Originally Posted by
yyckerr
Not true. They will fight hard to not issue an L tag. I have had to escalate on site at least twice in <15 minutes late situations.
Check-in agent would deny me, I argue. Get nowhere. Then go hunt down a supervisor on the floor and make it happen.
Getting them to re-open a flight is not trivial. the check-in agent can't do it. they need to track down someone who has the authorisation - it is a major PITA for them to locate someone to re-open the flight, check your bag and close it again. They might do it for a SE, but it definitely isn't something you can count on.
If you are late and as long as your bag will fit through the x-ray machine, just haul it through security and then gate check it. Otherwise you are pretty much stuck doing what the OP did.