My son, his wife, small child and infant were denied boarding on a domestic flight out of Dulles (Wash D.C.) After a very long wait on line, they finally reached the check - in counter 42 minutes before flight time. The reason given for denial was the TSA locks the computers 45 minutes before flight time for secutity reasons and there was nothing the airline could do. I haven't heard of this. Does anyone know if that is true. The airlines website says that boarding passes must be obtained no more than 30 minutes before flight time, not 45.

I don't know about locking the computers but I just heard of someone who arrived 5 minutes after the posted check in time and was denied access. The plane was still there--don't know if the door was open or not. Airlines take their on time departure VERY seriously so I don't really doubt this at all. Don't know if it makes sense if they were actually in the line. I haven't ever seen anyone denied for that reason. I have seen it a number of times if the door to the jetway has been closed.

I remember something about 60 minutes for international, 30 minutes for domestic.

I have clients who arrived at the ticket counter for Delta just less than an hour before departure (thanks to the interstate being closed due to an accident). After standing in the line for about 10 minutes, they announced that anyone going to their destination couldn't board as the line for security was too long to allow them to get to the gate.

If you watch Airlines on A&E, you see it happen all the time. If you are not AT the gate by the time they say (even 1 minute late is too late), they will give away your seats.

As for this incident, I'm not sure since there is a conflict in the stated time frame. Unfortunately, in the end, if they say you don't get to board, you don't get to board period (regardless of their reasons). I wonder if the plane was filled and they had a large standby list? I think they might "push" that time frame a bit in that case to make room for the standby's).

I tried to find the rules on TSA website, unsuccessfully.

On Southwest website: "At 20 minutes prior to scheduled departure you can get a boarding pass only at the Departure Gate."

So maybe each airline has their own cut-off time, not TSA?

As for the "reason given" the agents can say anything!

This is why it is a good idea to arrive early.

Yes, this happens often.

Some airlines have different cut-off times for different airports, so that may explain the 30 minutes vs. 45 in the OP's situation. I've not heard of the TSA computer lockdown reason before.

This is the primary reason I always utilize online checkin and print out boarding pass at home. Regardless of when I show up at the gate I am logged into the computers as checked in well in advance.

I just have to be on the plane by the time they close the door, not a second sooner and I'm ok. And I've come very, very close...

If I'm on the road, I still checkin online, then just reprint my boarding pass at the airport.

Hi Faina, I thought (maybe incorrectly) that you had to have your boarding pass to get through security. If that is so how do you get through security without the boarding pass? But like I said maybe I am wrong. Take care.

Thanks for the thoughtful replies. My son's family was there plenty early but the line was extraordinarily slow. A lot of passengers seemed to have issues. The people in front of them got on. It seems to me that a family with a 5 year old and an infant should get some sort of consideration. It was the last flight of the day to their destination which means they would have been stranded overnight. The airline did not know it but lucky for them they live near the airport and were able to leave the next day.

American Airlines check in counters have signs all over the place that say 45 minutes prior.

We've cut it close before.

Sorry, OP, that situation stinks! I feel sorry for your son and his family.

Well - they really weren't there in plenty of time if they didn;t get to the agent in time. Many airlines require you arrive at the desk (not at the airport and not on line) 3 hours in advance for international flights and 2 for domestic. Naturally they ralize not everyone will do this - but it prevents everyone arriving 15 minutes before the final time - which would delay boarding - and they WON'T do that.

Separately, I know people with children/infants often think they deserve special treatment because traveling with kids is more difficult. But, if you decide to travel with kids the YOU need to take extradordinary precauations - not expect everyone else to change the rules to accommodate you.

(IMHO this is like the bumper sticker telling other drivers to be careful because you have a baby on board. If you're the one with the baby then you should be takig the extra care - since it's your baby.)

And don;t get me wrong - I have nothing against children. But I do resent people who think they deserve extra attention with kids - after all they're already getting free or discount seats.

What time did they actually join the end of the line? Airlines recommend to be at the airport anywhere from 90 min. to 120 min. before the flight, and for people with checked luggage they stipulate pretty uniformly 30 minutes before the flight, for actually checking in, meaning being at the agents station and concluding the transaction, not getting to the agent or getting off the airport bus.

Every airline has a list of airports where more time is prescribed. Dulles is one of those.

