Originally Posted by
Often1
Not just AA, but both UA and DL as well (T-15 for domestic, T-30 for international).
There is no need for a head count at T-15 because that is done onboard and compared to the gate reader for W&B. All the GA needs to do is look at T-15. If there is nobody at the gate, he is free to board overbooked passengers & standbys or, if none, close the flight and it can push whenever the Captain and Dispatch agree that that the flight is good to go.
Indeed it is absolutely intended as a means of drawing a clear line and it does exactly that.
The GA also has available a list of confirmed passengers who have not yet boarded and is free to make an announcement or not.
Again, no different on UA or DL.
No idea what you're talking about here. I've never seen, and can recall zero reports here of, GAs randomly booting pax from a delayed flight based on a roll call or some other method of attendance-taking at T-15 of a delayed flight's
original departure time, let alone based on a cursory look around a mostly empty gate area.
In 2017 alone, I was probably sitting in a lounge at T-15 of a delayed flight's original departure time a dozen or more times, with zero adverse consequences. The entire concept of possibly being booted in such a situation is ludicrous.