Reply #10: You're mistaken. Gotbaum didn't "blow off" any flight.

[pnwmom]

She properly checked in on her originating flight -- that's all anyone has to do, check in once. And then she showed up ready to board her connecting flight 25 minutes before flight time -- and the requirement is only 15 minutes.

(Not 30, as some have misunderstood. The 30 minute requirement applies to the original check-in in NY, which Gotbaum successfully accomplished.)

US Air also had it within their power to have her bump another passenger from the subsequent flight -- and there was a VOLUNTEER -- but they chose not to help her. The airline employee who made that cold-hearted decision bears some of the moral responsibility, in my opinion.