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Why was the question Why do some boarding passes fail to mention when gates close? closed as primarily opinion-based?

I would assume that airlines must have objective reasons to do so, as the few reasons mentioned in the comments of the questions seem to indicate (e.g.: "they don't want to encourage people to turn up right before boarding closes."; "Planes can sometimes leave earlier than scheduled. If boarding is completed ahead of time, they can close the gate ahead of time and leave ahead of time.")

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I have not voted to close your question, and think it's an interesting one, but I can understand why it's attracting close votes as opinion-based.

Different airlines have clearly chosen to design their boarding passes in different ways (and different forms of their boarding passes: print at home, mobile app, mobile for Apple Wallet, paper, etc...) Each one could list a number of relevant times: check-in/bag drop closure time, boarding time, gate closure time, departure time. And every airline has handled that process a little differently.

Short of asking the employees at airlines who design boarding passes why they make the choices they do, we can only speculate, which is a matter of opinion.

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    Thanks. speculation != opinion. Example of opinion: I prefer apples over pears. Example of speculation: "I guess that airlines don't want to encourage people to turn up right before boarding closes.". Either way, as you mention, a good answer could use knowledge from employees at airllines. I assume that some users here are employees at airllines.
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Commented Aug 28, 2018 at 21:00
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    @FranckDernoncourt I've always considered the definition of 'opinion' in the "primarily opinion-based" close reason to include speculation. SE's description of that close reason is "answers to this question will tend to be almost entirely based on opinions, rather than on facts, references, or specific expertise." Pure speculation isn't based primarily on facts, references, or specific expertise.
    – reirab
    Commented Aug 31, 2018 at 15:35
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    If people post speculative answers to factual questions, downvote them and in extreme cases flag them. No need to prevent people who do know something about the range of policies airlines have from posting fact-based answers to factual questions.
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    Commented Sep 4, 2018 at 17:06
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I didn't vote to close your question - I voted against the closure - but I didn't know the answer to it, unfortunately. I think it's a fair and reasonable question.

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Because the only people who know the actual reason that a company does or does not do something are the people in the company who made the decision. They're extremely unlikely to answer and anyone else can only speculate.

Also, any answer is of no use to an actual traveller. The traveller needs to know what to do in this situation but it doesn't make any difference whether the answer is "Because XYZ technical reason", "Because they hate you and want you to suffer" or "Because Moses had a vision in which God told him not to put information on boarding passes." Ultimately, this is how the world works and you just have to deal with it.

This is true of most "why" questions about things outside the traveller's control.

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    Actually, it's completely possible for the rationale to be available publicly somewhere in public meeting notes, lawsuit transcripts, interviews, etc. Unless it's a touchy subject, I expect no issues finding the right answer.
    – JonathanReez Mod
    Commented Sep 3, 2018 at 0:31
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    And understanding the rationale can have a significant practical effect. E.g. understanding how visa decision makers operate is extremely helpful for anyone who's applying for visas, so that they could get an outside perspective on their application.
    – JonathanReez Mod
    Commented Sep 3, 2018 at 0:32
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    We have plenty of users who have experience working in the air industry, who have posted plenty of very insightful and interesting answers illustrating the range of reasons behind various policies. Many are among the best answers on the site, posted by some of the most valuable users.
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    Commented Sep 4, 2018 at 17:09

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