A family thought it was holding an American Airlines gate agent accountable at Los Angeles International Airport, but really just made the situation worse after appearing to arrive late to board their flight to Chicago. Even so, I have compassion for the family and can relate to what happened…
Christmas Cancelled: American Airlines Gate Agent Threatens To Cancel Reservation At LAX After Family Shows Up At Last Minute To Board
Video posted on X shows a family being turned away from the gate at LAX for their American Airlines flight to Chicago on December 22, 2024. They were told they were too late and were directed to a customer service desk for rebooking. The family was on AA1598, which leaves at 7:45 am, and were at the gate at 7:32 am, per their own video.
@AmericanAir @PeteButtigieg
American is not working with me on DM for a refund as they are claiming on the public messages. See the below video as the employee threatened us with canceling our holiday trip based on me taking a photo of the gate departure video to document. pic.twitter.com/ju3ZDA72ti— Dan Fillinger (@dan_fillinger) December 21, 2024
I do understand the optics looked bad. As they were told they were too late to board, there were two standby passengers who walked onto the plane. But AA clearly states that “boarding ends 15 minutes before departure.” It appears the family was late, period. Is is at that 15-minute mark that seats are released and standbys cleared, allowing them to board and still get the flight out on time.
A confession. I recently flew on American Airlines from Los Angeles to Boston and there was a last-minute gate change from 48 to 54. For those who are familiar with LAX, that is a terminal change and requires taking an underground tunnel to the adjacent terminal.
I was hanging out in the Flagship Lounge and noticed…with 20 minutes prior to departure…that I was now flying out of a different terminal. So I ran…and ran…and ran. It still took eight minutes to get to the gate (a record, I suspect), but I made 12 minutes before departure…and I was very afraid that my seat had already been given up.
Thankfully, it was not…but I should have been paying closer attention…you’ve got to be onboard or at least in the gate area 15 minutes prior to departure. I’m so thankful that I was not bumped off the flight!
Turns out, the SAME thing happened to this family:
@AmericanAir
This was at LAX. Our printed boarding passes showed departure at terminal 5 and the flight was changed to terminal 4, causing us to hustle over to terminal 4. Still made it to the gate just before the 15 minute cutoff, was still denied boarding.— Dan Fillinger (@dan_fillinger) December 22, 2024
If the gate was changed at the very last minute, I have great sympathy for the family.
Even so, I think the agent did pretty well…I know he got a little impatient at the end when the phone was shoved in his face and made up a policy that does not exist about employees being photographed (you are allowed to…), but it does appear the family *just* missed the cut-off.
(The family claims they were there 15 minutes before…if so, then this is a different matter)
The lesson here is to check the AA app or departures monitor early and often…gate changes are a common occurrence at LAX and other AA stations.
I hope the family made it to their destination for Christmas…
Hat Tip: View From The Wing
It is plausible that the family was there 16 minutes before but did not immediately start filming.
Families should know that it’s more clumsy at the airport than a single flyer who is experienced and knows the particular airport well.
i thought AA was 10 min ua 15min no? did that change? when I was younger i cut it close with ua (been paged a few times) but not anymore.
AA is 15 minutes according to the link I included above.
Ok must be crazy – what else is new! Happy xmas to all!
That’s my daw right there. The pax who show up late get mouthy and you just tell them “I’m finna drop your reservation in a minute if you keep it up!!!”
That’s a no nonsense smooth operating playa right there!
Kicker is the pax actually knew it was standbys that got cleared and they still wanted to litigate the point. Show up on time and there’s no problem!
The other however many people (presumably 150+) somehow made it and made it on time.
This is why Spirit removed putting departure gate information on print-at-home boarding passes or electronic boarding passes not updatable through their app.
If the cut-off for boarding is 15 minutes before departure, why cant the airlines display that T-15 as the departure time ? From a customers’ perspective that T-15 is the ‘actual’ departure time irrespective of when the gate is closed or get pulled out.
Some airlines have done this. I’ve seen it on Spirit’s boarding passes recently: two times: Boarding Begins, Door Closes.
I should add that the DOT has actually beat up airlines over doing some of that.. for “falsely” advertising departure times. Meaning selling a ticket for a flight at 11:00 but posting 10:45 in all the terminals as departure time.
The lesson learned is show up early. Shitstains that film their own non-compliance deserve everything they get. Nobody wants to spend Xmas with you anyway entitled people.
