Flight closed

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

ninebeanrows

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

In my experience, flights are very keen to call the flight 'closed' or 'closing' even when it hasn't started boarding.

It is to alarm people and get them to get to the gate.

I have been at a ryanair gate before when the sign has said 'closing' and the plane was not even at the stand.

VG31

Ryanair are a stage ahead a lot of the time. I.e. boarding means the plane hasn't even arrived yet. Final call means boarding and gate closed is last passengers boarding.

gumbo1

I work in the airport and if someone is running late for their flight and we check the board, if it says closed we refer them back to check-in as I'd be under the same impression.

Noxegon

I took a transatlantic very recently – operated by American – and left the shiny new lounge when it went "Final Call".

I was extremely pissed off when I discovered that it actually hadn't started boarding yet.

L1011

Weathercheck wrote: »

I have been at a ryanair gate before when the sign has said 'closing' and the plane was not even at the stand.

Had this repeatedly with FR, and some other times with various airlines. Scares people who were waiting in the bar until the queue was likely gone into actually turning up. Critical if you are reliant on very tight turns or are already late.

ED E

VG31 wrote: »

Ryanair are a stage ahead a lot of the time. I.e. boarding means the plane hasn't even arrived yet. Last call means boarding and gate closed is last passengers boarding.

Gate close on your ticket is always +-2mins of the gate open time.

Chris_5339762

Ryanair "Boarding" means the plane has arrived and they're going to start getting people into the corral or onto the stairs.

"Gate closes" time on Ryanair tickets co-incidentally matches up with the time the gate opens.

Locker10a

I've noticed this too, I've been the operating crew before when we were standing on an escalator heading towards our gate. some passengers came from behind us and were very panicked,running and asking everybody if they mind to step out of the way as they need to pass by and run to their gate.
We all felt sorry for them etc.
Anyway we strolled along casually to the gate our flight was due to depart from and who was just joining the end of the boarding queue only those same people who had ran past us!
They were "closing the gate" before the crew had even arrived!
Very very annoying as a passenger and I think it's such an unfair pressure to put on people

kranbo

Work in Dub airport - and while Ryanair will post "gate closed" they will wait until at least 10 mins before departure time before they will actually close the gate

Jamie2k9

Noxegon wrote: »

I took a transatlantic very recently – operated by American – and left the shiny new lounge when it went "Final Call".

I was extremely pissed off when I discovered that it actually hadn't started boarding yet.

Aer Lingus do it as well have been caught rushing from security and not evening boarding.

Noxegon

Yeah, I really think that's something that the DAA should do something about because it's a terribly poor customer experience which reflects badly on the airport. It should be possible to contractually sort that sort of behaviour.

smurfjed

In order for a flight to depart on time, the checkin process has to be closed, various airlines/routes will have different times for this to happen, maybe its departure -1hr, -40 min, -20 min or -10 min.
Once closed, the various systems are able to calculate the weight and balance for the crew, and they are then able to calculate their takeoff performance and adjust the computerised flight plan if necessary.
So while you are looking at the actual gate, the term has more to do with the pre-departure setup.
The flight can be re-opened if the desire exists

Locker10a

Noxegon wrote: »

Yeah, I really think that's something that the DAA should do something about because it's a terribly poor customer experience which reflects badly on the airport. It should be possible to contractually sort that sort of behaviour.

Problem is it's not just a Dublin airport issue, it's almost everywhere now, as mentioned Gatwick do the same thing and (while sometimes it's justified due to long walks to gates) mostly the timing of "boarding" and "gate closing" are overkill and pretty ridiculous.
Only yesterday morning I was boarding a flight from Gatwick, the gate staff made the announcement for the boarding of rows 1-13 to come forward, as these passengers began to que up, the crew for the flight arrived and had to squeeze through this que of people who thought they were boarding! Absolutely ridiculous! And the crew weren't late either, this was about 40 mins before scheduled departure!!
I normally can't be bothered with the whole standing in line for 20 mins, going no where so I tend to sit and relax, but this generally means having your bag gate checked. It all depends what your priorities are.
But this hyper early boarding of flights is becoming totally ridiculous

The_Wanderer

"Boarding" of a flight and then having to stand in a breezy stairwell for what seems like 20 minutes is terrible customer service. I've been subject to it on Ryanair (don't fly with them now for various bad experiences) and Aer Lingus Regional.

Jamie2k9

Noxegon wrote: »

Yeah, I really think that's something that the DAA should do something about because it's a terribly poor customer experience which reflects badly on the airport. It should be possible to contractually sort that sort of behaviour.

Airports far worse than DUB, Gatwick is my worst.
_____
I do get why they do it however I feel they are been just overly cautious.