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A family headed to Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on American Airlines flight AA1598 were denied boarding on December 21st while they were heading to see family for the holidays. The gate agent stands firm that they arrived late, but the family films him while arguing that they were on time.
@AmericanAir Is it standard practice for gate agents to threaten to cancel a family with a 7 year olds flight for Christmas because the parents take a photo of the gate time to document getting rebooked? pic.twitter.com/ojjjKUQInb
— Dan Fillinger (@dan_fillinger) December 21, 2024
The family was technically at the gate at the close of boarding, but the gate agent had already reassigned their seats to standby passengers. Cutting it that close, especially during the holidays, is not smart. I understand there are crowds, traffic, and lots of other factors, but they should have arrived earlier. Arguing with the gate agent and shoving a phone in his face while recording did not help matters either.
American’s boarding policy states that “boarding ends 15 minutes before departure.” The family arrived at 7:32 AM for their 7:45 AM flight.
The gate agent could have been a bit nicer, but the family was in the wrong. Since their seats had already been reassigned (and those passengers are seen boarding), it was too late. There are lots of flights to Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) and they should have tried being kind and working with the gate agent.
Anthony’s Take: The “bah humbug” here was not expressed by the gate agent, but by the family’s tardiness and entitled attitude. Hopefully, they made it to their destination, but it doesn’t look like this gate agent is going to help.
(Featured Image Credit: @dan_fillinger via X.)
(H/T: View from the Wing.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
5 comments
See this all the time on You Tube videos. People claim they were on time and the gate agent says otherwise.
I agree being nice and not going to a rude, demanding, or entitled place is the better option but If they were there before the airline’s posted gate closing time then their seats should not have been given away to standby passengers.
If I am properly checked-in and the airline info & ticket say the gate closes 10 minutes before departure then I should be able to show up 15, 12, or even 11 minutes before departure and be ok.
I would be livid if I showed up before the posted gate closing time but was denied boarding for not being early enough and that would be on the airline not on me. Preventable by being there early but also not my fault.
Apparently the departure terminal was changed so the family really had to hustle but stilll made it just on time. I think the gate agent should have waited another minute to give seats to standby passengers keeping the terminal change in mind.
But the other 100+ people made it there on time presumably?
Presumably yes. It’s a judgment call, I think the gate agent could have waited until 14 mins 59 secs to departure to reassign the seats when he knew the terminal had been changed and could presumably see in his system that it was a family with little kids. You can think otherwise if you prefer.