Commercial Fixed Wing
Flight Attendant Current
Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness; Time Pressure
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General None Reported / Taken
Company Policy; Human Factors; Procedure; Environment - Non Weather Related
I was the X Flight Attendant on flight from ZZZ to ZZZ1. With only 2 passengers the operations Agent came down to ask if we were ready to board. I said no we don't need to board 30 minutes early with only 2 people. Agent was pressured by management to still board at the normal time of 30 minutes prior to departure time. Again I explained that we do not need to board this early. I even told the Agent that I had not confirmed that the safety checks were done yet and started walking to the back of the aircraft. Agent asked 'How long is that going to take?' To which I replied 'I don't know maybe 10 minutes.' Even though I had not indeed confirmed the safety checks had been performed; I honestly was trying to hold Agent up from boarding with this as a stall tactic. As I walked towards the back Agent yelled out 'Are you guys ready?' to the flight attendants in the back to bypass me. I can only assume Agent was actually feeling pressured to board this early when anybody clearly knows that boarding 2 people will take at most 5 minutes. I believe with the current pandemic going on we could better limit ourselves to exposure by relaxing our boarding times. It is in our best interest to board people as late as possible right now. As the X Flight Attendant I am required to stand in the front of the aircraft for boarding and this forces me to be in close proximity to somebody that sits in the front. And upon boarding; the one passenger did take the first available seat to him which was row X. Had this person been disabled and required the first row seats I am required to let that individual sit there and expose me to them as well as expose them to me. Even more so than I was with the gentleman on my flight. The longer people are on these planes the more chance there is for them to contaminate the planes or us and vice versa.There needs to be less on time performance pressure from the company. We should be allowed to choose a boarding position that we feel is safe and appropriate.
Flight Attendant reported concerns with being pressured to board early with only a few passengers. Flight Attendant stated it would be best to avoid boarding unnecessarily early to minimize the time of possibly being exposed to COVID-19.