Originally Posted by
WillBarrett_68
furthermore, this doesn't even make sense. If the secret hidden goal here is to avoid hassles with the customer, it seems like the easiest thing to do is to let them board when they're supposed to. Why go to EXTRA effort to 1) close the flight early and 2) then go sneaking around down on the tarmac when they could have just ... watched the passenger scan their boarding pass. It's completely nonsensical.
I agree it is not laziness. But agents
are strongly incented to make sure that planes get out on time. Gate agents who continuously have planes depart late - even just a minute late - without a justifiable reason will not be gate agents at Delta for long.
Gate agents are responding to the incentives Delta gives them. And Delta has made it clear: do whatever you need to do to get a plane out on time.
That said, keep in mind that it is entirely possible that the computer in these cases told the gate agent that everyone scheduled to fly had boarded - so why not close? In which case - the issue is VIPR and Delta's aggressive rebooking - not the gate agent.