Do gates close earlier than what is stated on the boarding pass even if not all checked-in passengers have not boarded yet?

@Franck Dernoncourt Sometimes yes, the gate is closed earlier than the stated "be at gate" time.

Thanks, that's good to know. It seems that checked-in passengers who miss a plane because of the gate being closed earlier than the stated time on the boarding pass may have some ground for complain. Isn't the airline somehow liable with the boarding pass information?

You're welcome. a) As to complaint: in addition to the operational reason cited by Patricia Shanahan in her comment above, I'd wager that any airline's T&C permit departure at earlier times for airline, or airport, or air traffic control convenience. b) Because a flight may leave earlier than stated, and the sanctions for missing flights can be serious, I think it's a mug's game to plan gate arrival close to the stated time. When my wife and I fly, we usually pass through security, go directly to the gate, and wait there. If there's an hour or more to wait, we might chance a restaurant meal.

@DavidsupportsMonica agreed, if the airline allow themselves to ignore the information stated on the boarding passes, there must be written somewhere that the time is stated on the boarding passes are just suggestions but not binding.

@PatriciaShanahan Thanks, you're right. I amended the answer.

my experience is they usually wait until 10 minutes before, if passengers are still missing (source: 3 times personal experiences)

In my experience they usually wait even slightly past 10 minutes before, if passengers are missing, and keep paging the missing passengers with "last call for boarding flight XXXX - passengers A, B, and C please report to your gate immediately" or similar.

Might be worth reminding people that gate-checking a bag might be a way to get a free checked bag, but it can be a hassle to have to hurriedly, in public, separate stuff you want or need in flight or don't trust to leave out of your possession and things that can't safely be checked (eg. things with lithium batteries).

@SpehroPefhany And have to wait at the carousel for the now-checked bag to appear.

I've given this a -1. My reasoning is that you are claiming that airlines will directly contradict what they have stated in clear and unambiguous terms on the boarding card. Since that is your claim, I feel it should be backed up by a source to be credible (e.g. an authoritative article, a clause in an airline's T&Cs, an accounting of an example where it has happened, etc.). If you are able to do that, I'll happily change my -1 to a +1. But as it currently reads, I am quite sceptical that this answer is correct.

@JBentley American Airlines' T&Cs: aa.com/i18n/customer-service/support/…? Under "Changes to schedules / operations" is this text: "We do our best to be on time but our flight schedule is not guaranteed and not part of this contract. We are not liable if: We're late or you don't make your connection. We change the schedule of any flight. There are special, incidental or consequential damages because of these changes. Your checked baggage is late (except as required by statute, regulation, or Convention)."

Thanks, but those don't imply that the airline will close the gate earlier than the time they have stated they will close the gate. That clause is referring to (1) being late, (2) missing a connection, (3) rescheduled flights, (4) baggage being late. None of those are the OP's scenario. E.g. if OP arrived 11 minutes before take-off time, he would not be late, but you are saying he could still miss his flight.

@JBentley Yes indeed, that's what I'm saying. Well, we can differ.

We can differ, but you haven't offered an explanation for what we are differing on. Your clause is totally irrelevant to OP's scenario. Which part of the clause are you saying supports your claim?

"We change the schedule of any flight" seems to cover what we're talking about.

No, you have misunderstood the term schedule here. Rescheduling a flight means altering the slot that it has booked with the airport. In such cases you will typically be notified hours or days or weeks before, and the rescheduled time can be totally different to the original one so in this case it wouldn't even necessarily help if you were there hours earlier than the gate closure time. OP's scenario is that the plane is still scheduled for its original time.

@DavidsupportsMonica Whenever I've seen bags gatechecked, they are brought to the jetway at the destination. Perhaps this is different for international?

@AzorAhai I don't know. I've experienced it both ways, 'tho I think (on balance) that the jetway is more likely.