lol ya such roulette, like traveling carry on only and seeing your 0900 flight is delayed til 1130. rest of the world this is 0 issue, but in the world of t5, showing up at 1030 is like playing roulette. 1 in 37 odds to get 35. it's almost hilarious how self destructive lhr and ba are.
in the rest of the world, doors close time is normally 10-20 minutes before departure. so on that flight delayed til 1130, it's 1110. that's reasonable.
airlines pay ground handlers to stick around during delays. because delays happen at airports. i have never showed up to a checkin counter for a published late flight and seen no staff around. but the worst airline i fly is westjet.
Have you never had a flight delay magically disappear? I have, and pretty much all over the world. I'm not defending the 35 minute conformance, just pointing out that you should arrive at the gate/airport based on scheduled time, unless you have specifically told otherwise.