A320
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Communication Breakdown; Time Pressure
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Weight And Balance
General Flight Cancelled / Delayed
Human Factors
When boarding was complete the gate agent came forward to deliver the paperwork. The ramp agent was right behind her with the pink sheet. We compared the manifest to the pink sheet and entered the numbers for the solution. We overheard the FA talking with the gate agent about missing 30 people. I asked the agent to come forward and explained to her that it's still 10 minutes before departure time. Please go back up the jetway and make sure there's not a bunch of passengers up there trying to get on the flight. We're not going to leave people behind while the door is still open. As this conversation concluded another FA came forward to share his perception. He stated; quite emphatically; 'there's NO WAY that count is right... there are WAY more than 90 people on this aircraft.' He said he was going to do a head count. I thought that sounded like a good idea. As it turns out there were 127 passengers on board; not 90. I walked up the jetway to talk to the agent and calmly explained to her; 'there is obviously a meaningful discrepancy in the passenger count that will need to be reconciled before departure.' That process took about an hour.The passenger count cannot be trusted at this airport. All flights should require a head count to compare to the passenger manifest.
A320 Captain reported that the passenger manifest was incorrect by over 30 people.