Air carrier Flight Attendant reported that a gate agent attempted to open entry door without an ok to open" hand signal. Escape slide did not deploy."
Synopsis
Air carrier Flight Attendant reported that a gate agent attempted to open entry door without an ok to open" hand signal. Escape slide did not deploy."
Narrative
Right before initial descent the Captain gave the forward galley a note to pass along to me stating that I have to make an announcement to all the passengers once we landed to remain in their seats until the seatbelt sign is off because the cargo door has to open first and some bags have to be taken off first due to weight and balance…Once we got to the gate I and the forward galley remained in our jumpseat till the seatbelt sign came off (standard protocol) then I see the gate agent pull up to the door with the jetway and knocks….(seatbelt sign is still on) I don't respond because the door is still armed with the girt bar in the bracket and the streamer across the viewing window… knocks again and then proceeds to open the door… ! I immediately jumped and held the lever down with my body weight because he still was trying to open the door after I did that as well as yelling to stop stop it's armed. Once the bags got taken off; the Captain turned off the seatbelt sign and that's when we disarmed our doors; cross checked and I did all call. (Standard procedure) I then waited till he saw me through the window again and gave the standard thumbs up. He opened the door and I told him that it was still armed why did you try to open it?? Didn't really seemed like he cared really.. why didn't someone communicate with each other knowing that we had a possibility of a tail tip. You just don't open the door when the streamer is still across the viewing window. I am so glad that I was paying attention because if I got distracted one second it would've been a whole different story.
Second reporter narrative
Captain stated tail tip at gate and for the passengers to remain seated. Doors were armed and gate agent meeting flight opened door without proper protocol. Doors were armed - streamer across window and gate agent proceeded to open main cabin door. Purser immediately grabbed handle and held down handle yelling stop to prevent slide deployment at gate.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.