Let's look at this from another perspective.

Recently in another country I had to make a connection between 2 seperate flights on the same airline that required me to exit the airside area and re-check-in land side.

The flight was late and the line was relatively short with one person only working the check-in. The idiot in front of me must have taken 10 minutes to check in. Better yet, his flight was in 3 HOURS, while mine was now in 15 minutes. In addition to changing his seat three times and insisting several times that his FF number be included in his booking (it was, but did not show up on the BP on this airline, it never does), he then demanded a written club pass (when his biz bp was just enough). When I finally asked if he could perhaps stop his rantings and idiocy for about 30 seconds so I could check-in for my flight which was now leaving in 15 minutes he basically took the attitude that is being taken here, that I was abusing the system by showing up late and was irresponsible (remember, his flight was in 3 hours, and mine in 15 minutes, I should mention that the agent neither said or did anything during this exchange).

I asked the agent if he was checked in (answer:yes) moved his carry-on with my foot to the side and ignored him. He tried grabbing me and telling me to get back in line. In short, it was an ugly scene.

The point of this anecdote is that the people who are shoved to the front of the line are nopt always necessarily late to the airport and in some cases it is due to the airlines themselves.

In short, this is why I make sure that I have elite qualifications on ALL ALLIANCES, so that I will never have to be in the general line. Yes one day I may get stuck in a general line, but I figure that with 1 world, * alliance, Skyteam and Wings covered (about 32 airlines covered) it will not happen soon.

On the other hand, I will NEVER EVER show up hours and hours before a flight. I do not have the time in my life to wait for hours and hours in line, especially as most of my travel is international and I see how many other countries have set-ups much superior to those in the US and do not require hours of waiting to implement them. I do however realize that it is a risk, although your story is a bit different as you were in general rather than elite lines.