Get to the gate early or your travel plans may not fly

Gail Todd is taking some time off. This column originally appeared in December, 2005.

These days, when it comes to flying, Tom Dail says he feels like a teenager. "Every time I go to the airport it seems I'm grounded," said Tom, who arrived five minutes late at his gate in Detroit and was bumped from the flight.

"It used to be when the airline said to be at your gate 30 minutes early, you sat and waited 40 minutes before they boarded. Now I've seen them actually close their doors before the scheduled departure time," he said.

Tom isn't the only frequent traveler who has had an airplane door shut in his face. When Jean Cowden checked in for her flight to Kansas City, she waited nearly an hour to check her bag. When she finally made it to the front of the line, the agent told her it was too late to check the bag and the bag was too big to carry on. Jean carried on, but not the way the agent meant. He ended up booking her on a later flight.

"Sometimes you can't help arriving late at the airport. Car accidents and road repair can really mess you up," said one frequent flier. "It bugs me that the carrier expects the traveler to be flexible when the airline delays a flight, but when airport security or ticket lines make you arrive late at the gate, they refuse to bend."

For Cinda Wells, it isn't the early gate policy that frustrates her. It's the lack of consistency. When Cinda arrived late for one flight out of Columbus, Ohio, the agent was understanding and put her on the next available flight without a charge. Another time, when security was backed up and several passengers had trouble getting to their gates at the designated time, she was charged a $100 rebooking fee.

Another traveler said he arrived at his gate five minutes after the doors shut but at least 10 minutes before the plane left the gate. The agent said if he transferred to a different airline, he would have to pay for a full-priced ticket.

Some passengers take the matter into their own hands. My daughter saw a passenger at O'Hare who was running late for a flight. When he realized the ticket counter line would take too long for him to make his plane, he called a skycap and told him he needed a wheelchair. The wheelchair put him at the front of both the ticket and security lines. According to my daughter, the man made his flight but lost his karma.

The problem is that for the airline, time is money. If a flight goes out late, the carrier pays a fee. Agents try hard to have their flights go out on time. If a passenger has a legitimate reason for arriving late at the gate, most agents are understanding and will book you on the next available flight. But if you change airlines, don't expect the same treatment.

"It's pretty much up to our discretion," said one San Francisco agent. "If a passenger arrives and the gates are closed, I rarely charge a fee for rebooking him."

So how do you avoid seeing your airline off, while you stay behind?

The obvious answer is to be on time. Airlines have different boarding requirements. Some carriers require you to be at your gate 15 minutes before departure, others require a 30-minute gate check-in time. Always check your ticket for your airline's procedures.

You can also avoid slow ticket lines at the airport by using the airline's kiosks for printing your e-ticket. Some airlines also allow you to print boarding passes on your computer the day before your departure.

Finally, pack your sense of humor. If you are running late, the agent decides if he needs to charge you a late fee. If you keep your cool, he's more apt to keep his.