davie355

I had a late inbound flight to PHX that cut my connection time to 2 minutes. As I approached the connecting gate, I noticed the door was shut and the monitors said "Flight closed," so I continued walking to a customer service counter.

While in line at the counter, I kept refreshing my AA app out of curiosity, and noticed the departure time for the supposedly closed flight getting pushed back. It wasn't until 25 minutes later that the flight status finally changed to Departed.

Did I make a rookie mistake? Should I have spoken to the gate agent at the closed flight as soon as I arrived?

tbone14

If the door to the plane was closed, it's unlikely they would re-open the door to the jetway. I have read anecdotal instances where this happens, but those are extremely rare situations. What likely happened is that the flight was waiting from clearance from the tower on the tarmac. Did you notice if the plane was still at the gate, or had already pushed back?

davie355

Unfortunately I did not notice.

tbone14

For what it's worth, the agent at the gate may have been able to rebook your itinerary as opposed to going to the customer service line also. If I barely miss a flight at the gate, I try to get it fixed there.

davie355

Thanks. I'll keep this in mind for the future.

IADCAflyer

Door could be closed and the jetway could be off the aircraft. Planes will periodically hold with the brakes set at the gate if they are waiting for numbers, waiting for a recalc on fuel, or awaiting a clearance to push back.

GFrye

Or deicing at the gate.

Kamalaasaa

GFrye

"The greatest amount of snow ever recorded at the official reporting station in Phoenix was 1.0 inch on January 20 1933, and on January 21 and 22 1937." - http://southwestweather.com/wx/wxsnowhistory.php



My post was a general additional reason why a flight would be "closed" while the aircraft remains at the gate for a while, not meant to be specifically for PHX.

Beachfun71

Often1

"Flight closed" is not about closing the doors (jet bridge or aircraft cabin), but about the administrative process which goes with a flight departure. Closing the doors is one part of all of that, but in order for an aircraft to push on time, several pieces of data, including passenger count, must come from the GA. That cannot happen until the flight is closed. This is not to suggest that the flight cannot be reopened, only that this is relatively rare and is done through Operations, not the GA's discretion.

AA's passenger deadline for domestic is T-15. At that point, AA may offload those who are not boarded(ing) and fill the now empty seats with standbys or simply send the aircraft out as soon as it is ready to push.

All of that said, if you are actually close to the gate and see "flight closed" and there is still a GA present, I would still head to the GA and see what can be done. You can't know until you have tried that it won't work. Most especially true if the aircraft has taken a significant delay and there are seats.

glennhaak

A few years ago on the 31st of December, I ran late for my KLM flight from MUC to AMS, I arrived at the airport at T-15, sprinted across the terminal and arrived at the gate at T-7, flight was closed but the GA allowed me to check at the end of the jetbridge, ran into the jetbridge (one airport worker who I crossed paths with was very confused!), door was closed, I knocked on the door and the FA opened the door, before she could ask me anything I made sure I was inside the aircraft, after which I explained that the GA allowed me to check and that I really wanted to go home for NYE. She closed the doors again, we pushed back and I spent the entire flight recuperating from all the sprinting in winterclothes...

justhere

Yes and there's no deicing equipment so they just have to wait until the sun does it's thing.

IADCAflyer

Probably not a lot of de-icing done at Sky Harbor in 1933 or 1937.

NeedstoFly

Years ago, @ EWR, got to the gate after the doors were shut and gate agents had left the podium. The jet bridge was still attached though and the plane was physically at the gate. My jejune travelling companion proceeded to try to open the door to the jetbridge herself, which led to all sorts of security alarms going off. Mercifully, as this was well before 9/11, nothing happened to us.