I blame station management at CVG. The Manager sets the tone and obviously runs an incompetent organization. When you have a group of 40 people, you take a minute and strategize on how to handle it properly. If you need to consult with the manager or call the help desk or get the most senior agent to assist them, it would have made to sense to take 5 or 10 minutes to sort it all out.
I know some senior agents at DFW that could have checked the whole group in within 20 minutes and had them on their way to the gate in plenty of time.