You'd hate flying with me then! I leave the stupid piece of paper with our illegible names up at the gate if we're both there to sign it.

Unless you're in the lav. I've had many gate agents pull the jetway back with an intense frown. They only care about the door time. Out time only matters to the ramp.

Release 2? WHAAAAAAT!?!

That's why it's simple. Tell the A that the gate agent MUST get your approval to close to the door. I've handed them the paperwork before while they were in the lav but told them to wait until the Captain says we are good to go. I've never once had anyone not wait.

They know their job. If they close the door without checking and I need something, it's on them to open it. I don't need to brief the FA on the GA's job. Mistakes are the best teachers.

Yes, of course you can make them pull the jetbridge back up to the airplane in the 2% of times you need to. It's a much stronger action to never let them close it without your permission. That needs to happen 100% of the time.

How does every paperless airline deal with maintaining a pilot’s “leverage” over the gate agent?

christ, leverage over your coworkers is such a ridiculous concept.

I haven’t seen Delta play this game yet but my old employer did. I always held the release until the door was ready to be closed.

Q-31. Do all FDP extensions require pilot-in-command (PIC) concurrence?
A-31. Yes, all FDP extensions require PIC concurrence. The PIC must be aware of the need for the FDP extension before he/ she concurs, and if the extension is 30 minutes or less, the concurrence can be via a fitness- for-duty affirmation. The PIC cannot give advance concurrence in an FDP extension before he/she knows about the need for an extension.

There are lots of arguments to be made about why the gate agent has to check in with the CA. They don't know if MX has been called. They don't know if we are still fueling or waiting to be fueled. They don't know if all the pilots are even on the airplane. At my old airline, the gate agent would ask the lead and the lead would stick her head in and say "good to close?" You don't need a piece of paper to have that authority.

You do when you work for a bunch of dirt bags who’ve been emboldened by the local FAA office. It’s not a problem until it is.

Have you ever worked for a regional? I can assure you there were way more dirtbags where I worked than where I work now.