One of the first lessons in Army Basic Training innit?

"If you're not on parade 5 minutes before the time you were told to report, you're *expletive* well late!"

As far as the Bealine family is concerned, conformance is either as soon as you have completed check-in and you have a boarding pass in your mitt or -60 mins, whichever comes first. Get to the airport early, get through security, find out the gate area and get yourself positioned close by and then relax!

It's not really that hard, is it?

Sorry for the OP's friends though - it seems a very harsh lesson to learn, but one that many people have learned and will, no doubt, continue to learn into the future. As has been pointed out, like it or loathe it, conformance is the single issue that improved BA's previously abysmal punctuality performance. In fact, to quote Continental Airlines' former CEO, we went "From Worst to First!" at Heathrow almost overnight.