jetsetter

I've noticed recently especially on some of the flights departing DCA to BOS that B6 is showing a very early out time like 10-15 minutes early. And of course, the out time I think is when the brake is released, so that means the door closing time is even earlier than the out time!

Recently I was booked on the last flight of the night departing at 20:59 and it showed an out time of 20:47, and I arrived at the gate at 20:49 when it was pushing back. I ended up booking a new ticket on AA for the next morning and then switching it at customer service to fly on the AA 22:00 departure, which that extra flight is handy and its handy that the AA shuttle now operates out of DCA B 23-34 concourse same as B6! I had to book it for the next day because I don't think the OTA would let you book a flight online leaving in just under 1 hour. I got an AA agent who was still on native Sabre and he was able to get it switched to the evening flight in a flash, speed that may not be possible with the new QIK Sabre overlay interface that the New AA is moving too.

I also looked at the first DCA BOS flight of the day recently which is a 06:00 departure and it showed an out time of about 05:45 or 05:47. Now, thats early!

I know they have a lot of BOS based crews so I don't know if its DCA ground crew, the flight crews, or corporate trying to get these early out times!

We always joke its the BOS crews wanting to get home to the hub but I realize that may not be the reason.

I take a lot of shuttle type quick day trips, so this early out time is a concern.

I think AA also has a sort of posted rule about being in the gate area 15 minutes early, but I don't think AA quite as aggressively closes the door early on the shuttle flights; it would be surprising if they closed the door any earlier than 10 minutes prior.

Also at least in the past the DL shuttle had a posted policy that flights would not close any earlier than 5 minutes prior to departure presuming pax were checked in. I don't know if DL has watered this down or not recently but it was a great differentiater that perhaps most people didn't realize!

Also I don't think in the 90's when I started flying that flights closed this early, and I don't feel like the flying public is better off with the early close outs. I don't think flights are significantly more on time due to the early close outs.

I remember a ton of times I flew CO a lot in the 90's and I would leave the Presidents Club about 10-15 minutes prior to departure time and I would rarely if ever miss a flight because again flights close their doors at departure time or just slightly (1-2 minutes) early not 10 or 20 minutes early!

Does anyone else who flew in the 90's remember that this was how it was, or am I just imagining the good old days (the 90's ) were better?

Finally I would imagine in the northeast that this might be a pro for Amtrak since they don't depart their trains early; although if you get on the train late you'd have less of a pick of seats kind of like Southwest .

I will end this with a good story from my perspective I was leaving BOS at lets say 19:30 and I had a delay in one of the shops buying a T Shirt and I was 99% sure I was going to miss the flight because I did not leave the shop until lets say 19:20. However, the plane was still there, and I don't think it ran late or anything because it left close to the departure time. I would send in a compliment for those gate agents, but I would be nervous to do that because "the company" might think it was not good since they seem to largely only focus on on time! I've had a number of gate agents tell me the company really focuses a lot on on time push backs and departures.

Some of you might have a hard time relating to this if you mainly fly longer distance or duration trips. But if you hop up and down say the east or west coast you may sometimes go to one of these cities for the day or even for the afternoon for a quick meeting so you don't have as much time or slack to get to the airport early like you might if you were flying say transcon for a 1 week trip.

sbm12

DL used to guarantee access to the Shuttle flights so long as you showed up no later than 3 minutes prior to scheduled departure. I used that to my advantage more than once. The company still offers a 5 minute cutoff guarantee for Shuttle flights, the most lenient in the USA AFAIK.

Airlines - all of them - are more aggressive no in terms of cut-off times to be at the gate/boarded or risk being off-loaded than they were a decade ago. It is all stations, not just DCA or BOS or JetBlue.

The current B6 policy is:
You weren't and the plane left without you. DL or AA or UA could do the same; they all have similar policies.

jetsetter

I agree that this can happen with any airline not specifrically B6. I was Chairman's Preferred for a while on legacy US and a couple of times they left without me say 10-15 minutes early on the last flight of the night. One time it was so early in fact that legacy US customer relations sent me a travel voucher for my approximately $100-$150 hotel.

I got so frustrated with how they handled one of these when I was a US Chairman's Preferred that I jumped to UA 1K and shlepped out to IAD for a while because I felt that 1K recognition was better at UA IAD than US DCA. Again, this is well in the past with legacy US. I'm sure it helped also that at the time IAD fares were a lot lower than DCA.....as of now they are pretty comparable.

So how do you think this industry trend including B6 of early out times either benefits or harms the public? Is there anything to say the public is better off under this "new system?" Or is it just a way for the airlines to have even more time to pad their on time numbers? I mean if you close the door 15 minutes early, it gives you a lot more wiggle room for an on time arrival!

Also I have to believe some airlines use this practice more than others. I'm not saying B6 does it more or less, I would be curious in fact.

My mom, a non elite traveler in her 70's, actually got hung up at security at BOS trying to fly BOS DCA. The flight left without her. She told me that B6 insisted on charging her to put her on the next flight. She says they never offered her free standby which I think is official SOP for a no show who arrives at the airport.

I called B6 to try to reverse the charge and they said the notes in the PNR said she was offered standby but elected to pay. Again, she says she was never offered standby. I wasn't there?!

