Originally Posted by
lcylocal
Apologies if this is obvious but just to add gates/doors are closed at 20 mins before departure time. So meeting conformance does not necessarily mean mean not missing the flight. For example a bag sent for a random secondary scan and then a departure from T5C gates would quickly eat into that 15 mins.
And for completeness bag drops close 60 minutes before long haul and 45 minutes before short haul flights. A number of years ago I did get a bit of flex on the latter deadline at Gatwick, but I wouldn’t recommend it!
Conformance is fairly strictly enforced by BA computer system. The 20 min gate closing is more of an information to motivate pax to get to their gate early. In theory it is enforced and the rule can be used to turn down late pax. But often, boarding is not completed and door closed 20min before departure time.