Originally Posted by
beachmouse
And the majority of US flyers hate bus gates at places like Washington National and Miami.
Where are there "bus" gates in Miami? AA Eagle flights are mostly out of the same gate D60, but it is a covered walkway to the plane, not a bus.
Getting back to the OP's original post:
Most airports have the gates assigned to particular airlines, so the actual airline controls the gate. It is only the airports who have common area type assignments of gates that the airports control the gate assignment. If you ever listen to ATC, the Controller asks more times than not which gate the plane is assigned to so they can turn the taxiing control to the proper controller.
Sorry, was replying before getting to the end of the thread, I see LarryJ made the same comment right before me.