Originally Posted by
edofithaca
I am sending this message as a caution to my fellow passengers on USAirways. You must be at the gate fifteen minutes before the original departure time even if the flight is delayed. Thus, if the flight is originally scheduled for 4:05pm you must be in the gate area by 3:50pm even though the flight is listed on the television monitors with a 4:30pm departure.
As far as I could remember, all my international flights seemed to have announcements in the lounge that one should be at the gate well before the departure time... Provided that I was in the lounge operated by the same airlines. As such I have made the habit of always asking a desk agent @ the lounge about the schedule of my flights as part of my checking in to one. It would be interesting to know what would happen if an agent were to say 'Your flight has been delayed, you still have xxx minutes/hours' and it turned out to be the way the OP described!? May be the desk agents have access to a more up-to-date information?