Originally Posted by
FlyerBeek
That's really not how it works. You're giving AA far too much credit if you think they could pull that off and assign crews based on flight profitability.
-FlyerBeek
They could definitely do it based on which will cause the least amount of problems. IE two flights, pull a crew from one flight, putting them on another where the overnight is just over FAA regs, and delay the other flight which can be delayed several hours before the morning flight has to be delayed so the crew has their legal rest. Obviously way more complicated than that during the day, where you have to account for pax and crew connections, but definitely a feasible possibility.
Originally Posted by
wpcoe
Small correction: FAA only requires a designated minimum number of F/A crew be on board for passengers to be on board.
Had this situation before, waiting on several FA's, but we started boarding after the first one arrived since that met minimum crew. Also seen a situation where they pulled an airport reserve crew, and swapped them out once the regular crew arrived (much to the dismay of the reserve, who didn't want to get off given the island destination).