Recommendations are just that: a recommendation, not a mandate. The airline can "recommend" anything they want but unless it is made in the form of a mandate with the repercussions of not following that mandate clearly spelled out for the consumer it is unfair for everyone. The airline owes her the difference in price.

This is not true. For an international flight from the U.S. to Canada, Air Canada requires that you are checked in with your name on their manifest 45 minutes before your departure time or you cannot go on the flight. This is so that their government has time to run your name through their computers for a security check. I do not feel sorry for the woman who showed up at 7:01 for an 8:00 international flight. It puts everyone on the aircraft at risk if a passenger is allowed to do that. It makes everyone scramble just to get this passenger on board, and when that kind of chaos takes place for an airline flight, security measures can be breeched.

This was just a way for the airline to make extra money. I recently traveled from Arizona to N.J. As I was boarding my flight there was a boarding announcement from the same airline that a direct flight was leaving for N.J. a few minutes earlier (mine had a stop over). I was able to change my flight since I had no checked baggage. This took place about 15 minutes before take off. I guess the computers were still working because I freed a seat on a full flight.
p.s. The doorway for the ramp to the plane had already been shut when it was reopened for me to get on board.

Here's a story - my daughter was flying out of Orlando on Northwest with 7 friends for her 21st birthday. They arrived 1 hour 45 minutes early, and my daughter was the only one who needed to check a bag. After standing in line for 20 minutes - a JERK agent said "I'm sorry - you needed to check in 1 hour 30 minutes early - flight is closed"! 5 minutes!!! And she had been there - in line! All of the other girls easily made the flight he just wouldn't check her bag. One friend stayed with her - and it cost us over $1,000 including change fees for the 2 of them and a night in hotel as there were no other flights available until the next day. All avoidable had she she gotten another agent who wasn't on a power trip and would have tried to help this poor girl. Never in my life have I been so mad -

STEPHANIE: did you look at your post prior to publishing it? You state "Air Canada requires that you are checked in with your name on their manifest 45 minutes before your departure time or you cannot go on the flight..." then state (paraphrased) you don't feel sorry for the person who showed up at 7:01 for an 8:00 flight. My skill in subtraction show that she was 59 minutes early. That is 14 minutes more than the 45 minutes you stated. According to you, the person showed up MORE than 45 minutes early. AND, as TOM G. stated, a RECOMMENDATION is just that, not a MANDATE.
I absolutely agree that when an airline unreasonably inconveniences a patron, said patron should not have to pay for the mistakes made by the representatives, but that is often the case. My spouse and I flew from Baltimore to Seattle, Washington last May. We arrived 2 1/2 hours early only to find that the airline representative I had made some reservation changes with a month earlier had deleted my husband's outgoing ticket, though he had made the proper reservations for the return trip from Washington to Baltimore. Part of the problem with the snafu was the person who I had to deal with was in a call-center in India and he had problems understanding me. We had to pay an additional $750.00 for my husband, which was over $400 more than I had paid for his original ticket. Because of the intricate changes I had made a month before, my husband did not catch the fact the original price for his outgoing trip was refunded.
This was definitely a case of an error by the airline's employee. However, because the agent did not send a proper email confirming he had deleted my husband's ticket, we were stuck and had to eat the overcharge. I will never fly either Northwest or Delta again. I would take a covered wagon where I need to go first.