many many reasons to let people on after the cut-off time, some legitimate, some not. It could have been for anything, and the fact is, you were not the agent working the flight, so you can only assume what happened. We all know what happens when you assume. I can't tell you how many times I have gone to the airport, sat there ALL DAY (12+ hours) and not gotten on a flight because late passengers just keep rolling over from one flight to the next. I know you're not going to like it, but I have no sympathy for you. Show up more than 40 min before your flight leaves.

[Trvlr]

justme: No one asked for your limp sympathy. How about you, and every other incompetent airport employee learn how to do your job efficiently and properly. The running theme with every one of you current, or former, TAX PAYER SUBSIDIZED airline employees is the same; if a flight is delayed due to your incompetence, or you delay a flight to accommodate one of your employees, that's just fine, but if a paying customer arrives at the airport in plenty of time (read the responses from your ilk) to make their flight, but you decide that you'd rather accommodate your ego, instead of the people who are paying your salary, suddenly it is a "security issue", or "FAA requirement", or some other ridiculous B.S. I'm sure if you weren't working for an airline, you'd be working for GM. Perhaps you should take your own advice, and stick YOUR assumptions in the same place you can stick your absent sympathy (you'll find the money I will no longer spend on air travel there too). I have better things to do with my time (and so do a hell of a lot of other people who subsidize your industry) than use it to compensate for your incompetent, discriminatory tactics. It is a matter of record that I WAS NOT LATE in my arrival to the airport - after I arrive at the airport, it is completely out of my control as to when I arrive at the gate. Exactly how does "seat given away to an employee" equate to "you were late and they were not"? Yet you have the audacity to refer to inaccurate "assumptions?" The first sentence of your reply betrays your true motivations: "Bah, you agreed with me on something else, I'm going to have to agree with you here." So, you have waited for 12+ hours in the past, and you think everyone else should too; how exactly does this address the legitimate problem of arbitrary discrimination which you have in fact validated ("There are many reasons to let people on after the cut-off time, some legitimate, some not."). "Misery loves company" is not a valid premise for a rebuttal my freeloading friend, and, you are not going to like it, but FYI: I am traveling to Europe in the next few months, and I am going to pay over TWENTY TIMES what it would cost me to travel by plane and travel by ship. LEARN TO DO YOUR JOB EFFICIENTLY AND PROFESSIONALLY. Cheers!

[justme]

Judging by your mean-spirited attitude towards anyone who does not agree with you, I have a feeling you will find a complaint board about ocean travel and complain about how miserable and incompetent the staff were there as well. I have even less sympathy than I did before because you obviously are one of the passengers who will never be happy no matter what.

Originally Posted by Trvlr

If a flight is delayed due to your incompetence, or you delay a flight to accommodate one of your employees, that's just fine, but if a paying customer arrives at the airport in plenty of time ... to make their flight, but you decide that you'd rather accommodate your ego, instead of the people who are paying your salary, suddenly it is a "security issue", or "FAA requirement", or some other ridiculous B.S.

Wrong. Wrong. Then wrong again. First off, flights are not delayed due to MY incompetence. In fact, in my entire airline career, which only ended very recently by my choice, I never caused a delay because of something I did or did not do. Second, you obviously DID NOT arrive at the airport with plenty of time, if you had, you would have gotten on the flight and never came here to complain. Airline employees have nothing to do with security, TSA, or FAA regulations. Different people, different company, complain to them if you want. I would never put a non-paying passenger on before a paying passenger if they were both at the gate at the same time. However, when you are not there 10 min prior to departure time, your seat is given to other people who want to be on that flight. Those other people COULD be airline employees, but not necessarily. Believe it or not, airlines don't operate just to fly their employees around. As far as you paying my salary, according to your own statements, my salary was paid by subsidies.

Originally Posted by Trvlr

I'm sure if you weren't working for an airline, you'd be working for GM.

Simply put, wrong again. I would never work for or buy a GM, they're pieces of crap.

