Originally Posted by
Out of my Element
We had that earlier in 2023 and there was a big delay in the second flight, so they did the thru count, told us to leave our stuff on the seats we wanted, and let us leave the plane with the promise we'd reboard before the rest of the passengers. It worked perfectly. Got a chance to grab some food, do some shopping, and hit the bathroom and then come back to our preferred seats
these are times when it could happen. If you are running early it could build up about 10-15 min per hour flight time. But if the plane is late initially it’s using this to catch up. If you are there 30 min early you might be able to exit plane for 20+ minutes before boarding begins.