Originally Posted by
anabolism
One reason, as I understand it (and sluggoaafa can correct me) is that flight and cabin crew are not paid until doors close or wheels up (have heard conflicting reports), and since boarding can't start until most FAs are on board, early boarding means more unpaid work time for the crew.
IIRC, the APFA contract has long provided that FAs are paid from door close and lock at origin to door unlocked and open at destination. So if the door close 5-10 minutes early, that's more pay for the FAs, especially if they puch back a little early but wheels-up time doesn't change.
Not saying that I have a problem with this. I think that it's unfair that FAs have to report to the airport an hour prior to scheduled departure (IIRC), check in, work the boarding process, yet are not paid for any of this.
Sluggoaafa (or anyone else who knows), any idea how the contract ended up that way? That's probably 90-120 minutes of unpaid work on each flight.