A few weeks back I posted about an experience in MSP on a flight to Canada where the gate agent elected to close the aircraft door 15 minutes prior to scheduled departure, despite knowing that an F passenger was 'running through the E gates' to make the flight, and knowing this would be the last flight of the night with 15+ hours until the next flight.

There has been some heated discussion on the CO boards about the enforcement of the T-15 close-out time.

I actually was surprised to read that on flights to Canada, the rule is T-30, so passengers not already onboard 30 minutes before scheduled departure can be legitimately offloaded and their seats reassigned.

Worse still, it is my understanding that this does NOT count as IVDB, and passengers are on their own to get on another flight, and responsible for overnight hotel costs etc.

What I find anomalous is the fact that the minimum connect time in MSP is just 40minutes from Domestic to International, including Canada.

In Memphis, the minimum legal connect time NW:NW from Domestic to International is just 30 minutes.

This makes no sense. You could be booked on a 'legal' connection, yet it would be physically impossible to be already onboard the next aircraft 30 minutes or more prior to take off, and therefore could feasibly be denied boarding.

If you are booked on a 'legal connection', but that connection does not allow you to be onboard the next flight more than 30 minutes prior to take-off, does NW have no obligation for IVDB?

http://www.nwa.com/plan/guide08.html