Is 35 minutes before departure too late for an intl flight?!

am boiling with rage and disbelief. i was supposed to fly out of dulles
tonight at 520 pm, on alitalia to poland. the metrobus to dulles runs
only once an hour.

thanks to the weekend track repairs of metrorail, i arrived at the
counter at 445 pm instead of 345 pm. the agents refused to board me!
they claimed they'd shut down the boarding and i could possibly spend
30 minutes simply going thru security. they reticketed me for the next
day -- 24 hours of fun in europe lost, just like that -- and patted
themselves on the back for not charging me.

good god! 35 minutes before departure is not ideal, but it's not FIVE
minutes before departure.

has this happened to others? is it customary for an intl flight to
stop handing out boarding passes this far in advance of departure?

wrote:

: am boiling with rage and disbelief. i was supposed to fly out of dulles
: tonight at 520 pm, on alitalia to poland. the metrobus to dulles runs
: only once an hour.
:
: thanks to the weekend track repairs of metrorail, i arrived at the
: counter at 445 pm instead of 345 pm. the agents refused to board me!
: they claimed they'd shut down the boarding and i could possibly spend
: 30 minutes simply going thru security. they reticketed me for the next
: day -- 24 hours of fun in europe lost, just like that -- and patted
: themselves on the back for not charging me.
:
: good god! 35 minutes before departure is not ideal, but it's not FIVE
: minutes before departure.
:
: has this happened to others? is it customary for an intl flight to
: stop handing out boarding passes this far in advance of departure?

The one time I was similarly late, I did make it to my Air India flight
at O'Hare. However, it is the discretion of the staff on duty. The
flight left a little late, maybe they knew that and it helped.

Yes I think that 35 minutes before a international flight is to late. Sorry
for you but I don't belief that any airline would board you for a flight
like that.

Normally a flight will be boarding or almost done boarding. So there will be
no time to get everything done in time (like luggage and so on)

On flights like this I always try to get to the airport 2 hours in advance
and I know sometimes it's just impossible and then I miss my flight. But
don't blame the airline because it's not there fault!

Greetings,
George www.GHPtravel.com your travel starting point!




wrote in message
oups.com...
am boiling with rage and disbelief. i was supposed to fly out of dulles
tonight at 520 pm, on alitalia to poland. the metrobus to dulles runs
only once an hour.

thanks to the weekend track repairs of metrorail, i arrived at the
counter at 445 pm instead of 345 pm. the agents refused to board me!
they claimed they'd shut down the boarding and i could possibly spend
30 minutes simply going thru security. they reticketed me for the next
day -- 24 hours of fun in europe lost, just like that -- and patted
themselves on the back for not charging me.

good god! 35 minutes before departure is not ideal, but it's not FIVE
minutes before departure.

has this happened to others? is it customary for an intl flight to
stop handing out boarding passes this far in advance of departure?

GHPtravel wrote:
Yes I think that 35 minutes before a international flight is to late. Sorry
for you but I don't belief that any airline would board you for a flight
like that.

I second that and being an insider I have to say that showing up so
late really causes a lot of pain for the flight crew because of all the
hastle they might have to go through in order to get you on the flight.
This is not entirely transparent, so passengers don't know it and
complain - understandably

However, if you are a superhero frequent flyer (e.g. Star Alliance HON
or whatever) they very often will try to get you and your cabin into
the airplane (they'll take your luggage, no check-in, check-in
computers shutdown automaticaly 30 minutes before departure). I have
seen Star Alliance Senators ride the Jump Seat... of course, that's
Europe and before the Republicans injected the terrorism issue in our
minds

In theory it's at least 2 hours. Normally 1 hour is OK! 35 minutes for an
intl flight just doesn't allow for scanning of luggage and other procedures
now required in most 1st world airports.

