[Butch Cassidy Slept Here]

those on here that want to use the forum as a soapbox for their own agenda and to bash the airlines

By your own admission, Jetliner, you bash customers who arrive late for their flight.

I may sit-down, with a tape measure, and measure my carry-on to make sure it conforms to the requirements of the smallest aircraft I will be travelling on. Not everyone does that. You got very huffy when I compared a Contract of Carriage to an insurance policy, but its the truth. The New York Times is written for an eighth grade reading level. I'm not sure that's the case with a Contract of Carriage.

The reality is, air travel, as another poster suggested, a "gottcha" game. If an airline wants to the overwhelming number of customers could be significantly inconvenienced by reason of having failed to comply with one rule or another.

Is it realistic for a customer to expect to be boarded if they arrive at check-in 15 to 30 minutes prior to departure? Probably not. Should there be some flexibility in the type of tickets that are sold so these types of misunderstandings, on the part of the customer, are less damaging? Certainly. As has been pointed-out, Southwest offers such flexibility.