Originally Posted by
Dr. HFH
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.
Boarding early doesn't mean closing the door early. I've experienced that, but generally only on fully-boked flights where boarding amazingly didn't take too long.