Originally Posted by
mivia
My anecdotal experience says that for an international flight departing IST it was not the case at least in mid-February, and then same flight in early April had it. I don't remember what was the cutoff time on the pass, but I do remember having to wait for about 20 mintues after coming to the gate roughly 50 minutes before departure.
Either way it is unreasonable that you are expected to be present in front of the gate one hour before departure.
they want to make sure that people are prepared to be at the gate when boarding starts (as IST airport is huuuuge and sometimes it takes 20 minutes to get to the gate from the airport center). depending on the arrival of the plane and the cleaning it can take longer to start boarding. anyway the cutoff time is very strict (for all airlines) - but be prepared to be not accepted in the very last minute. had early departures on other airlines as well (e.g. AF from LHR - I left the lounge at indicated boarding time and when I arrived at the gate 2 min later they already made the last boarding call and were looking for me.