American Airlines Flight Leaves 22 minutes Early Without Passenger Because Apparently Flights Can Do That - Airline Blames Passenger
When Matt Mascarenas showed up at Manchester’s Ringway International airport at 7.30am for his 10.05am flight, he was chuffed at how early he was. “I should’ve gotten an award for being so early … I was prepared to waste time on YouTube,” he told the Northern Quota yesterday from his home in Utah.
On 25 March, leaving a week of unseasonable Mancunian sunshine behind him, Matt checked-in for the return leg of his first trip to Europe. He was in no rush, but continued through security and reached the duty-free area by 8am. “We have established a 30-minute cut off on international flights, you must be present at the gate 30 minutes prior to departure to keep your seat and reservation valid,” American Airlnes representative Anita Jackson told NQ.
However, a look at the airine’s international rules (AA RULE: 0087 for ‘denied boarding’) tells a different story: “All passengers must present themselves at the loading gate for boarding at least 10 minutes before scheduled departure”.
Back at the check-in counter, they told Matt it would cost £1,400 to rebook his flight. After many hours on the phone with customer service, however, he was eventually rebooked for $303.
This guy thought he was sooo cocky. Shows up to the airport basically three hours ahead of time and thought he deserved an award. He was walking around the airport browsing shops and dicking around to waste time he was so early. When he got to the gate, 30 minutes before the gates closed, he got a gigantic fuck you from American Airlines. The flight decided to leave early without him. FACIAL LAFLEUR TOTAL FACIAL!!
Apparently American Airlines has a policy where they can just leave within 30 minutes of the departure time which is INSANITY. This is good news for people who are at the gate because they get to go wherever they’re going ahead of time. On the flip side this is horrible news for anyone rushing late to their flight or eating before takeoff at some restaurant. This poor guy was at the airport three hours early and killing time. American Airlines proceeded to take a giant shit on his face. If you do some research it apparently says the policy is 10 minutes, not 30 but AA doesn’t give a shit. Better yet they told him it would cost £1,400 to rebook his flight! He was able to get them down to $300 but still spending any amount of extra money because your flight left early is insane. How can a flight just leave early? That is absolutely insane. You leave your house to get to the airport based on your departure time. That’s how flights and travel and order in society works. This guy should be able to sue the airline for everything they have.
Let’s not forget this is the same airline that has a policy to say “fuck you” to every passenger who has an issue, as Riggs blogged about last October.
American Airlines: A great airline where we might leave early without you and if you’re delayed or cancelled you can go fuck yourself. American Airlines.