<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by tazi:
...but I have been on flights where they held the plane in order to allow people just getting in the terminal time to make it to their connections. CO at IAH on the other hand, recently closed a flight early even though they knew they had people trying to make that connection. </font>
This is an industry secret -- if the flight's full, close the door but if it isn't, keep it open. Every airline (including discounters such as AirTran) does this.
I was at DFW awhile ago and a flight to HNL was boarding. The gate agent complained she'd new volunteers, but then a supervisor came back and informed her they had "held" a flight on the tarmac, so that'd take care of the volunteer situation. In other words, the flight to HNL was oversold and AA saved themselves the trouble of issuing vouchers by not letting a flight deplane.