Originally Posted by
APC225
When I show up at the gate 5 minutes prior to scheduled boarding time, and I discover they are making final calls for "all rows, all passengers," (which happens pretty much every time my flight isn't delayed or cancelled), I feel violently ill at the mere thought of what would have happened if I had experienced a 5 minute hold up at security, shown up "on-time" at my flight for boarding and had been denied at the gate for being "late" just because United wants to shove off from the gate ASAP and artificially inflate its On-Time Performance rate to overcompensate for when it screws up elsewhere.
I've never understood why we do this? I've seen passengers walk up almost 10 minutes prior to the scheduled arrival time, and the gate is closed and they are standing there incredulously. The CSR is telling them, sorry but we had to make an "on-time" departure. Now we've ****ed off a bunch of people, incurred more cost for the airline, and created a bad image for ourselves, but hey, the CSR has 10 minutes more to go on break before her next flight so she's happy....