Maybe they did go beyond the 15 minutes. We don't know exactly when the GA gave away the OP's seat. Maybe at 6 minutes before departure, maybe 8. I don't know, you don't know.

My point is that at some time, a decision has to be made to clear the waitlist. "Unfortunately", the OP cleared IAH immigration/baggage claim/customs/security and ride the train faster than CO/COEX expected. Or else we wouldn't have this thread.

Why shouldn't they remove that passenger? I have a paid ticket for that seat on that plane.

They knew i was delayed as when i collected my bags a guy at the carousel handed me my original pass (already had one form LHR) and two standby passes. Hence me sprinting to B terminal believing that i could still make it.

Sometimes it also depends if the SBY has bags , as till they get on the bags shouldnt. I think it also matters if Irrops has been occuring. The SBYs can be misconnects themselves who were not at fault either.

So a GA will try and wait till they figure Harry just wont be able to make the flight, and get the SBYs on so that the Flight can still depart on time

Id say its a delicate balancing act that a GA has to do, you dont want to get teh SBYs on too soon in case the others show up, nor too late where the flight will now be delayed.

Seems IMO its a situation where you wont usually have everyone as a Happy Camper

I don't disagree with that...I was merely reacting to what others here have said. There have been more than a few people that have stated "you weren't there within 15 minutes, too bad!"

We don't even know for a fact if the seat was taken.....

Once the standby passenger (if there was one) has been seated, you no longer do have a paid seat on that flight, so there would be no reason to remove someone from the plane.

I think some of us can now imagine how the "conversation" between the OP and the GA went... ;)

Ive been there too, and I ran hoping that for some reason unknown reason the Flight was delayed and Idstill be able to get on. But I also knew my chances were slim to none but I had nothing to lose.

again having a tkt does not guarantee you that no matter what you will be on that flight. It basically means if everything goes as it should w/o any problems that you should be on that flight.

Once you got to the Gate after T -15 its as if you never had a tkt. sort of like some shows, where if you show up once the curtain goes up you Must wait till the intermission before they will seat you. But dont you have a tkt in your hand for Row 5 Seat 17, and you were late cause the parking lt attendant from the venue held you up.Curtain goes up, no more admitance.

ever try getting into a Bank once it hits closing time, up to 1 min before you are in. But hey theres a line of a doz people whats the big deal, just let me in too, sure they will Tommorrow morning unless its a Fri then next week.

I've taken on board what people have said.

I'll probably write a letter outlining what happened but with emphasis on the manner that the CO staff handled my enquiries. At no time did i get agitated or annoyed, most of the time i was pleading!

Having never been in that situation and relatively new to connecting flights i thought it was worthwhile asking the question here.

Thanks for all of your replies.^

Only after T -15, Ive been on numerous flights where the GA has come aboard and asked some SBYs to deplane and explained they didnt think the others were going to make the connection but actually made it within the min time of T -15. Also where some GAs have come on and asked the person UPed to FC to take a seat in the back as the FC person actually made the flight some how. again all before T -15

Well that makes sense. Though I still don't think they should be giving up seats before 15 minutes unless they know for certain the person whose seat they are giving away cannot make it (i.e. they are still 40 minutes out from landing and departure time is in 25 minutes).

OP I dont have enough fingers and toes combined to count the # of times I was told RUN they are holding the Flight for You. Only to get to the Gate and see the plane long gone.

I dont mind when I decide on my own to Run and give it a try, I HATE when Im told to Run its being held and that was never the case

and yes a couple of times I didnt run and found out afterwards had I, I would have made it as it was slightly delayed

Part of the problem can be if they have a ton of SBYs they want to process them ASAP so that the flight wont be held up. As I said its a very Delicate balancing act that the GA has to do. and they need very good judgement when it comes to try to figure out who will and who wont make the flight.

I believe most will yield to the side of the person who will be connecting and being able to make the flight, but if they dont see how they could make it, will then want ASAP to process any SBYs or UPs. I think most GAs would like to make sure that no flights will be late thusly assuring them of a speedy and proper process. But life is anyting but, and they need to make some calls, sometimes they do blow it, but I do feel they mostly get it right. Even when Im on the receiving end, unfortunately.

Whether or not the OP actually made it to the gate in sufficient time to be on THAT flight aside for the moment, as it relates to CO, I take a lot of this to be asking: "I plan to give someone my transatlantic business, this was not a good first impression for a new customer, how responsive should I expect CO to be if I complain about the way I was treated by CO personnel?"

In that respect, we've all had good and bad CO experiences - myself included - but this article in USA Today seems to be on point. From that article:

I'll take the heat for sounding like I'm kissing up to CO Insider here, but regardless of how you feel about CO, can any of us really imagine him saying something like that about CO?!? Comparing CO to, for example, Target for a USA Today reporter? Similarly, ask yourself, how do you think of CO - as more like "Nordstrom" or more like "Walmart?" For most of us, the very fact that we complain (wherever) about negative events suggests we have higher expectations that weren't met at one time or another but that most (many?) of us keep coming back to CO suggests either it was handled or we got over it...ok, most of us.

So, to answer the OP... "worth pursuing?" I look at that article and CO's stats and I gotta' think that at least some of the reason they had relatively fewer DOT complaints than some of the others was a function of someone in a customer-facing position at CO being sufficiently responsive and in some fashion addressed the issue at that level before it escalated to a DOT complaint.

drew.clarke: I don't think you're asking "what kind of free stuff can I get if I complain?" and I'm not saying the solution is or should be for CO to bend over backwards and give just anyone who makes a complaint the moon and the stars - you shouldn't expect as much. But to answer the question "is it worth pursuing?" From what I read about this, yes. Your plan to write to CO, explain your position - with an understanding of what's been said here about closing flights and when to be at the gate for a connection - is at least a catharsis but it puts you in a position to evaluate who you want to fly with in the future. Give CO the opportunity to explain their perspective on why things turned out the way they did and then sort out for yourself whether you're dealing with "Harrod's" or "ASDA."

The connection was missed mainly due to bad weather over the US, whilst this is out of CO's hand the subsequent dealings I had with their "front of house" disappointed me greatly.

It certainly makes me think is it worth flying with them again, whilst they are a budget airline it doesn't excuse their total lack of customer service when dealing or not dealing with my problem.

You could agree that buying in budget stores means you get a cheaper product, however it doesn't excuse a total lack of respect from employees to a paying customer. As my mother says "Manners cost nothing".