I find AA are efficient at boarding to a schedule. Arriving at the gate 30mins before departure pretty much guarantees you'll be on quickly with a minimal or no wait. T-20mins is risky especially if the flight is lightly loaded as they can and do go early (witnessed this twice on a recent trip at PLS and LAS).

It's rarely a good idea to rely totally on the screens and not to even have a look at what's going on at the gate by the boarding time indicated on your boarding pass.
Particularly when it was so close to you!

The only time I would not do so is when it had been announced - either in the lounge or on the screens - that the flight was delayed.

I didn't think that US flight information boards showed boarding (just the departure time or delayed)? Confused me the first time that I went to the US!

So the flight left the gate with the OP's bags but without the OP and his wife?

Is this allowed?

glad to hear it worked out all ok for you.

Hope you'll get the ORC as well - 210 vs 35 is a big difference!

It sounds reasonable, but I don't even rely on that anymore, since I missed a flight in 2009, when the lounge announced it as delayed and the FIDS showed 'go to gate.'

I saw the aircraft pushback, despite having asked only 10 mins before if it was time to board and being told no.

Of course, nobody knew anything about that afterwards, the lounge staff insisted they had called the flight, the gate staff insisted they had called the lounge at -20, you get the picture.

I ended up having to buy a one way ticket for �250 (from ZRH to LON) - there is nothing you can do to get redress, if you are not at the gate by the time stated on the BP.

US domestic rules have never required reconciling bags with passengers. It is a requirement in most other parts of the world and BA do reconcile everywhere.

Great story for a first posting! I have to say though that I am very surprised that the bags were originally going to fly without the passengers. I just didn't think that would be possible. I learn a new thing every day...

Yeah - somewhat bizarrely for a country that is so sensitive about security, particularly around flying, it appears that bags and passengers on domestic flights in the US often do not necessarily always travel on the same service, particularly on routes with frequent service...I'm sure I've also seen it posted on here in the past that bags can be sent on a direct or different route even if the passenger is connecting on a different indirect routing.

This 'you can't rely on the screens' is bull. What are we supposed to do then? Guess?

Go to the gate no later than the time stated on your BP.

I have 250 reasons to tell you this is what you need to do.

Plus, it isn't bull, the FIDS are often out of sync with the gate, sometimes calling too early and other times, too late.

Wow, very lucky. I guess the chances of a plane coming back to the gate AND there being free seats AND you being allowed to board a "closed" flight are fairly tiny.

I had a similar situation in IST a few years ago. Waited in the lounge until it said "go to gate". By the time I got to the gate, the plane had gone. Rebooking was a nightmare, and sadly the plane never came back to pick me up Ended up staying the night in IST, then flying out to Batumi the next day having paid to reissue the ticket. I was initally told that the ticket was now cancelled...thankfully it wasn't.

Don't believe the screens. It reminds me of one of my own adventures..

more or less the same thing happened to me last year, I got re-routed south to Atlanta from Minneapolis to get back up to the NE (PHL, I think) due to a 'weather system' it was on Delta and not being a regular I got pushed back, so eventually arriving in Atlanta to be met by the agent saying I had missed my onward and to go to the CS desk.
I checked the board, the flight had closed/left, but my iPhone app Flight Track Pro was buzzing, showing it was delayed at gate C?, I explained to the agent that is was showing delayed on my app, she totally ignored me, talked to the space above my head and printed a BP for the following morning, breakfast and dinner vouchers and a hotel voucher, dictating to me to follow the signs for the courtesy bus, "what about my bags, toiletries?" "your bags will be in Philly, here's an overnight kit, next"

A lady passenger behind me was stressed saying that her daughter was waiting in the arrivals at PHL and the flight was showing as delayed also, I said so was my app and it showed it was leaving from gate C??... so we both decided to make a run for it and got to the gate just as the last passengers were boarding.

I stopped and explained to the lady it was all about body language and confidence now and the boarding tkts we had for the following morning did not exist and we were getting on that flight with our original tkts.
As I presented my old BP, the gate agent looked at the screen was about to query it, I explained that we were a late arrival and we needed to get on the flight as previously arranged and were instructed by the previous gate staff to get to the gate ASAP because we were in with a chance of making it blah, blah, blah etc.. (awfully polite but determined) and he let us both on, we just sat in 2 spare unassigned seats.
When we got to PHL, there were our bags waiting... they had got there by the original route from MSP.

Moral. Don't believe the screens and don't worry about your bags, they fly around the US without you.
(After this, I personally double check and check again anything I have to do with Delta or thru ATL)

Final 3 Greens is correct. In the early days of T5 there were disconnects between gate and FIDs, though these now appear to be ironed out. At least T5 has gate information and FIDs plumbed into the same system, in many (most?) airports they are on 2 separate systems and rely on a human to get it right. T5 FIDs has some intelligence, so it will say - for example - boarding in 5A for a 5C flight, but say something different in 5C, namely go to gate. Also delays are detailed in the lounge FIDs but short ones are not mentioned on the public FIDs.

In many US airports the FIDs are bulk loaded in advance, it then goes on a timed script through the various stages, completely oblivious to what actually happens at the gate. That script can be interupted, if someone remembers to do it. But, and this is the killer point in the USA, very, very few passengers go to lounges on domestic flights. There is no reason for most passengers to be anywhere other than in the direct line of sight of the boarding gate. That's just how they do it over there.

I've often suspected this to be the case....good to have it confirmed!