Originally Posted by Trvlr

It is a matter of record that I WAS NOT LATE in my arrival to the airport - after I arrive at the airport, it is completely out of my control as to when I arrive at the gate.

But here's the thing... YOU WERE LATE. Like I said before, if you had been there with enough time you would have made it on the flight. You didn't. The second half of that statement is also false. You have plenty to do with when you arrive at the gate. Here's a quote from a different thread, "She missed her connecting flight in San Fransico becuase she was in a book store and didn't notice the time." Point made.

Originally Posted by Trvlr

Exactly how does "seat given away to an employee" equate to "you were late and they were not"?

It doesn't, but then again, that's not what I said. I said it COULD have been an employee, and again I as I said before, if you're not there 10 minutes before departure time, your seat is lost and given to someone who is actually in the gate area and is waiting to get on a flight.

Originally Posted by Trvlr

The first sentence of your reply betrays your true motivations: "Bah, you agreed with me on something else, I'm going to have to agree with you here."

Why don't you stick to things you know something about, it was an inside joke. He got it, you obviously didn't.

Originally Posted by Trvlr

So, you have waited for 12+ hours in the past, and you think everyone else should too; how exactly does this address the legitimate problem of arbitrary discrimination which you have in fact validated [when I (justme) said] "There are many reasons to let people on after the cut-off time, some legitimate, some not."

No, I don't think that just because I have waited that you should have to too. I wait because I have the privilege of flying for free if, and only if, there is an open seat. Open seats come from two things. An unsold seat which no one was going to be occupying in the first place, OR because I was there waiting IN THE GATE AREA, and someone did not show up by the cut-off time. Just to put it out there, I have been sitting in a seat on the airplane, just to be taken off to accommodate a paying passenger. Sucks for you that's not how it happened in your case. As far as legitimate and non-legitimate reasons to let people on after cut-off, if the agent had let you on, and the flight was delayed, that would have been an example of a non-legitimate reason. They would have done it because they felt warm and fuzzy inside and wanted to break the rules. Other times, if there are large groups of people that are going to miss, or crew members that need to get on the flight for company business, that would be legitimate reasons. ONE passenger failing to make it to the gate on time does not constitute delaying a flight. Again, whether you think it would have or not, ONE person going on late can and has delayed flights.

Originally Posted by Trvlr

I am traveling to Europe in the next few months, and I am going to pay over TWENTY TIMES what it would cost me to travel by plane and travel by ship. LEARN TO DO YOUR JOB EFFICIENTLY AND PROFESSIONALLY.

Good, I would hate to have to deal with someone like you who can never be pleased. Obviously you have extra money laying around to pay "TWENTY" times what air travel would cost, so go for it. Won't bother me at all. Also, you have never met me, nor have you ever worked with me. You're assuming again, and, once again, you're wrong. I was one of the most efficient and professional people you could have ever met or worked with. As a matter of fact, I received awards for my hard work from management.

[Trvlr]

bah humbug: Do you know what the term "discrimination" means? Are you at all familiar with the term "slippery-slope"? How about the term "propaganda"? Or, the phrase "empty rhetoric"? How about you do a little homework in the area of finance, and perhaps, someday, you will be able to determine the source of "government subsidies", as well as the source of "corporate (airline) income" - HINT: they are one in the same. I suggest you ACTUALLY READ my original post and address IT, rather than blindly spew irrelevant, hypothetical equivocations, and ad-hominem assumptions. Congratulations on your awards, GM has won numerous awards as well . . .

[Trvlr]

I typed bah humbug, when in fact I meant to reply to just me . . . there are so many airline employees on this forum doing damage control . . . hmmm, do firemen usually show up en masse where there is no fire?

[justme]

Originally Posted by Trvlr

...do firemen usually show up en masse where there is no fire?

Yes actually most of their job consists of responding to lots of emergency calls that have nothing to do with fire.

