Sorry, you're too late...
I recently travelled for the first time on one of the well known low cost airlines. Due to the unfortunate circumstances of someone on the rail track, a fast train to the airport was cancelled and the result of this was that I arrived at the check-in desk just 2 minutes after the official check-in time (1/2 hour before departure). A couple of others on the same train were just also 1 minute late. However, despite reasoned argument, we were all politely told, sorry you're too late, you can't get on this plane.
Now, granted, we probably should have allowed for such a delay, but nevertheless, this seemed somewhat inflexible. It was the last plane of the day, the plane was not full and not one of us were carrying more than just hand lugage. Two of the travellers were also frequent flyers of that route.
Allegedly, this was a decision of the captain. But I was just wondering if this is standard and reasonable practice across airlines and if others have experienced it.
Alternatively, is this an extreme case of sticking to the rules and inflexibility. Certainly, I would question whether I would use that airline again, and could not possibly recommend it for the business traveller who may have to make a late dash to the airport.