DManzaluni

Having got past the dogma, I think we are getting close to the nub of the problem here. Yes, CDG is AF's home base. When something at CDG causes a number of passengers to arrive a few minutes into some arbitrary (see below) 20 minute period, I say the airline shouldn't just stand on ceremony and refuse to let people go down the walkway to the plane because some 20 minute time period is slightly eaten into.

And yes, they could have sent someone to the security line to see what was going on or at least made some announcements over the P.A.. Especially where the gate was quite so far away. Instead of telling everyone there that they couldn't get onto the flight. After all, they did know that we absolutely had to have been there because they had just checked us in! Instead, the attitude of the GAs seems to have been 'It doesn't matter: They will get a hotel and meal so they won't be too inconvenienced and can get onto the next flight.'

[No, after what I said reasonably clearly originally, - of course AF refused to pay for my hotel! And on a practical point, a contracting party who has contracted with an airline and who lives five thousand miles away can NEVER in practice enforce/take action against airport security or the airport operator to recover damage for losses. That contracting party can only take action, -usually some sort of Small Claims action, - against the party with whom they have contracted. The airline, of course, whether home base or not, IS in a position to recover losses arising from this sort of problem from the airport operator. With whom that airline IS obviously in a contractual relationship]

I do think it relevant that I was on that next flight, was watching for timings etc and SAW passengers rushing onto the flight up to 10 minutes before take off.