Originally Posted by
traveller001
Staffing usually isn't the issue... It's the cascading gate changes that occur if you'd simply pull into an open gate. Passengers, transfer bag runners, and changing crew all have to be notified of the change. One seemingly little change could affect the rest of the day. Gate changes for the 100+ waiting passengers for the next flight especially at LAS could mean a long walk in short time. Yes, they plan gate utilization many hours in advance. Though things like delays still can mess it all up. Intentionally messing everything up by saying sure pull into this open gate causes more problems than good.
Of course if there was a Medical Emergency they'd pull into any open gate ASAP and deal with the effects later.
Hope that explains the very complicated gating issue a bit.
With all due respect, most airlines have an Operations staff which monitor these situations all day long and make changes as needed (preferably BEFORE it inconveniences a lot of passengers). Basically, WN doesn't seem to do as good a job as other airlines do.