Originally Posted by
lcylocal
For me I would never plan as tight as hitting conformance at t-35m then being at the gate at potentially less than t-20m. I’ve been on enough BA flights where they have been completely boarded before t-20m. The staff may have waited for a last passenger to close the door but equally they may not have done.
One key factor here is the use of bus gates, where there is pressure on the gate staff there to close up at 20 minutes and no later, and the wording on the FIDs (display screens) underlines the fact that the gate will close 20 minutes before departure.
I can recall one situation where I was on the final bus, they closed the gate at 18 minutes to departure, but for some reason the bus didn't leave immediately. Someone rushed to the gate a minute later, and I could see what was going on from the bus. From the body language of both passenger and agent, the passenger was kept offloaded even though it would have been possible to get them on the bus with only a few seconds of further delay. Now that doesn't happen often, it's the only time I've seen this so clearly, and usually agents try to be flexible. But 20 minutes certainly can be a real deadline.