Originally Posted by
fairviewroad
I guess if this happens in the future, the thing to do is to take a photo of the closed gate IMMEDIATELY so you have a time-stamped picture that shows you were unfairly denied boarding. But even that's a bit of a stretch. Better to just show up earlier if possible.
That only proves that your camera/phone/whatever said it was a certain time when you took the photo.
Over the course of a TATL, I've watched my phone drift several minutes out of sync with reality, so no one's going to buy the argument of your photo's timestamp, unless the photo includes a clock at the gate or something.
I'm not an advocate of showing up EARLY. If boarding is scheduled at T-40, early would be T-45. Late is T-20, when they can close the door. Just don't be late.