this is to get a full load, and take care of no show passengers, this is remarks from QA Staff, and we are not talking about one and 2 people, you are looking at more like 30 to 50 passengers on an airbus 330.

However, if you are a confirmed ticket holder, you need to be at the counter at least 3 hours before boarding.

Reminds me of a time while flying Emirates from Qatar. They gave us our boarding pass with out the chit for our baggage. while passing through immigration, we noted the flaw and got one of the emirates staff to check for us. Imagine our surprise when we were upgraded to business class - yippie

But as some one mentioned, you need to make a scene at the counter itself to get noticed and attended to, or you get sweeped under the rug.

I dont know, if it is only in Qatar. But customer service sucks.