I have to say, though, this part of the response:
"Warnings went out (months ago) when that info changed, and that tickets would not be available at the gate."
is not exactly germaine to what I was bringing up. Of course information that gate tickets would not be available went out months ago, I was well aware of that, but the quote from the operating plan was not about the usual gate ticket selling, it was about keeping a small handful of tickets available for those who showed up without a ticket and had nowhere to go. This seems to me like a contingency plan UNRELATED to the usual gate tickets that have been sold in previous years, and this information was not broadcast, as far as I know. I could be wrong about that. OK, must look at something else other than a computer screen now.