oh and add the fact that ACARS has actually killed off any form of understanding between dispatch, ramp and flight deck, and theres another "trend" in handling.
Before ACARS, Dispatch, Ramp and Flight Deck, (generally) worked for each other. The flight deck would often be happy to explain the +3minute delay as "Busy Ramp" or "long taxi to runway".
In return, when the Flight Deck needed a little extra time, Dispatch would cover them in the same way.
When a Passenger was a few minutes late, Dispatch might let them on because it would save the hassle of having the lads re-open a hold and root through all the bags. Because they knew they could "wing a few minutes" from a decent captain who understood the logic.
Now, ACARS tells everyone EXACTLY when the doors were shut. So everyone is fighting to pass the delay. I got to the stage where dispatchers were willing passengers to be late, because that extra 10mins allowed for finding the bag would be enough to let them finish what they were doing.
I've seen Ramp Agents called into offices over a a 5minute delay because they had an offload of 120 from Malaga, and an onload of 111 (+18 golf clubs) on a Faro, and line managers refusing to accept delays.
I've even seen Captains refuse LMC's on manual loadsheets for no other reason than to buy more time to cover their own inefficiencies.
ACARS has created a "them and us" mentality that just didnt exist when you dealt with older non-ACARS aircraft. Although saying that, on the day I left the industry, there were still some great "old school" crews out there, but they're a dying breed!
Rant over!
RTG!