[Trvlr]

Justme: Thank you for demonstrating how truly asinine and self-serving the airline employee contingent is; you have yet to properly address the original post in this thread, and now your tactics have degenerated to inaccurate quips about side comments. Are you aware of what the term "en masse" denotes? Do you know the difference between a paramedic, a policeman, and a fireman? Your knowledge of statistics regarding firemen is obviously as weak as your knowledge of statistics regarding finance, the airline industry, and the auto industry. Why don't you do me a favor, and stop pissing on this thread while claiming it is raining simply to get the last post in . . . the only person you are hurting is you; it is because of the virtual guaranteed avoidance of people who think (and I use this term loosely) like you that I will gladly spend more money, and sacrifice much more of my time, when I choose to travel now. I've noticed that you are a "former airline employee", IMHO, you'd be perfect for the TSA - how about you put in an application - then you can exercise your apparent need to dominate and control those who fund your pathetic existence with absolute impunity. Oh, and yes, I am very mean spirited toward those who have no respect for the truth, and/or those who treat my effort, time and money as if it were theirs to do with as they please for that matter. Cheers!

[Trvlr]

When I refer to catering to "airline employees", I place this in quotes, because I am not assuming that my seat was in fact given away to one, I am covering this possibility, as well as the whims/ego of the boarding gate agent, which justme has validated as a factor in who gets on the plane and when - hence the use of the term "discrimination".
Also, for those who do not know what "slippery slope" means; to state a conclusion, like "if you were not allowed to board the plane, you were of necessity late" is to engage in this logical fallacy. In other words, the "law is written as it is spoken" if you will.
And for the record, my arrival at the gate was not the result of a whimsical trip to the "gift shop", or "bathroom"; my arrival at the gate was delayed by the fact that the Bill of Rights ceases to exist once a person enters an airport (i.e. the TSA engage in "random" searches) and a malfunctioning airport tram - both completely out of my control.
A couple airline employees have stated in this thread that departing the check-in counter with no checked baggage for a domestic flight a full 40 minutes before boarding (I arrived at the airport approximately one hour before my departure time) should have been plenty of time for the airport staff to get me on my flight - and it in point of fact WAS.
So, here are a few suggestions on how not to alienate yet another paying customer from air travel in the future:
When I departed the check in gate, I received a boarding pass with the precise time of this incident stamped on it. I find it extremely hard to believe that the boarding agent was not in possession of, or couldn't simply verify this information on her computer screen, and, therefore, given the level of surveillance and personnel (once again, paid for by taxpayers) in US airports couldn't have determined that I was on my way to the gate, and exactly where I was (modern airports have been equipped with intercom systems and cameras for decades, have been over-staffed in the last decade, and just about every airport employee is equipped with a radio). I realize this additional courtesy is too much to ask of the prima donnas occupying "service" positions in airports these days, and the use of the aforementioned technology and staff to ASSIST the passengers rather than ABUSE them is too much to ask as well, just as it is too much to ask greedy airlines to stop overbooking flights (even though they get paid whether the passenger shows up or not), so please consider the following: when I went out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse last week, there were more people who wanted to eat there than there were tables, so I was told an approximate wait time, placed on a list, and handed a beeper. When a vacant table materialized, my beeper vibrated, and I claimed the table. If I had ignored my page, or wandered out of range during the approximate wait time I would have had no one to blame but myself when my table was given to another customer, however, I witnessed the hostess personally look for people on the grounds who were on the list, but did not answer their page, before their table was given up, out of COURTESY - and she makes considerably less than an airline employee, her industry is not taxpayer subsidized, and what the average customer spends at Outback is less than what the average airline ticket costs. The airlines wouldn't even have to hand out beepers, or depend on the competency of their excessive staff, or the technology appropriated by the TSA - just ask passengers for their cell phone numbers at check-in (Yes, this might mean airport/airline staff will have to indulge the "service" aspect of their position a little more). I don't think anyone who flies now does not possess a cell phone, and quite frankly, if Outback can afford to hand out beepers with no deposit or guarantee they'll be returned, the airlines can certainly afford to do the same with cell phones or simple walkie-talkies if need be, given the fact that the passenger has already purchased a ticket (and the airline has their credit card information as a security deposit). Discuss . . .