But what about them closing the door early? If they hadn't done that, the OP would've still made the flight.

I would have to say, though, that I have been on a lot of flights where they closed the door early and pushed back early. But I just sort of assumed that they already had all the pax with reservations accounted for and on board.

Perhaps this was a wrong assumption on my part, though.

Per the CofC, the passenger must be at the gate 20 minutes before departure, or their reservation is subject to cancellation. After they've boarded everyone who showed up before T-20 minutes, the plane can leave early.

Thanks for clarifying that, I truly did not know this and did wonder about it.

pdhenry is correct. United requires pax to be "checked in and available for boarding at the gate at least 20 minutes prior to departure between U.S. cities" in addition to to "10 minutes on-board/close the door" rule.

I recind my earlier comment. OP has no leg to stand on.

Well, in the grand scheme of things, there are days where you get to the airport late and security lines are light or flights are sufficiently delayed in your favour, and other days when the flight is on time, and you do not have sufficient time to make the flight--it all balances out eventually. While I could fuss and complain about those few instances where I have been denied boarding, I've learned the hard way that if I'm travelling to a crucial meeting, I always leave a "cushion" of time (normally 1/2 a day) between my arrival and the meeting so that unforseen circumstances won't ruin the day. I will say that United has been more than accomodating to me to get me onto another later flight, and that is all that they are required to do. Gone are the days when you can get to an airport with only 30 minutes to make the flight (and I was most notorious for that!!!) ;)

One time I was late driving to LAN, missed the flight, got put on a later flight, that flight was delayed, and ultimately they put me on American to arrive at the final destination at midnight, no change fee, I was just grateful to get there. Then just recently, after an exhausting week of work in HKG and China, I was staying at the airport hotel and slept in until 1/2 hour before the flight was scheduled to depart, by the time I ran to the checkin counter, it was too late, and this was the last flight out to the mainland from HKG for that day. $100 change fee, and they put me on the next day's flight. Oh well, I checked back into the hotel, then had the most wonderful afternoon/evening in HKG, had a good night's rest, and arrived at the gate the next day with plenty of time! I realized that I really needed the break and was grateful for my fate that day!

If life is too busy to fret over a $100 change fee or missed meetings because you arrived at the airport on a very tight timeframe, then maybe you need a reality check! On some of my flights, I have to leave my house at 2 or 3 am, and I do work very long weeks being self-employed, sometimes 100+ hours a week! Sorry if the crowd here is not sympathetic, most of us have been there, done that (sometimes still arrive late to the airport), but we all know that we only have ourselves to blame, and pray that the airline gods smile in our favour! :p

surprised at the tone of this thread
 

A few thoughts/comments, which I preface with the information that I don't fly out of the DC area and that I usually fly on American.

1. In NYC, I once had a 6:50 am international flight. I got to the airport at 4:30, just to sit around until the agent arrived and opened the counter at 6:00am. The flight was cancelled and I was rebooked on another carrier, which left from a different terminal 20 minutes later. Needless to say, I missed the flight, which clearly could have been avoided if the counter had opened earlier. Are agents available at OP's airport before 6am? If not, I don't see how you can blame her for getting there at 6:00.

2. I don't understand -- once OP checked in (at electronic kiosk or wherever) for her flight, how can United leave without her? Did they page her? Did she have luggage? I thought it was a big no-no to let luggage fly without its passengers. Once you check in, isn't there a period of time they wait while you get through security?

3. There is no excuse for rude customer service. Maybe OP exaggerated in her description, maybe she didn't. As a bunch, FT'ers seem to expect good customer service, why attack her for wanting the same?

Finally, I have to be honest. I thought that the initial responses were way out of proportion to how OP asked her question. This thread seemed to escalate into some nasty comments pretty quickly (by both veteran posters and some fellow newbies), and that surprises me. FT'ers are usually a bit kinder. (although I do remember one of my early threads where I asked what would be appropriate compensation for my bags being lost for 8 days and some people told me I was a whiner and should be glad that they showed up at all...). Maybe everybody on this thread who's working 80 hours a week should only post when they're not sleep deprived, as words have a way of sounding ruder in email than perhaps they would out loud.

They close the door, start the aircraft engine and taxi away.

Probably (in the immediate lounge area).

That used to be the case but almost every U.S. airport has checked bag screening equipment now and positive bag matching is no longer required. Anyway you don't know whether she had baggage or not.

Yes, they wait until 20 minutes before the flight's scheduled departure time.

There is also no excuse for a rude customer.

Why would this be back to back ticketing? I just went to United.com and created a same day itinerary for Sept 6 and it's fare class S and non-refundable:

Total Airfare (including taxes and charges): USD 160.71
Penalty: NONREF/CHANGE100PLUSFAREDIF/ / CXL BY FLT DATE OR NOVALUE


The only thing I'd add is if the OP hates getting up so early, fly the night before and then you are assured of being in RDU for an early morning meeting.

Recently I posted a similar type of complaint to OP's on another FT forum concerning a situation I still feel I was in the right about. I was called a whiner and an idiot and a loser of sorts. To be honest, I found the namecalling insulting and it bothered me. What is it about FT that makes people feel they have the right to pile on, once someone makes the first critical remark? I know this is opinion based media but doesn't the OP have a right to express her side of a situation without being called names? I did a search of some of the most offensive namecallers and found they all had their own pet issues that they protested loudly about at times. People in general were respectful to them. What gives them the right to call someone else a whiner?

