If everybody boarded can plane leave gate early

[CupCrusher40]

to beat weather

[floridaguy]

As long as air traffic control grants takeoff then yes.

[DancingDavidE]

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@CupCrusher40 wrote:

to beat weather

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...Or if everyone hasn't boarded they can still leave early. Obviously that would be a factor to be considered in terms of dodging weather - better to get a flight out missing a few passengers than have it be canceled due to weather and no one gets to fly.

So to simplify the answer: yes they can leave early

[dfwskier]

If you check flight status, you'll see that planes leave early all the time. If all ticket holders are on board why wait.

I doubt that a plane would leave early if there are ticket holders that are not yet on board - even to avoid weather . Any airline that does that to me will see a scene of epic proportions

[DancingDavidE]

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@dfwskier wrote:

If you check flight status, you'll see that planes leave early all the time. If all ticket holders are on board why wait.

I doubt that a plane would leave early if there are ticket holders that are not yet on board - even to avoid weather . Any airline that does that to me will see a scene of epic proportions

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They were totally going to leave us in Las Vegas one day, we happened to come back right at the scheduled time for boarding and it was us, close the door, good bye! They weren't going to wait for us 20 more minutes that was for sure and they didn't wait for anyone else that was straggling to the gate, if you weren't there right at 30 minutes prior to flight time that bird to Chicago left without you.

*There weren't too many of those as the flight was pretty full. We had been at the lounge in the other terminal, all the people following the best practice and being at the correct gate area must have heard the announcements.

[dfwskier]

That;s strange.

My experience is that pre boarding starts at 30 minutes, and general boarding starts at about 20 minutes. - of course that is dependent on the number of pre boarders.

I think the SW policy is that if you are not at the gate at 10 minutes, then they have the ability to give your seat away.

[DancingDavidE]

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@dfwskier wrote:

That;s strange.

My experience is that pre boarding starts at 30 minutes, and general boarding starts at about 20 minutes. - of course that is dependent on the number of pre boarders.

I think the SW policy is that if you are not at the gate at 10 minutes, then they have the ability to give your seat away.

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It was only this one time for me, but they were ready to go at the 30 minute mark and had fully boarded the plane except for us and I don't recall now if they were calling any names over the speakers. Actually I didn't hear them call ours, we just saw the gate area and were like "oh nice, they are just finishing up boarding the earlier flight so we have plenty of time" and then realizing there was no one else sitting down that it was actually our flight.

[StAugustine]

I have had flights leave early, sometimes 15 minutes early, as the first flight of the day. The plane has been waiting there all night and they start boarding as soon as the crew arrives. The downside comes when you get to your destination so early that you have to wait there for a gate to be available.