One or two of my FA friends at AA tell me that unfortuantely there are a lot of people who simply cannot be bothered as they do not get paid until the aircraft actually gets airbourne.

Whilst I have my sympathies, I think that this is unprofessional. If the person in charge of F has received the catering late or has some particular boarding issue - and there are less FAs on board to deal with any issues - then there is some excuse but it seems to be happening less often than not.