Originally Posted by
alan562
First off why would Alaska make special rules for LAS only. I can't find any rule that states 40 minutes BEFORE DEPARTURE. The only thing I can find is be checked in 90 min prior to departure. They will leave 15 minutes early if everyone is there. YOU MUST WORK FOR ALASKA. They had coach seats for us 15 minutes before departure. How did they know whether we were at the gate or not. We still had our FIRST CLASS BOARDING PASSES. Alan562
I think everyone has already spelled it out for you. It says very clearly on Alaska's Check-In and Boarding Cut-Off Times page (
http://www.alaskaair.com/as/www2/help/faqs/Boarding.asp) that you must be at the gate at NLT 40 minutes before departure for LAS. Here's the verbage:
"To accommodate all travelers on a flight, passengers must be checked in and available to board at the designated boarding gate at least 30 minutes before posted departure* for all flights. Failure to meet these requirements may cause the cancellation of reserved seats and/or the entire reservation.
* The following Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air cities require that passengers be checked in and available to board at least 40 minutes before posted departure: Anchorage, Barrow, Bethel, Dillingham, Fairbanks, Juneau, Ketchikan, King Salmon, Kodiak, Kona, Kotzebue, Las Vegas, Nome, Petersburg, Sitka, and Yakutat."
As everyone else has said before, not being at the gate in time risks the cancellation of your seats. In fact, I've even had a plane leave 10 minutes early without me because I dawdled around too much and thought I could just stroll on the plane moments before departure. Not a mistake I'll make again. It's frustrating, but those are the rules.