B6 did refund my moms charge as a courtesy though they kept saying how they were not obligated too.

I just bring this up because maybe these early out times are a sneaky way for the airlines to collect some kind of no show or rebooking fee.

I also have a co worker who was connecting on DL in JFK. She's by no means a frequent flyer or a travel hacker. She's a "normal person," as far as that goes.

So they closed her flight early and also charged her for the reaccommodation! I think she got it refunded but how many people have the tenacity to ask for refunds? Or how many people making a flight connection and remember they are totally out of their element at the airport will "just say no" when a gate agent trys to charge them a fee, and ask for a supervisor or ask that the fee be waived? I bet its more common for the normal pax to whip out their plastic!

I bet all the airlines collect a lot of fees from these early close times?

RWPrincess

This happened to a flight I was on recently. I forget where I was going maybe New Orleans. I go to the gate about 15min before boarding, nothing is going on, I walk into the gift shop adjacent to the gate to sell back a book, and when I walked out they had already started boarding Mosaics. I never heard anything inside the shop and was there less than 5 minutes. It was also at least 5 minutes earlier than the boarding time on the boarding pass. This was at JFK. So beware.

Doc Savage

The bottom line is that if you show up at the gate less than 15-20 min before your scheduled flight time, it's fairly likely your seat will be given away/you'll be left. Argue all you want about who benefits, but you'll lose in the end.

Brighton Line

Just happened on my last flight 9:30a departure PBI-JFK, we pushed 10 minutes early.
We were at the gate eating breakfast at Chili's didn't hear any boarding announcement. At 30 minutes before departure (15 before the gate deadline) they were all ready making PA customer pages by passenger name that the plane was immediately departing.
Not an full flight, I would say 80% full.
Landed 31R in front of T5, heavy breaking and right into the gate. Once of my fastest trips. Flight was then going to DAB.

ImprovGal

I've flown PVD-MCO a number of times and would get to the gate for the boarding time only to find the boarding process was already underway. This most recent trip, I looked at my boarding pass and realized that the boarding time was earlier than the 30 minutes prior I'd expected (I can't remember if it was 35 or 40 min prior). But I got to the gate just prior to the time on the bp and they still started their boarding earlier.

jetsetter

B6 1090 is the last DCA BOS of the night with a posted boarding time of 20:29 and a departure time of 20:59. Last night, Mon 8/29, they annoucned a "final boarding call," at about 20:25, which is 4 minutes before the posted boarding time.

From ExpertFlyer:
Comments:
DCA 859P B 30
BOS 1029P
4DCA/OUT 2041 OFF 2102 *2002*HDQFTP
2BOS/ON 2203 IN 2209 *2109*HDQFTP

I notice a lot of the time when they have these early close outs, they don't get a much faster "off time."

I just thought it was really interesting they announced the final boarding call at 20:25.

I guess they would be obligated to wait to close the door until 20:44, with there 15 minute rule, if they had missing pax that were checked in to the flight.

Also BTW the flight was pretty light with only about 48 passengers.

It also got me to thinking lets say they closed the door at 20:35, and there were in fact checked in pax that missed the flight, and again that door close would be earlier than what they publish as the door close time; would such a pax be entitled to involuntary denied boarding compensation? Typically IDB comes up re oversales, but I wonder if it can be invoked with this kind of scenario? I know also AA has been documented to try to close flights really early, and they actually post a 10 minute door close time.

GrayAnderson

Though not limited to B6, this is generally a fairy annoying trend for all sorts of reasons (not least of which is security issues...there have been too many "outbursts" of airport security going horribly wrong, for example). Unless I'm getting a free pre-takeoff drink, all else being equal I'd really rather wait in a terminal (where as often as not I have wifi and so on). Moreover, as noted, there's one issue of more time being carved out (e.g. boarding door closes at 2044 for a 2059 departure) and another of a "final call" at 2024 (a full 35 minutes before departure). Especially if takeoff generally cannot be expedited, I really do not see a value to the pax in forcing another 20 minutes of advance-arrival time at the airport.

FWIW, even Amtrak is moving in this direction (though to be fair, I think the ten-minute reservation cut-off at a handful of major stations has more to do with not wanting panicked pax running through the station).

sbm12

If there are no missing pax then closing early for a chance to get out early (doesn't always happen but it can help, particularly at more crowded airports or where WX is in play and ATC is giving wheels up times based on expected "OUT" times) it is smart business. If pax are missing and they close early it generally is less smart.

Often1

First, B6 has the same boarding cut off as the three legacies at T-15. The purpose is to permit the GA, the Captain and dispatch to close the flight, compute weight & balance and allow an ontime push. If you arrive at T-14, you are late and if B6 (or UA, AA or DL denies boarding you are SOL).

Second, if all ticketed pax are onboard, there is no reason to hold the flight, whether it is T-16 or even earlier. What is B6 waiting for. Sure, it was nice back when DL or Eastern before it ran the Shuttle as a continuous service. But, those days are long gone. B6 does not market a Shuttle and the AAS/DLS are mere branding gimmicks.

I see no reason not to close the flight at T-14 at the latest and to lose it earlier if all ticketed passengers are onboard. The problem lies in people who cut it too close and think that they can get away with it.