Everyone is talking about 'on time' or ':00' departure performance. CSR's and supervisors slam the aircraft door closed with more enthusiasm than a Los Angeles Laker fan during the NBA finals. And everywhere you work these days, you see or hear reminders of the importance achieving on-time departures.
Enthusiasm is fine. Over enthusiasm is not, particularly by those not having to actually work with regularity in our cabin environment and be concerned firsthand with our specific safety roles and responsibilities.
So in the interest of our safety and accountability, of ensuring we follow correct procedures as dictated in our Inflight Handbook (pp. 102-103), and of ensuring passenger compliance of United States FAR 121.589, we offer the following reminder:
Aircraft doors may not be closed until:
Although I'm being a bit tongue-in-cheek about this point, it should not be taken lightly. This goes for any other safety concerns (like passengers appearing intoxicated, etc...) that affect our onboard work environment. If you experience what you believe to be a safety violation that's been ignored and/or have concerns about a particular incident, please report it to AFA.