Originally Posted by
UNITED959
My guess is that she knew the form was needed, but decided to push back, taxi and then return to the gate so the passengers would have a story to tell their friends and family.
On all United flights nobody makes any money until the door is closed and you leave the gate. Once the door is closed and you push back then everyone is "on the clock". Not sure if this is also true for FAs (I believe it is), but it is for flight crew. Because of this pay system there is always a great emphasis placed on "pushing back" at the earliest possible moment. After that, even if they have to return to the gate, the clock (and dollars) keep ticking. Now, I'm not saying the Captain would push knowing that she didn't have all her documentation, so the FO probably got blamed.
