Stop the early boarding (D0) stupidity
 

Today I'm flying an envoy flight BOS-JFK, which departs out of B36. The flight departs at 2:57pm, and boards around 2:27pm. I'm at the lounge at B4, which is about a 10 minute walk to the gate. I leave at boarding time sharp (2:27pm).

About 5 minutes into my walk (2:35pm), I get a phone call from a mass. Number. It's AA:
AAgent: "hello no2chem this is x with AA, will you still be traveling with us today?"
Me: "yes, I'm at gate B23 and walking"
AAgent: " you're the last to board the gate will be closed soon"
Me: " boarding started 5 minutes ago"
AAgent: "you're the last to board the gate is about to close"

.... So I get there and the agent repeats how I'm the last to board and they were about to close the gate. I make it a point that the gate isn't supposed to close until 10mins before departure, and it's 2:40, 17 mins before departure.

To add insult to injury, the flight departs 10mins late anyway

While I appreciate the call (sort of, the AAgent was really rude and it sounded like she wanted her bonus points for closing the flight early), they really need to fix this early boarding crap. At least announce in the AC when you're going to do that.

Anyone else experience this?

​​​​​​



​​​​

​​​​​​
​​​​

No. With AA and the typical scrum for F overhead space on regionals, I make it a point to be at the gate by T-35.

Well, this regional has no F or overhead space, so usually no need to head over early 😀

An ERD from BOS-JFK?? Wow.
I guess when you cut back JFK departures like AA has, there's not much to connect to. :D

Welcome to life at Alaska Airlines, where I'm sure to be at the gate at T-45 if I want overhead space, even in F.

I make it a practice of heading to the gate from the AC and arrive around T-10 boarding. If there's an issue I want to know about it asap and I certainly not going to depend the GAs to proactively tell people ahead of time that for instance maintenance is onboard and boarding will be delayed pending their findings. So what, I either stand for 10 minutes (and stretch my legs) or we board early. A couple of weeks ago it took 50 minutes to board a 321 at DFW because no one in Groups 6-9 would gate check bags and before long it became the fish trying to swim upstream looking for bin space or forced to gate check their bags anyway. After the Captain did his best to make up time we sat on the tarmac at MIA for nearly 30 minutes anyway forcing many to miss their connection. (The a/c also stopped pushback at DFW for 20 minutes because the ground crew forgot to load on the mail).

2:57 scheduled departure means that drop dead at the gate is 2:42 PM. It was 2:35, so "we're closing the flight soon" is jumping the gun by a bit, but just a bit.

As soon as 2:42 rolls around, AA is free to close the flight and push.

With small regional aircraft, it takes about 10 minutes to board, so at T-20 you will be close to the last one on. I agree that early boarding is a poor idea as the OH is non-existent and all you get from being seated while everyone walks by is a sore shoulder.

The rules seem to indicate you have to be at the gate at least 10 minutes before.
https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...ng-process.jsp

Two unrelated data points.

Flying ORD-BMI two weeks ago and ORD-BNA is boarding at the gate next to me. Both are 10:05 pm departures.

Boarding for ORD-BNA (CR7) starts around 9:25. By 9:35 the GA is calling individuals names for departure and final call. Shortly after, she closes the boarding door and goes down the jetway. By 9:40, three or four people are now congregated at the door trying to figure out why no one is there to scan their boarding passes (keep in mind 35-50 minute connections are common at ORD now). An employee walks by and talks to them, then heads down the jetway I am guessing to retrieve the GA.

The GA reappears shortly after, still around 9:40. But she does not scan their boarding passes, she instead takes them to the desk and it appears she is starting to rebook them for flights tomorrow. You can tell the passengers are agitated, and at one point they are looking at the TV display behind the desk which still shows a 10:05 departure. I had to board my BMI flight at this point, so I don't what happened next. The plane did not depart the gate until after 10:05 though, so I hope the passengers were allowed to board.

are you serious? 2:35 is like 7 mins after scheduled boarding start time. Calling me and asking me if I'm going to make the flight 7 minutes after boarding is supposed to start is a bit ridiculous to me.

Also, AAs own docs says 10 minutes, not 15. I think most US domestic carriers are 10.

Indeed.

Thanks. I've had some similar experiences out of SEA and other places where there's one bus terminal. If I was ever denied boarding despite arriving T-10, I'd be really, really upset.

Overall, I don't mind early boarding, but I think AA needs to do a better job at announcing it. Also if I decide that I don't want to board early, AA had better respect my right not to - Its my time and if I need to grab a sandwich or use the restroom until T-10 I'm going to do that.

Every flight DFW to SWO does this. It's a small ERJ 135 or 140, they begin boarding at T-30 sharp or earlier, it takes 5 minutes to board the plane, then they start doing final boarding call announcements. Many times I get there at T-25 as and they are itching to close the door. Not sure yet at what point they would yet. Doubt they would call me too.

However, we ALWAYS (100% of the time) just sit until T-5 or later, and it is quite common to leave at T+5 or T+10 still. Always annoying as I would rather spend that 15 minutes reading a newspaper in the aadmirals club.

So, when I can (have a long enough connection) I try to get there at T-35 just to be 'safe' because the next flight is usually not until the afternoon of the next day, so it is a bear to miss it. The real kicker is the few times when it is really delayed and AA doesn't let you know -- a few months ago they did the 5 minute rolling delay for a full hour. Luckily it was at like gate B3 so the AC was right there. I think I walked in and out four times then.