No empathy here. If they were not there on time then they should have their seat taken by standby passengers. It is pretty obvious watching this the people getting on were last-minute stand-bys and the boarding passes and manifest changes were already made. That’s why they got on.
Lesson learned: get to the airport sooner (especially during holiday travel), check the monitors for last-minute gate changes, and then board when you should. And guess what, you’ll have no issue getting on the flight. Millions of people have figured this out, perhaps these entitled individuals need to get their heads out of their ***.
Matthew, looks like the flight was Fri 12/20 instead of Sun 12/22. (X post was Sat 12/21.) FlightAware shows that one as departing 48C. When I looked up FlightStats on Sun 12/22 this Fri 12/20 flight’s details already dropped off from free access so I couldn’t find the time the gate change was posted.
Well said
I’m always at the gate for boarding. The passengers cut it close there are standby passengers and non revs. The airline employees need to get out on time they can get in trouble for a delay. I’m not seeing any injustice or wrongdoing here.
Never been a gate agent, but here’s my recommendation.
I’m terribly sorry sir you’ll need to be rebooted. However, the requirement is that you arrive at least 15 minutes before departure. When you did not, it was necessary for me the process standby passengers to facilitate an on-time departure. Those passengers were assigned to the freed up seats. Once that was done, I must them board and am not permitted to remove them from the plane. Since you very well may be standby passengers on your replacement flight, I hope you understand the need for a hard cutoff.
He will offer an excuse for late arrival. The response is every other passenger faced the same challenges (TSA, gate change, etc.) and made it in time. If he argues he was late, you point out you did the upgrades on/after T-15. And since the standbys had already been cleared, they by definition arrive less than T-15 (assuming the agent didn’t start early).
And, let me say sir, the last thing we ever want to do is deny boarding to a family who has checked in. But, we must at some point free those seats for others so the standbys are not stuck here with a plane leaving with empty seats or the passengers who arrived in time have their flight delayed.
He will, of course, suggest that a 5 or 10 minute delay can’t hurt anyone. You point out a 10 minute delay can lead to a delayed take off of well more than 10 minutes. And, this could cause possibly dozens of passengers to miss a connection at ORD.
The evidence that the gate change was not “unreasonably” late was that everybody else plus the standbys were there before T-15. Given the family arrived at the end of boarding, the first to board arrived at the gate no later than T-25. If the family did arrive at or before T-15, then it is indeed a different story and shame on the GA. However, we all know that those who arrive at T-14 (or 13 or 12) will gladly lie about being on time (or their watch is wrong or they read it subconsciously in a way that makes them right).
Merry merry to all.
Agreed that the passengers MUST monitor the departure gate carefully as gates do change at the last minute. Some airlines have software that note the arrival time of numerous passengers on their originating flight versus the gate change and will notify the connecting gate that there will be a delay. I have also noted that on some airlines, the gate agent on the departing flight will call a passenger’s name numerous times with no reply. In one case, the seats were, indeed, given to other passengers only to have the passenger show up at the last minute. Unfortunately, the passenger was an unaccompanied minor who’s father dilly-dallied forgetting that he had to park the car, check the UCM in, get a gate pass, pass through security AND still get to the gate before boarding time as UCMs are usually boarded first. As the kid stood quietly by, the father phoned the mother to explain the problem. The kid didn’t seem to be upset at all! The moral of the story…book a connection flight with more than the minimum time between flights if you can. In any case, figure your “leave home/hotel time” backwards to allow being at the gate one hour prior to the flight. That is to cover your butt if things go wrong.
Passengers who are late, or who choose to hang out drinking in the bar instead of in the boarding area, made a choice. Their choice is not everyone else’s problem — or responsibility — to accommodate. And yes, it is a choice to be late — they chose to not abide by best practice recommendations to “arrive early.”
“get the flight out on time” When does that ever happen on AA!! lmao
I hadn’t flown AA since before the pandemic, Every one of 4 flights this year left early.
Person filming sounds like a whiny Maren. If you’re not coming from a connecting flight, its essentially on you to get to the gate on time, period.
Traffic? Should have gotten up earlier
Kids slowed you down? Condoms
Its not that difficult.
Sorry, wasn’t trying to use different ID.
Those people sounded way too insistent and entitled. Once the gate agent says no, that’s it. Go talk to customer service and get yourselves sorted out. That agent was BOSS and put up with no crap whatsoever. Good for him for staying calm and speaking plainly.