Flight departed early and not able to board, options?
My friends were at the gate 15 minutes prior, but the door was already closed. they were informed that the plane left early, but how do I prove that? where can I get flight history that includes the time the gate closed. They paid $400 each to get home the next day. Help!
AA Flight Number 4507
Departs 11/19/12 9:00 pm
New York LaGuardia, NY
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Agents usually do a great job calling the missing passenger on the overhead speaker system. They must have boarded everyone pretty quickly and 20 mins before departure, closed it out.
Legally they can cut you off up to 20mins prior to departure. Read through the tariff and you will find that information.
If that's true, then shame on AA for saying 15 minutes on aa.com:
"For flights originating in the U.S.:
Minimum check-in (obtained a boarding pass) is at least 30 minutes before scheduled departure
Arrive at the gate and be ready to board at least 15 minutes prior to scheduled departure"
It seems to me that if the OP's friend was at the gate at least 15 minutes before scheduled departure time and was denied boarding, IDB compensation would be due (unless the flight was operated with an aircraft size that is exempt from IDB). The friend certainly should not have been required to pay anything additional to be accommodated on the next day's flight.
But proving that the friend was actually at the gate at least 15 minutes (and not 14 minutes and 30 seconds) before scheduled departure time may well be impossible.
Good question Mike. Does it matter when they checked in? They were told that the plane left early. I do see on flight aware where the plane departed at 9:13, but is there a way to know when they closed the gate? Do they every close the doors early? AA.com does state 15 minutes.
Good question Mike. Does it matter when they checked in? They were told that the plane left early. I do see on flight aware where the plane departed at 9:13, but is there a way to know when they closed the gate? Do they every close the doors early? AA.com does state 15 minutes.
I think the point is that if they did not check in for the flight at least 30 minutes before scheduled departure time, then AA was entitled to cancel the reservations, and give the seats to standby passengers, if any. In that situation, AA would owe nothing, even if the passengers appeared at the gate 15-29 minutes ahead of departure time. But even then, I would have thought that AA would have flown them out on an available flight (if any) the next day, under a flat-tire type accommodation. Did the passengers request re-accommodation from AA, or did they elect to buy new tickets in order to have confirmed seats?
Edited to add: But if they had boarding passes -- which they had to have to get through security -- they had to have checked in. Would AA even permit them to check in less than 30 minutes before scheduled departure?
Location: DFW; 2-time FT Fantasy Football Champ, now in recovery.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by guv1976
Edited to add: But if they had boarding passes -- which they had to have to get through security -- they had to have checked in. Would AA even permit them to check in less than 30 minutes before scheduled departure?
There are rare cases where you can get to the gate without having checked in, specifically, arriving from a connecting flight on a separate PNR. Given this was LGA, which has no airside connections between concourses, it's very unlikely.
IME, AA will not check you in beyond the 30 minute cutoff. There's no agent discretion, the computers block it.
So I agree, this likely comes down to what time - exactly - the pax arrived at the gate. And even if it was 16 minutes, it's difficult to prove.
I am surprised the airline wouldn't accommodate them for free the next day on a standby / flat tire basis.
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The gate cut off is t-15 not t-20 (presuming domestic). At that time, AA is free to board pax at the gate, close the flight & depart. Or they can clear standbys and the like
I know that your friends said they were at the gate at t-15, but it's not their watch which counts.
If they ask nicely and calmly, AA might accommodate them on another flight on a standby basis. But, it's not guaranteed, so attitude counts.
A tough lesson learned. But, AA does give solid advice about time needed at the airport.
I once turned up just about 15 minutes before a flight (tons of construction at JFK so it took forever to get the last couple hundred yards) and they had already closed the flight (though not the door) and wouldn't board me. The agent refunded the ticket immediately upon request (last flight of the day so I drove rather than spending the night).
Another time a lack of ramp crew held us up when trying to park at the gate at DFW. Ran through the airport and got to the connecting flight with 15 minutes to go and they had already given up my seat, and then the flight was full. AAgents were totally unapologetic about any aspect of it, even though it was all under AA's control. Seemed to me like the gate agents either wanted to get someone on my connecting flight, or they had an oversold flight and were trying to avoid having to pay.
A third time (and this was pre-9/11 so you didn't need a boarding pass to get to the gate - I think I did telephone checkin) at LGA I was in line at the gate waiting for a boarding pass, but by the time I got to the counter there was maybe 10-12 minutes to go. They had already given my seat to a nonrev, well before the 15 minute mark, and told me the flight was full. It wasn't actually full, but rather a small commuter plane that they would only board 30 out of the 34 seats on under normal circumstances. After some arguing and me speaking to a supervisor on the gate agent's phone, I heard the GA give a physical description of me and my bags and realized she was talking to the pilot about my weight and he was going to decided whether to board me. He ended up agreeing. There wasn't any space in the cargo hold to gate check my rollaboard, so they strapped it into its own seat on the plane. This held up the plane for probably 20 minutes after everyone else was already onboard, so I'm sure the other pax were thrilled with me.
All three times it was pretty difficult to determine/prove whether I was really at the gate 15 minutes prior. There's no official clock to punch in at, and the gate agents make you stand around for a few minutes before they'll talk to you, ensuring that by the time they grace you with their attention, you're well within the 15 minute window.
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Nota bene: The views expressed in this post are not necessarily mine.
Week ago Saturday I got the gate at T-20, and it was empty. Regional Jet was put on Tarmac, connected to Tug, door closed, ready to go.
No one at gate. I called ticket desk (have number from friendly UA TA) and said "I'm at A2 20 minutes before flight time ... Need to get on please."
Gate agent had to come back and reopen door for me. Fellow pax were not pleased with me...got a lot of DYKiA looks
Today, I goofed and forgot about post TG surge. Got to airport at T-45, security was jammed, arrived at gate T-5. Was paged "last call" made it and got on DL flight.....I was lucky and could have been denied boarding of course....whew!
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AA real mess
Thank you Laser Sailor for the tip about calling the airline. I once arrived at my gate at DCA for an American Eagle flight to JFK. At about 18 min prior no one was at the gate. I could see the aircraft at the end of the jet bridge. I asked at the adjacent gate for assistance. "That is American Eagle", was the response. So much for a seemless operation. The agent returned only after closing the flight and the aircraft was pushing back. The agent balked at rebooking me and told me to go out past security and get rebooked at ticketing. Luckily a supervisor happened to appear. I appealed to the supervisor and he very graciously accomodated me and booked me on a different routing to my destination.
Thanks for all the good advice. My friends checked in 2 hours before the flight. I think that I will send a letter to American Airlines, requesting a refund or free ticket for each passenger anyway, even though I can't prove the times. I personally have had good luck with this kind of issue. When the pipes on all the trains froze in Chicago, Amtrak gave me a very generous future travel voucher ($400) for our uncomfortable delay at the station, even though, obviously, the freeze was totally out of their control.) So, you never know. I found that attitude & a smile goes a long, long way. One christmas, I asked a particularly harried agent if I could go & get her a cup of coffee. When I boarded the plane, I found myself in 1st class!! Nice. Thanks again for your help.
