Originally Posted by fastflyer

The agent at the gate does not see if the boarding card has been duplicated in the Admirals Club. Since the flight is under airport control, s/he may assume that all pax awaiting upgrades are present in the boarding area, and start to page them right before boarding at T-30 (and maybe soon T-40 like DL).

Technically, the gate agent shouldn't un-board anyone until T-15, but I understand the confusion, particularly while paging someone and the next guy in line is standing at the gate making comments like, "he's not here, I'd like that upgrade so I can board."

I've seen JFK-LAX pax be fully processed through the gate (although largely standing on the jetway) at T-20 because the agent boarded early, and I've had to hustle to board. JFK has such long taxi timings that I think the gate agents there try to close-out their flights as soon as possible.

Best practice when the upgrade has cleared during airport control (within a couple hours before departure): go to the gate at the beginning of boarding.

Originally Posted by QueenOfCoach

Just out of curiosity, when did you arrive the gate in relation to the printed boarding time? Were you there before, at or after the printed boarding time?