Quote Originally Posted by Aloha_Shooter View Post
I hate the way they use the phrase "denied boarding" - yeah, that would be one thing if he was stopped FROM boarding but the guy was already seated. He wasn't "denied boarding", he was being deboarded involuntarily. Having said that, if the "staff" that they were trying to put on the flight were crew for follow-on flights, there would have been rolling impacts in not getting them down there that would have affected a lot more people so I understand the airline's urgency in trying to get them down there.
The term boarding has broad interpretation. For airlines it is generally applied to the whole process of loading passengers on the plane prior to takeoff. It is not the limit line of actually stepping on the plane and yelling "safe!". Even if you are on the plane, sitting and buckled, until they close the door everyone is still boarding. I wouldn't be surprised if it extended until wheels up such that a return to the gate to eject a passenger would still be considered boarding denial.