EMB ERJ 170/175 ER/LR
Flight Attendant Current
Flight Attendant Airline Total 0
Time Pressure; Workload; Communication Breakdown
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR
Flight Crew Returned To Gate; General Maintenance Action
Human Factors; Aircraft
I had arrived and boarded the plane prior to report time and I had told the gate agent to board 25 minutes before departure; the captain dismissed my statement and instead told the gate agent to board 10 minutes earlier. I then boarded the plane and introduced myself to the captain. He made it a point to tell me that he wanted to get out as soon as possible and beat the snow. When doing the security check I made the captain aware that I was unsuccessful at opening the aft galley compartment that contained the demo equipment and AED. He came to the back with me and tried for himself. He was also unsuccessful at opening it. He said is it ok that that you just see the yellow thing. I told him that if I can't get in I can't check to see if my equipment is functioning. He said he didn't want to get maintenance out because it would cause delays and he wanted to get out as early as possible because of the coming snow. I told him I understood and reiterated that the 'heart machine' is in there along with the demo equipment. He made it known that he understood and was like 'yeah that's what's blocking the door.' He kept asking me the same questions in different ways; asking me if I was ok with flying without it opening. I responded; this is the first time this has happened to me; I'm new. I'm telling you what the issue is and I can't do what I'm supposed to do in regards to the equipment so I'm not sure what else I'm supposed to tell you. I'm looking to you. He responded 'it'll be fine' we can go like that.When the other FA came on I told her that I would have to read the demo announcement and the captain came out to let us know that we would be boarding now (way before standard 25 minute boarding time). Still not done prepping in the back I stopped talking and went to the back to finish. He then came to the back and was asking if I was ready to board; and mentioned how we didn't want to be stuck on the ground for 2 hours. I told him I was but was asking what the word and flight time was; because we were never briefed. We boarded as normal and when the door had closed I reminded the other FA that I would have to read the demo announcement. She asked why and I explained that I can't get the door open but the captain told me it was ok. She came to the AFT and tried to open the door herself and was also unable to open it. She asked me if I was comfortable flying like that. I told her I don't know; I told the captain the issue and he said it was ok so I assumed it was ok. She said 'no; it's not ok' and called the flight deck. The captain seemed to be confused by what she was telling him and I stepped in and reminded him of the issue that I had just previously discussed with him. He told us to try again and if we still can't get it open we would return to the gate. After numerous attempts we called and told him we still couldn't get it open. We got to the gate and the captain came directly out of  the flight deck and began to tell the gate agents how we had to call maintenance; that 'we were back there...' looking at it and we can't fly like that and we had fixed it before but it must of slipped out again. This was not true; we had not fixed it at all.I believe the captain would advise me the best; safest and most compliant way so I ignored my own judgement and allowed him to make the final call. I'm glad the senior flight attendant wasn't afraid to speak up for the both of us. One shouldn't be afraid to question the captain's call and should make sure to discuss (CRM) everything with the whole crew before boarding.
ERJ-170 Flight Attendant reported the flight crew was unable to open the aft galley compartment that contained the demo equipment and AED.