Originally Posted by
SCChris
One wrinkle in all of this is that AA added language to the Contract of Carriage saying that customers need to be at the gate 30 minutes prior to departure. There have been a couple instances where people here have been either outright bumped or downgraded for failing to appear at this time. While the language isn't clear to me that one can be bumped for this, in at least one of the cases AA specifically cited this in denying compensation. If someone tried to claim these sorts of things are IDB's this is probably what AA would stand behind (assuming the customer was legitimately not at the gate 30 minutes prior).
Be at the gate and ready to board the plane at least:
- 30 minutes before departure on domestic flights
- 45 minutes before departure for international flights
You must have a boarding pass with a valid seat assignment to board the plane.
Boarding ends 15 minutes before departure. If you’re not on board, we may reassign your seat to another passenger. You will not be allowed to board once the doors close.
While I can see that possibly being used as an excuse at an originating flight - I can't see them being able to make that argument for a connection. There are MCTs that are 30 minutes, if I am not mistaken Austin is 25 min - how can that be a egal MCT if 5 minutes before your scheduled gate arrival you have to be at the departure gate.
For what it's worth I had this happen numerous times where I made it to the gate well before boarding finished and I had been off-loaded. 2-3 times I didn't make it on at all then which really really frustrates