It's great that British Airways' boarding passes have 'Gate Close' times printed in bold. This should denote the last time at which a passenger can expect to be admitted for travel. Arrive at the gate after this time and, well, it should be your own fault if you miss the flight, I'd say.

One annoyingly trend I've noticed at several BA outstations, is for the gate close time to be printed as something spuriously absurd. T-40 for short-hauls from FRA and MAD. And a whopping T-55 from CPT last week! If this is to be believed, the gate closes before check-in closes!

I understand station mangers (or whoever's responsible for setting these times at outstations) may be well meaning; they want passengers to arrive at the gate on time. But setting such absurdly early times is like crying wolf; nobody is going to believe them.

As far as I'm concerned, T-10 for short-haul, and T-20 for long-haul, should be more than acceptable published gate close times.

Agree?