Singleflyer

Flights are scheduled for departure time, not door closing time. That is why they tell you the door closes xx min before departure, so in theory the plane is pushed back at the departure time. Remember, after the door is closed, the crew has work, the jet bridge needs to be pulled back etc.

The problem is, for years the departure time was the the same as door closing time, we all need to be retrained in that change. And it was changed for on time performance because of other possible delays.

JBauer

I agree with OP. Had similar situation at msp last week. The airline acts like it's not thier responsability for your connection! We pay them for a reason.

MarqFlyer

Correct, and the reason is to get you from A to B. Sounds like the airline was perfectly willing to follow through on this commitment, but the OP was upset that they didn't do it within his/her time restraints. Much as we want to include an absolute guarantee of a specific time as well, that simply isn't part of the deal.

Count me among the vast majority who feel that 30k miles is more than adequate compensation.

Evan!

In a word YES. If you really want/have to be somewhere by a very specific time then add the padding. Remember, if weather had caused the delay the OP would have missed the concert. By taking weather into consideration and padding your scheduled you are also getting a buffer on mechanical issues as well. The OP either wouldn't or couldn't leave for the concert a day in advance. This indicates to me that the concert was not as important to him as he might want us to believe.

Let me interject my own work situation as an example. I need to be customer facing at 9:00 a.m. on Monday morning. If I fly on Monday morning with a schedule that allows plenty of time, in theory, to be where I need to be by 9:00 then I am taking a risk. None of the players in my game are going to accept a weather delay or any airline excuse if I chose to cut it so close. That is why I fly on Sundays. If a weather delay were to cause me to miss my 9:00 appointment ALL involved would be understanding because I left on Sunday with plenty of padding. I don't leave Saturday because none of my clients are willing to pay for Saturday night. But they are willing to pay for Sunday night. If not, then they would just shut up if I were to be late flying on Monday morning.

The 9:00 start time is critical but not mission critical. I aint savin' lives! And a concert aint life threatening either.

Perhaps the checked in passenger is throwing away the last segment. How long should they wait to close the door? Do you want the plane to miss its takeoff slot because Delta was waiting for another passenger at the expense of your time? If so, I suggest you start an airline and prove how efficient and profitable you can be by catering to one passenger over the other 150.

Air travel ... or should I say convenient air travel is not a God-given or constitutional right. Padding one's schedule should be the norm.

I feel for the OP that he missed his concert. But he became unglued (his own word) and I feel he had no right to compensation. He was able to get to his destination airport within a reasonable amount of time. It just wasn't in time to catch the concert. The GA did their job properly and he was compensated above what was appropriate.

Hawk Circle

I must agree with the majority of posts in this thread. The OP should have left more of a buffer. The gate agent was following policy. Compensation was generous.

Nevertheless, it seems it should make a diffference that the OP was already in the system -- on a delayed connecting flight. The gate agent should or at least could have known the OP was coming and would be able to be on board by scheduled departure time.

I've been on more than a few DL flights held past departure time to wait for connecting passengers. And at least three times when my inbound flight was late for an international connection I've been fortunate enough to be met at the arrival jetway and driven to the connecting gate in a car or van.

fti

It is unfortunate what happened. You took a risk and lost. But your compensation was extremely generous.

I took a similar risk last Saturday. On Friday morning my sister in NJ got two tickets to the Yankees-Angels game on Saturday through her office. I had a choice - to depart Friday afternoon from MSP and arrive that night or to depart Saturday morning, with an arrival into EWR just 5+ hours before the game was scheduled to start. For me other factors included a forecast for rain in the area (meaning possible flight delays and possible game postponement) and the fact that if the game were postponed, I would really need to stay until Monday if I wanted to see the game.

Since I really didn't want to spend 3 nights away, and since I really wanted to be able to stay in case the Saturday game was canceled, I flew on Saturday and took my chances. Well, all's well that ends well because I arrived about 1 hour later than scheduled and still had plenty of time to get to the game. And just as we got into the car to leave, we turned on the radio and heard that the game had been postponed.

The best part of the trip? Seeing the Yankees clinch at home...priceless

Singleflyer

This is a very tough situation, especially since the delay at MSP was due to NW. However waiting for possible connect may cause many other problems other than on time stats.

I was in a management position with a ferry boat company. There were many occasions people were running down the dock as the boat was pulling away and I had to explain to the un-happy customer why the boat did not wait. But we had a schedule to meet, and many people on board were to connect to a bus and a delay could cause them to miss the bus, and they were on the boat on time.

Re-opening the door, changing the paperwork would cause a 15 min delay or more. A passenger on board may be going to Timmons on AC once they got to YYZ. A 15 min delay could cause them to miss that flight. Is that fair to the other passenger. Or if it was not the last flight of the day, would that 15 min delay be fair to the passenger on the next outbound fight possibly missing their connection. Or if it were the last flight of the day the extra 15 min could cut into the crew rest period making the first flight of the next day later.

My point is, there are many more considerations taken into account by not re-opening the door and letting you on so that you can make your concert.