Just one example - United:
For travel within the U.S., we recommend arriving 60 minutes before your flight if you are not checking bags and 90 minutes before your flight if you are checking bags.
•Baggage must be checked at the airport at least 30 minutes in advance of flight departure time except for the following airports which have a 45 minute cut-off time for baggage check-in:
• Atlanta, Georgia (ATL)
• Charlotte, North Carolina (CLT)
• Chicago, Illinois O'Hare (ORD)
• Denver, Colorado (DEN)
• Las Vegas, Nevada (LAS)
• Los Angeles, California (LAX)
• New York, New York John F. Kennedy (JFK)
• Orlando, Florida (MCO)
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (PHL)
• Phoenix, Arizona (PHX)
• Sacramento, California (SMF)
• Seattle, Washington (SEA)
• San Francisco, California (SFO)
• Tampa, Florida (TPA)
• Washington DC Dulles International Airport (IAD)
If these time limits are not met, United will be excluded from liability.

Delta requires 30 min. for checked except 45 minutes at ATL, DEN, LAS, LAX, MCO and 60 min Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands.

With kids and the need to check bags at Dulles, it is not unreasonable to be there two hours before the flight. That gives you 75 minutes to get to the front.

NYTraveler, " Many airlines require you arrive at the desk (not at the airport and not on line) ... 2 hours for domestic."

Which airlines? I checked AA, United, USAir, Delta. All require 30 - 90 minutes. Only exception is AA flights departing Hawaii or USVI, which required 2 hours (are the baggage handlers on island time or what! ).

It's all about the baggage. Even if you checkin online, if you don't present your baggage on time, then you're still out of luck. But it's not more than 60 minutes in almost every case I could find...

They do close the flight. I almost did not make it home from Brussels in July. They decided to open the flight back up for us, they were NOT happy with us. But I think because there were so many of us that were late.

The hotel did not give us our wake up call. It was not a good morning with 4o something of us running seriously late. At 5 minutes before take off time there were 10 of us that were not even checked in yet.

They yelled at us in a few languages, I'll tell you that. The signs clearly said that they stopped boarding the flight at 30 minutes before take off. I was having a heart attack.

This did happen to me at Tampa. I was denied baording. We got caught up in a terrential rain storm, and behind an accident. We got to the airport too late. Forty minutes before, denied boarding.

Back in the olden days before Continental virtually folded, they were trying hard to reach and maintain the #1 position for "on time departures". I (and many others) got left while we were standing in line to board with boarding passes in hand. I was shocked! They were very clear that they preferred for the plane to push back on time with or without passengers. It was the last time I flew Continental.

Nowadays, they would not be able to do that because there can't be luggage on board that does not match with an onboard passenger.

BTW, many years later I was at a B&B outside of Athens, GA when I saw a plaque on the owner's bookshelf. I asked, and he was operations manager for Cont. at Hartsfield at the time. He was bragging - and I gave him an earful! He was still proud of that "achievement".

If you are checking bags and you aren't cleared by the cut-off time, you are out of luck - kids or no kids. I rarely carry my bags on, but advanced online check-in with boarding passes printed out by kiosks have saved me more than once since 9/11. You are indeed "checked in" once the boarding pass is printed, and if you aren't checking bags you have until push back to board the plane.

That's horrible! Dulles is awful. Mid-afternoon and evenings are really bad, esp. with United. Usually, they begin calling people out of the line so they can make it on time, so I'm a little disappointed they didn't do that in your son's case. In my opinion, it's the airline's fault they didn't make the flight, so I'd ask for some sort of compensation.

Looking at Dulles airport website, it states:

"Advice for passengers about wait times in the Main Terminal
Please arrive early for your flight: 2 hours for domestic flights and 3 hours for international flights, especially during these busiest times in the Main Terminal:
5:30am - 8:00am
11:00am - 1:00pm
4:30pm - 6:30pm"

I certainly agree about personal responsibility, and the website recommended arriving 60-90 minutes early, but the fact is that they were there within that time period and the airline's website also says that check-in must take place no less than 30 minutes before flight time and they met that published standard. What bothers me is telling them that the computer locks out at exactly 45 minutes before the flight, so it is just too bad, sorry. I don't think that is true and I have not heard anything different. Honesty counts! If they overbooked and gave away the seats, don't lie about it. Of course if they told the truth they would have to take some responsibility.