Originally Posted by
Often1
The BP does not say T-10 for presentation. It states that doors close at T-10.
Whether the passenger was late is a factual question. Because OP was not the passenger, that won't be resolveable here. OP says his friend says T-34, which would have been timely. According to OP, AA says T-29. Whether AA said that to the friend or to OP is unclear.
Again, this T-30 cutoff is not in any agreement. Sure, AA says they can bump him and fill the seats, but it doesn't say "we will not wait for passengers after this point". In EU law, burden of proof is on AA, so they're going to have to prove he was late, that his seat was reassigned, which resulted in the flight taking off full. Sure, they could argue that they cancelled his reservation instead of reassigning his seat and the flight did not leave full, but that means the wording in the CoC isn't correct, and they broke a contract with my friend. EU261/2004 is all about protecting the passenger; NOT the airline.
My evidence presented as: His airport check-in time, his security scan time, his boarding pass' t-10 warning, the AA COC wording of "reassign", the AA COC wording of "doors close 10 minutes prior", the 22 minute early departure, and finally the AA International Rules for Denied Boarding, AA Rule 0087 (C)(2)(D):
- (D)ALL OTHER PASSENGERS ON A FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED BASIS. HOWEVER, IN ACCORDANCE WITH RULE 60(F) (RESERVATIONS), ALL PASSENGERS MUST PRESENT THEMSELVES AT THE LOADING GATE, FOR BOARDING AT LEAST TEN MINUTES BEFORE SCHEDULED DEPARTURE.
I think we have a pretty solid case against their "YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN ABOUT T-30"