1st amendment and Randy's TOC's. Not to say it's proper, but they have the right to stay stupid things just like everyone else.

I see no reason why I can't sympathize with your feelings of frustration, since doing so does not require me to agree that you were not responsible for your plight.

Regarding your situation, some thoughts to consider:

As stressful as it is to have to awaken early in the morning, your alarm clock setting is one of the few things about flying that you can control. Never pass up a chance to control what you can.

What you can also control are your assumptions: make sure you don't confuse them with fact. Wishing unverified assumptions were fact, will not make them so.

Assumption number 1: an airline is primarily obliged to process passengers through security in a maximum amount of time.
Reality: It is far more likely that their first priority is to ensure that a security clearance is conducted, period. To use systems analysis jargon, the system is event driven, not time driven. Their first responsibility is to board you if and only if security status = cleared, not when your time in line = x minutes or fewer.

I do appreciate that the security clearance system is somewhat at odds with the aircraft departure system, which as a rule IS time driven: again using systems jargon, the usual rule is that the aircraft leaves when time t = x. It's true that the system occasionally becomes event driven, i.e., the aircraft doors are re-opened and departure commences once board status = all passengers accounted for. However, that is the exception, not the norm. One is generally owed compensation only when the airline departs from the norm, not when it doesn't execute deviations from the norm. In other words, the airline is primarily obliged to get the majority of their passengers to point Y at the time they promised.

Assumption number 2: if someone speaks in a thick accent, that means they have never dealt with an unhappy passenger who has missed their flight before.
Reality: It is quite possible that even if you didn't understand him/her, he or she understood your problem quite well. Accents aren't necessarily a clue to experience. Meanwhile, your problem was that you had to get to point Y and you missed your original flight to point Y. The desk agent undertook to offer you the best alternative available, and the best available was independent of the reason for your missing your original flight. Therefore, I can't agree that the staff let you down in this area.

Again, I'm sorry for your frustration, but since you asked my opinion as to whether you were owed compensation above and beyond what you got, I must this time say, you weren't.

Well said, [simpleflyer]. IMHO, anyone who flies much should be able to empathize about missing a scheduled flight... and I think that many who have posted here have expressed a bit of sympathy for the OP's plight. But, that still doesn't mean it's the airline's fault that this happened.

Not at MCI, Arthurrs, not at MCI . . . still do this all the time.

I Agree With The Op!
 

I never arrive at the airport 2 hours early, unless I want to do something in particular at the terminal or sometimes if I want to get bumped. I often take a 3PM flight, and leave my office at 230PM and arrive at the terminal at 240-245PM. I love that mad run to the gate! Will you make it?

Normally at IAD, given how distantly things are spaced, I would arrive about 30-45 minutes prior to departure without bags to check and particularly if I had an online boarding pass.

Having to arrive 2 hours before a domestic flight is total BS. It is hysteria created by the media and airlines to exculpate the system for having inadequate staff and resources.

It sounds like at the ticket counter UA could have rule 120.20 this pax on to a different carrier one that perhaps was not sold out.

Also customer relations sounded less than helpful. The least they could do is revalidate the ops ticket for a future trip waiving all change fees and add collects.

I am always amazed at how harshly people interpret these rules. If the op was a friend of the gate agent, believe me, they would be taken care of.

The op is a preferred or premier member with United, and they should have done all they possibly could to accommodate the op and make their travel sseemless and comfortable.


At the very least they should have validated the ticket for future date travel, or given a travel voucher close to the amount of the ticket or provided reroute on another carrier.

I have even asked for reroute on another carrier if I arrived late due to "my fault" and probably 50% of the time get it if I ask.

In the future you would have been better off to get this straightened out in person at the airport, perhaps going to a different counter or trying to find a more sympathetic agent. On the phone, as you see, they usually will throw the book at you.

I suppose it would not hurt to dig around and write directly to some UA executive. Or go to your home airport, is it IAD, and ask for the station mgr. Tell them you'll sit and wait until they have time to talk :). Or go to the local office of the TSA, and ask them to contact United on your behalf. I'm sure you could make some noise. Go to the port authority, the media, the TSA, WHQ, etc. Eventually it will be cheaper for UA to compensate you than to put up with the "noise."

I don't know how much your ticket was, but $50 seems like a slap in the face, its even less than their rediculous change fee. Maybe if you write to Joe B Joe Sent Me he can publish your story.

There is also a saying I read somewhere on this board that people should take note of. It is something like:
If you don't miss at least one flight a year, you are waisting too much time in the airport.
This was told to some FT member I think by their boss. I would adjust the number up for people that fly a lot. I would say if you are 1K if you don't miss one flight a quarter at least, you are hanging out more than you should at the airport. I'm always amazed people are willing to go 2 hours early.

Must be family blood, my sister was always infamous for missing family dinners etc. due to making mad dashes through JFK with no ticket 25 minutes before her flight. She once bought a tix that was supposed to be like $90 roundtrip, but the agt sold her a one-way for the same price, and then she was SOL when she again late got to the airport for her return......eventually I got TW to give her some travel vouchers..

y,