I was at the gate an entire ten minutes before a 9AM departure and there was no ticketing agent at the gate. Apparently they had already closed the gate although the plane did not take off until after 9:10AM. I furthermore had to pay an additional $40 to get new ticket for a later flight to get from JFK to IAD. I filed a complaint for inconsistency - I have had several flights still board even five minutes before departure - but all I got was "sorry." The service has truly deteriorated compared to before when they'd even issue credit because DirectTV ceased working for a couple minutes during a flight. How do you issue credit because you cause someone to miss entertainment and not when you cause someone to miss a flight while watching the plane sit on the tarmac for 20 minutes???