AerOklahoma

If the door was closed prior to the ten minute mark, that is one thing and you should be accommodated. You say that you arrived at the ten minute mark which leads to the fact that the gate agent may have closed the door before the ten minute mark. Which clock was being used? Your watch or their company time? Many factors come into play, but I'm just a little peeved at behavior like this so here goes my little rant:

If the door was closed at the ten minute mark, in accordance with NWA policy, then boo-hoo. I'm tired of elites that think that the rules don't apply to them. I'm sick of seeing them light up gate agents over every little thing; it's disgusting.

Say they saw that your PHX flight landed late and you only had hand baggage and you were sprinting to your gate: would it be nice if they held the flight for you? Sure! Do they have to hold the flight for you past the ten minute mark? Absolutely not!

I've been there, it sucks: late connection, sprint to the gate, the plane's still sitting attached to the jetway but the terminal side door is closed; I've been gone from home for two weeks, there are no flights until tomorrow, I just want to get home, why can't they just let me on this one little time? Well, it's the rules and they value their job. While some supervisors look out for elites and would understand slightly delaying a flight if an elite is coming down the pike at full steam to catch the flight, some do not and will gladly write up or begin disciplinary action against an employee for attempting to (ahem) ensure our elite/FT rights.

If the door was closed at the ten minute mark, you caused all this fuss, and you still got 25k miles, I'm stunned.

Would you break one of your corporate guidelines because a client of yours is screaming at you because they aren't getting their way? If you did break a corporate guideline, would there be consequences? Oh I forgot: most of us don't deal with people that cry, whine, and explode at the first sign of not getting their way; airline employees must deal with day in and day out.

"I'm a PM so the rules don't apply to me! ...what do you mean you closed the door 10 minutes before push back?! I wasn't here! Didn't you hear that the rules don't apply to me!??!?!"

Moebius01

*Thread hijack mode*
Actually, I'd say if you factor in the new stadium, plus the usual cost of the Yankees trying to buy championships, the price was somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.3 billion. (couldn't resist)
*/Thread hijack mode*

Culrain

It seems this NW "15 minutes" rule is applied haphazardly. If I had a dime for every time I boarded a flight within a few minutes of, or as the doors were closing, I wouldn't need to be flying commercial (okay, that's an exaggeration, but you know what I mean). I connected at MSP a few weeks ago (PVD-MSP-LAX) and my PVD inbound flight was so late I had only ten minutes to cross the entire airport to make the LAX flight. I knew that flight was overbooked and I was in a middle seat and I was hoping they would deny me boarding. I arrived within a few minutes of the scheduled departure time and the friendly GA said she was expecting me and let me through. I even offered to give up my seat, but that offer was declined. The plane pushed back within 5 minutes of my boarding.

The point is, with all of this "15 minutes" being touted as an absolute rule, I don't buy it. For all of the GA's who opted their discretion on boarding pax under 15 minutes, I don't think any of them lost their jobs.

Evan!

"as the doors were closing" as you stated and not AFTER the door was closed. Your anecdote is dissimilar to the OP's situation. Silver is reached at 25,000 but hey, since you have 24,500 we will give it to you. Hey! That guy got Silver at 24,500. I have 24,000 so give it to me too. Okay. Here comes a guy with 23,500..... there has to be specific rule even if the rule can be broken. But it should not be expected to be broken. Then it wouldn't be a rule at all. Consider yourself lucky if they broke the rule for you but don't scream foul or expect compensation when it isn't broken.

DaChief

Be happy with the miles you got!!

tgtg

It is evident from the replies that all the airlines have successfully lowered our expectations.

If my company ever treated it's customers the way the airlines do, we would lose them.

The OP seems that he originally planned appropriately. I don't think that flying out the night before should have been necessary...even that doesn't guarantee making a meeting/event/appointment on time these days with the airlines anyways. DL/NW screwed up twice.

It is a sad state of affairs and most certainly has a measurable, detrimental effect on our economy.

-=tg=-

rylan

I never said to wait past departure time to close the door and leave. The argument about not holding the flight for somebody doesn't make sense to me, when for the prior flight they held up the plane for some luggage. That implies that it is less important to get the people to their destination on time than it does in getting luggage there. The OP stated that his alternate departure was delayed because of this, which in turn apparently made him miss his connection. How is that anything but the airline's fault?

Also, quoting the 'rules' doesn't fly with me either... all passengers are supposed to be on board at least 15 min for domestic and 30 min for international. I can't remember the last time I was on a mainline flight where they finished boarding 15 min prior to departure time. According to those rules, the GA can close the door on the line of people waiting to get into the jetway because it hit the the 15/30 min mark before departure and they aren't on board. Where do you draw the line that makes sense? I don't think its unreasonable to check if people missing for a flight have arrived on late aircraft.

Evan!

Is your company's operations closely regulated by the DOT, FAA, and the NTSB? Is it regulated by any three gov't agencies? Does your company operate 24/7/365? Does a thunderstorm effectively halt all work of your employees? Does the delivery of your product to your customers place them in potential peril?

Apples/Oranges

He planned appropriately if he was willing to forego the concert. There was only one screw up. The denial of re-opening the boarding door was not a screw up. He got to his destination that day.