I arrived with my wife at the airport at least 35 minutes before our scheduled flight to Mexico only to be told by one of the airline employees that we we're not going to be allowed to board because we were "late". I looked at the terminal clock and pointed out to her that the flight wouldn't leave for at least another half hour and requested to be processed immediately so we could board.

She denied our request and started arguing with us about the time we actually arrived, then simply indicated that the flight was closed to further boarding and there was nothing she could do. She explained something about "security regulations" requiring passengers to be at the counter at least 2 hours prior to departure and that there is a "cutoff time for boarding" but she couldn't answer the question of what happens if someone stands in line within 2 hours and their baggage doesn't get checked before the 45 minute cutoff, does that mean they're late too and are they denied boarding?

I just couldn't comprehend how is it that having more than 30 minutes until takeoff we just couldn't board. Instead, she offered another flight but was unable to find one for that same date and of course she said there'd be "penalties". Another $300 to put us on another flight! Without a doubt I felt ripped off, angry, frustrated, and very bitter about the whole thing. My wife and I were looking forward to this trip and instead we found out how outrageous these practices are. We still don't know if it's the airlines, the TSA, the airports or what, we just know that this is no way to treat travelers.