At small airports I've done the same. Agent says everyone is on and we can close the gate and go early. OK. Suddenly there is a cry that 2 of the no-shows have turned up. Can they get on? Of course, they pay my wages. I know what the arrival time will be and it's early, so what's the beef? The pax are more interested in arrival time than departure time. Real world. It's the curse of the web checkin. You do not know if the pax are in the terminal or not, if they've no bags. It is often the same when pax are checked in with bags and not at gate. It can be security check delays. Not their fault. They are in the terminal, so find them. We are the last flight of the day, so no big deal if we are late at destination. It's the end of the day. We are in the customer service industry. Too many of the LoCo's are in the money making business and not the customer service business. It's like the government screwing the voters. They get their money from us; we are the customer. Forget it at your peril. Same with airlines. Our cash comes from the pax and they are voters too. Some managements treat pax like school children and they are the head honchos. It's quite pathetic. You can alwasy put a delay down to congested apron and delayed pushback. It's good to see that some captains are alive and well. It's a shame they are on the way out and tread in fear and become just another 'jobs worth'.
This guy was really lucky he could get to the captain. I saw the orange soap opera where an Italian lady was delayed by M1 traffic and was late at checkin for a flight to her father's funeral. The a/c was still on the ground and well within range for her to board, but the deadline had passed. No discretion from the so called customer service agent. There was no customer service at all. A grieving woman camped in an airport lounge until the next morning. Any of us captains would have taken her. Sadly we are not always asked. Discretion is not in the vocabulary of the ground staff. They live in fear. That is UK: happily on the continent they have a more adult sense of proportion and captains still hold some sway and are consulted. If I say yes or no the onus is on me and they have their backsides covered. In UK it seems even asking the captain is outside the rules. Sad.