Not your fault - but not theirs either!



wrote in message
oups.com...
am boiling with rage and disbelief. i was supposed to fly out of dulles
tonight at 520 pm, on alitalia to poland. the metrobus to dulles runs
only once an hour.

thanks to the weekend track repairs of metrorail, i arrived at the
counter at 445 pm instead of 345 pm. the agents refused to board me!
they claimed they'd shut down the boarding and i could possibly spend
30 minutes simply going thru security. they reticketed me for the next
day -- 24 hours of fun in europe lost, just like that -- and patted
themselves on the back for not charging me.

good god! 35 minutes before departure is not ideal, but it's not FIVE
minutes before departure.

has this happened to others? is it customary for an intl flight to
stop handing out boarding passes this far in advance of departure?

wrote:
am boiling with rage and disbelief. i was supposed to fly out of dulles
tonight at 520 pm, on alitalia to poland. the metrobus to dulles runs
only once an hour.

thanks to the weekend track repairs of metrorail, i arrived at the
counter at 445 pm instead of 345 pm. the agents refused to board me!
they claimed they'd shut down the boarding and i could possibly spend
30 minutes simply going thru security. they reticketed me for the next
day -- 24 hours of fun in europe lost, just like that -- and patted
themselves on the back for not charging me.

good god! 35 minutes before departure is not ideal, but it's not FIVE
minutes before departure.

has this happened to others? is it customary for an intl flight to
stop handing out boarding passes this far in advance of departure?

If you do not have luggage to check and you are polite about it, in my
experience anyway, you will almost always get on. Some airlines try to be
sticklerish (mainly European ones) but if you convince them of your
willingness and ability to run they will make exceptions.

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos from 38 countries on 5 continents: http://travel.u.nu
Latest photos: Burma; Hong Kong; Macau; Amsterdam; Grand Canyon; Amman
Airports of the world: http://airport.u.nu

you undoubtedly have more persuasive ability than i do.

****s. it seems to me that it's such a huge loss for the passenger and
some more work for the clerks. the sacrifice imposed on me was far
greater than letting me on the plane would have been for them. and i
did not have a bag to check, but i lacked the wit to say it.

wrote:
you undoubtedly have more persuasive ability than i do.

****s. it seems to me that it's such a huge loss for the passenger while boarding me would have been only some more work for the clerks. the sacrifice imposed on me was far
greater than letting me on the plane would have been for them. and i
did not have a bag to check, but i lacked the wit to say it.

Yes that does appear to be too late to manage to go from the ground side
check in to the flight. Both security and the gate distance might have
influenced their decision. 5:30 Eastern is a pretty busy time and gate
distances can be large.

Personally I've had the reverse problem. When transferring no one
appears willing to say there is no chance we'll take care of you now. I
rush thru the airport only to find that the flight departed at about the
time that the airline staff were telling me to hurry.

wrote:

am boiling with rage and disbelief. i was supposed to fly out of dulles
tonight at 520 pm, on alitalia to poland. the metrobus to dulles runs
only once an hour.

thanks to the weekend track repairs of metrorail, i arrived at the
counter at 445 pm instead of 345 pm. the agents refused to board me!
they claimed they'd shut down the boarding and i could possibly spend
30 minutes simply going thru security. they reticketed me for the next
day -- 24 hours of fun in europe lost, just like that -- and patted
themselves on the back for not charging me.

good god! 35 minutes before departure is not ideal, but it's not FIVE
minutes before departure.

has this happened to others? is it customary for an intl flight to
stop handing out boarding passes this far in advance of departure?

what as an insider can you say are the hassles that a crew would suffer
in this case?


Bernhard Mayer wrote:
GHPtravel wrote:
Yes I think that 35 minutes before a international flight is to late. Sorry
for you but I don't belief that any airline would board you for a flight
like that.

I second that and being an insider I have to say that showing up so
late really causes a lot of pain for the flight crew because of all the
hastle they might have to go through in order to get you on the flight.
This is not entirely transparent, so passengers don't know it and