Originally Posted by
fastair
* To be eligible for compensation, you must have a confirmed reservation. A written confirmation issued by the airline or an authorized agent or reservation service qualifies you in this regard even if the airline can't find your reservation in the computer, as long as you didn't cancel your reservation or miss a reconfirmation deadline."
What's a reservation?
What's a confirmation?
What's a writing?
It is trivial for an airline to weasel out of all of these, hence they do, such as by hidden reconfirmation deadlines, hidden check in deadlines, hidden deadlines for being present in the boarding area, etc.
Everyone understands what a boarding pass is; the TSA requires one to enter the sterile area and board a plane.