So i was in SMF last week. I was booked on the 5:30pm Alaska direct flight returning to SEA. My meeting ended very early and i decided to head to the airport to catch the 2:10 horizon flight connecting through PDX arriving in SEA at 5:15. This of course would make my kids very happy being able to join them for dinner. Being a Gold I didn't think twice about showing up and asking to switch to the earlier flight as I have done this many times in the past and know that standby for golds is something they still allow. However when i reached the airport the agent said he couldn't make the change anymore and i need to call reservations to make the change since it included a change in the city pairs. After almost 10 minutes on the phone they finally reissued the ticket and i barely made the flight. The agent in SMF was very apologetic and said it was a change in procedure due to some fine the airline incurred because of some FAA rule (i was on the phone with res when he was talking about it so i missed some of the details). Anybody know why or when this rule change took effect? Had i known, i would have called from the car on the way to the airport. It all seems a bit odd to me but thought I'd ask for some clarity here.