A B737 flight attendant reports that agents are not honoring requests by the cabin crew to hold off ...

Narrative:

Another day....another safety related issue. Upon arrival at gate; about 32 minutes before departure; I informed the ops agent we would need 5-minutes before boarding could begin to do our required safety/equipment checks. He looked at his watch and gave me a puzzled/confused look; almost in shock that he wouldn't have enough time to push on time. I repeated we would need 5-minutes. About 2-minutes later; while involved with my required checks -- the first wheelchair customer came walking onboard. I didn't have time to stop the flow or address this early boarding with the agent before the other wheelchair customers were lined-up; unloading etc.... The originating flight security check document had not been signed yet either. Just before the door shut; I addressed the ops agent telling him his early boarding was not right and that we had not even finished our required checks. He said; '.....well; I have a supervisor up-top and everything; so we had to get boarding....' I told him it was wrong and that despite that fact; we needed to fully complete our pre-boarding equipment checks and security sweep before boarding was to start. I informed the agent I was going to write a report on the incident. Stop the pressure to push early. Give flight crews 5-10 minutes guaranteed to perform our required duties without being rushed; hovered-over or made to feel guilty that we will be the cause for a delay.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737 Flight Attendant reports that agents are not honoring requests by the cabin crew to hold off boarding until required security and cabin checks are complete and the crew is ready to board.

Narrative: Another day....another safety related issue. Upon arrival at gate; about 32 minutes before departure; I informed the Ops Agent we would need 5-minutes before boarding could begin to do our required safety/equipment checks. He looked at his watch and gave me a puzzled/confused look; almost in shock that he wouldn't have enough time to push on time. I repeated we would need 5-minutes. About 2-minutes later; while involved with my required checks -- the first wheelchair customer came walking onboard. I didn't have time to stop the flow or address this early boarding with the Agent before the other wheelchair customers were lined-up; unloading etc.... The originating flight security check document had not been signed yet either. Just before the door shut; I addressed the Ops Agent telling him his early boarding was not right and that we had not even finished our required checks. He said; '.....well; I have a supervisor up-top and everything; so we had to get boarding....' I told him it was wrong and that despite that fact; we needed to fully complete our pre-boarding equipment checks and security sweep before boarding was to start. I informed the agent I was going to write a report on the incident. Stop the pressure to push early. Give flight crews 5-10 minutes guaranteed to perform our required duties without being rushed; hovered-over or made to feel guilty that we will be the cause for a delay.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1191170
Time
Date	201407
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-700
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Person 1
Function	Flight Attendant (On Duty) Flight Attendant In Charge
Qualification	Flight Attendant Current
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural Security

A B737 flight attendant reports that agents are not honoring requests by the cabin crew to hold off boarding until required security and cabin checks are complete and the crew is ready to board.