So sick of this! I used to pride myself whether flying Y, J, or F to board last and not spend any extra time on the plane. THEN...AA started charging for bags and as numerous posters had stated, it didn't matter what class I was sitting in, there was never overhead space left. I still show up T-25 and wedge what I can into the overheads...by then usually Group 5 is boarding and I walk through the priority side skipping two whole folks onto a non-moving jet bridge.

Someone decided to begin the boarding process early (who knows why) and the gate agent (correctly) noticed you were checked-in but not on the plane once it finished. You can complain, but flights take off and arrive early quite frequently.

Leaving a lounge approx. 10 mins away from your gate at scheduled boarding time implies that you weighed the risk of missing your flight and decided to take a chance. You are very lucky they contacted you before closing the door.

Are you serious? Unless I tripped and fell, there's a nearly 0% chance of missing the flight as I'd arrive 20 minutes EARLY, and by their own own contract of carriage
As in, if they failed to allow me to board, they're violating their own contract of carriage. I don't care if they call me or not.

Wow, the amount of misinformation on Flyertalk.....

I value my time much more than some people here it seems. If I bought a ticket on AA that says it departs at 5:00pm, I expect to be accepted for boarding up until 4:50pm, no matter if all of the plane is already on board or if they have some operational reason to. If they don't want it that way, then CHANGE the boarding time and the contract of carriage!!!

They can reassign your seat at T-15 to standbys but they cannot close the doors early
In this case, I knew the flight was not sold out and there were plenty of seats, so T-10 should be the absolute deadline.
Either way I was there at T-15...

The COC expressly states that you must be at the gate no later than T-15. Doors close at T-10. At T-15, you may lose your seat. You can argue all you want, but the time to do that is when you agree to the COC. At T-14, if everyone at the gate has boarded, AA may choose to oddload you and push.

Arriving at the gate
Be at the gate and ready to board the plane:

• 15 minutes before departure on domestic flights
• 30 minutes before departure for international flights

If you're not, we may reassign your seat to another passenger.

The doors close 10 minutes before departure and you will not be allowed to board once the doors close.

Two questions. Not to criticize you in any way, but to satisfy my own curiousity.

(1) Was this a one-way or return leg of a roundtrip?
(2) Was there a segment prior to BOS-JFK, or was this the only segment on this journey?

Only if there are other passengers to give your seat to. Otherwise T-10. I think your reading is incorrect.

To support this, paper BPs explicitly have the 10mins before departure text. And I'd say the right time for the GA to call was T-15, not T-25. And she could have been a lot more polite!

It was the return of a round trip. BOS-JFK-SFO.

This early boarding crap is annoying as heck. I got to a flight a few weeks ago, DEN-PHX at t-35...and they were already at Group 6. The app still said "boarding in 5"

How does the GA scan your boarding pass AND close the aircraft door at the same time if you try to board at T-10? Seems like the 5 minutes between "be at the gate T-15" and "door closes at T-10" supports scanning the last BP's at maybe T-11 so the door can close on time.

Why? Was the mirror in J too small for kissing himself?

I may be in the minority, but I'm good with them boarding early since it gives a somewhat better likelihood of us actually getting out of there on time. I find when they start boarding "on time" on the mainline planes, half the time they are still boarding by the time we should depart.

Maybe what they really need to do is bump up the departure time to 45 minutes instead of 30 minutes.

AA2520 DFW-ORD 787-8 February 23

Arrived at gate 5 minutes after scheduled boarding time (incoming flight late due to high winds at DFW).

Group 8 was already boarding.

DL's iPhone (and probably Android) app sends a notification as soon as the flight begins boarding, triggered by the scan of the first boarding pass. That's usually a good indicator of when to head to the gate from the lounge.

Probably too difficult for AA to handle.

boarding early is nice and all until it's 20 mins after departure and you're still sitting there for who knows what

DL's IT is far superior to AAs
Sadly, even UA's IT, with their ancient ASP.net or whatever .bomb website, surpasses AAs

I mean we talk like 'dynamic reaccom' is a great new thing but UA and DL have had this thing for at least 5 years now, as far as I can remember

I must be in a minority because on all of my AA flights I've watched the countdown to Boarding run out and then they wait another 5-10 minutes before even starting with first class.

From what I’m reading this sounds like an American Eagle dba etc etc not mainline.

Assuming your timeline is correct, you were phoned 22mins before flight was due to depart. I think given the circumstances, it was not unreasonable to call you, although they could have waited another few mins. No harm in checking that the passenger has not lost track of time and is going to make it on time. The fact that they were rude to you is not really acceptable though, since they were early rather than you being late.

I have had gate agents be snarky to me when I have arrived at the gate as one of the last few to board but still well within boarding cut off time. I think they are under pressure to get the gates closed as early as possible, or they are just bored and want to go home. In the vast majority of these cases, it makes no difference to departure time, we still end up sitting on the plane at the gate for 10-20mins+ with the plane door open. My guess is that when gate agents are rushing to get the gate closed, it is rarely because the pilot is ready to depart immediately, it is because they personally just want to get the gate closed.

My problem is that when I arrive on time to board according to the info on the ticket, its already group something...
and when I opt to get there early just to be safe, end up waiting far beyond the boarding time.... I am a loser either way

No but, sorry, I'm not sympathetic, except for the rudeness of the agent. I'd love it if flights boarded right when boarding was to start and if they closed the door and departed as soon as possible. I try to get to the gate not later than when boarding starts (and usually a few minutes before that), since sometimes flights board early. Admirals Clubs are not that great and aren't worth missing being among the first to board. At least AA affirmatively contacted you.