Originally Posted by
jsloan
Actually, they can and do.
They don't close every flight at T-30, and they'll wait when it's practical, but if there's a big line of standby passengers waiting, they'll start to fill those seats, especially if the potential no-shows don't appear to be near the gate. (The gate agents can see which inbound flight each connecting passenger is on, and what its status is).
Well, sure, if the GA knows a connecting passenger is going to be an hour late getting to the departure gate then they aren't going to hold the seat for him/her. If they think they'll be there inside of scheduled departure, perhaps a little sooner, they aren't going to give away the seat at T-30. I know there have been odd exceptions but there have also been cases where someone schedules a 2 1/2 hour connection and they don't make it.