Originally Posted by e6bpilot

Wow. You have the wrong attitude.
That captain got someone on a flight that was supposed to be on a flight. Last I checked we are in the business of moving people from A to B. If someone was there on time or even a little late, it is up to the on scene leader to make the decision to let them on or not based on the information that they have available to them.
I am a SWA pilot, but am following this thread because this was us two years ago. We were leaving behind people at the gate 15 minutes prior because ground ops took the power away from us to make decisions like this. Our union lobbied hard and educated members and now this is much, much less prevalent.
Take the power back, guys. You are the Captain/FO, and you get paid to make these decisions. What is the ultimate goal? I'll tell you, it's an on time arrival. Look at what the flight is blocked for vs the estimated flight time and see if you have a few minutes of wiggle room. If you are the last flight of the day, stand at the gate podium until 3 minutes prior to push and make sure you have everyone (including revenue pax who are often left standing there).
We have a new delay code HD20 that basically says the aircraft pushed late because the captain determined he can still accommodate late arriving pax or nonrevs and still make an on time arrival. SWAPA and our flight ops leadership came up with this idea and pushed it on to ground ops. When the ground ops folks know that the pressure is off of them, they will become much more cooperative. The other thing we can do at SWA is just say "put the delay on me" because there are literally zero consequences for pilots for pushing late if we are doing checklists, briefing, or using the bathroom.
I was once on a flight going to CUN that was told to push without connecting passengers from the west coast who got weather diverted and were going to be ten minutes late. The next flight was two days away and they were going to have their vacation plans totally screwed up. The captain was going to push and I stood up and said my stomach hurt and I had to use the bathroom. Ten minutes of sitting in a bathroom stall later, I got a huge hug from the gate agent and a teary eyed thank you from the passengers who thought they were screwed.
Take the power back. Do not let ground ops get the upper hand. Be the on scene leader.
Rant over. I'll go back to my corner. Please, please look out for each other out there, guys.