You can insist all you want but it typically gets you no where. Just because the door is still open doesn’t mean that they haven’t given your seat away because you were late. Boarding ends 15 min prior to departure and the door closes 10-15 min prior to departure. Just because the door is open doesn’t mean that they are still boarding.
If it was less than 15 minutes before departure (domestic flight) or 30 (int'l), the gate agent is in the right per policy and the contract of carriage you agreed to when you purchased the ticket. If it was more than that, you would be in the right to have them either reopen the door or provide you involuntary denied boarding compensation. For that scenario, you would want some sort of documentation that you were there more than 15 minutes ahead of time, which could be difficult to prove without forcing AA to review the timestamp.
Boarding closes 15 minutes prior to departure. It has nothing to do with the physical door being open. If you arrived at the 15 minute mark or later, you missed your flight. You can insist all you want, that would just make you a Karen. The contract of carriage lays it all out.
the door has to be open to give a no show's seat away, otherwise how would that person get on the plane? Just because the door is open doesnt mean you were on time
You can insist all you want but it just makes you an asshole, it would be at the agents discretion. Just because the physical door to the jet bridge is “open” doesn’t mean the door is open. If the agent has already closed the cabin door and provided the captain with the passenger manifest you’d typically be SOL.
Consider yourself lucky this gate agent actually opened the door for you due to this delay.
Thanks. To be clear, I didn’t insist and was grateful to get on the plane after thinking I would miss it entirely due extraordinarily bad traffic. This was a retrospective hypothetical.
You can insist all you want but it typically gets you no where. Just because the door is still open doesn’t mean that they haven’t given your seat away because you were late. Boarding ends 15 min prior to departure and the door closes 10-15 min prior to departure. Just because the door is open doesn’t mean that they are still boarding.
If it was less than 15 minutes before departure (domestic flight) or 30 (int'l), the gate agent is in the right per policy and the contract of carriage you agreed to when you purchased the ticket. If it was more than that, you would be in the right to have them either reopen the door or provide you involuntary denied boarding compensation. For that scenario, you would want some sort of documentation that you were there more than 15 minutes ahead of time, which could be difficult to prove without forcing AA to review the timestamp.
You have the right to be grateful in this situation. You got lucky given the circumstances. In most cases - boarding closes when boarding closes.
Boarding closes 15 minutes prior to departure. It has nothing to do with the physical door being open. If you arrived at the 15 minute mark or later, you missed your flight. You can insist all you want, that would just make you a Karen. The contract of carriage lays it all out.
You arrived late - no rights.
the door has to be open to give a no show's seat away, otherwise how would that person get on the plane? Just because the door is open doesnt mean you were on time
You can insist all you want but it just makes you an asshole, it would be at the agents discretion. Just because the physical door to the jet bridge is “open” doesn’t mean the door is open. If the agent has already closed the cabin door and provided the captain with the passenger manifest you’d typically be SOL. Consider yourself lucky this gate agent actually opened the door for you due to this delay.
No you got lucky
They give away seats 10-15 before the door closes.
Thanks. To be clear, I didn’t insist and was grateful to get on the plane after thinking I would miss it entirely due extraordinarily bad traffic. This was a retrospective hypothetical.
The only thing you have a right to is compensation. You don't have a right to fly.