B737 captain describes his company's policy of having passengers wait in the jetway while flight att...

Narrative:

After we deplaned I met the oncoming flight attendants who were followed by a passenger in a wheel chair leading oncoming passengers. These passengers are then asked to wait in the jet way while the flight attendants complete their safety check. This is the second time I have seen this and I don't believe that this is a safe procedure. Passengers are backed up in the jetway. There is no way to notify; let alone move our passengers; if an emergency (fire; fuel spill; etc.) develops.the pressure to depart on time has overcome safety considerations. If we are to give our customers the best we have; we should consider the consequences of such things as pushing passengers onto the aircraft before we are able to do simple tasks that are safety related.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 Captain describes his company's policy of having passengers wait in the jetway while Flight Attendants do safety checks; prior to boarding a late flight.

Narrative: After we deplaned I met the oncoming Flight Attendants who were followed by a passenger in a wheel chair leading oncoming passengers. These passengers are then asked to wait in the jet way while the Flight Attendants complete their safety check. This is the second time I have seen this and I don't believe that this is a safe procedure. Passengers are backed up in the jetway. There is no way to notify; let alone move our passengers; if an emergency (fire; fuel spill; etc.) develops.The pressure to depart on time has overcome safety considerations. If we are to give our customers the best we have; we should consider the consequences of such things as pushing passengers onto the aircraft before we are able to do simple tasks that are safety related.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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	932536
Time
Date	201102
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	SEA.Airport
State Reference	WA
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-400
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	No Specific Anomaly Occurred All Types

B737 captain describes his company's policy of having passengers wait in the jetway while flight attendants do safety checks; prior to boarding a late flight.