Date: 201408
Local time of day: 0601-1200
Location: ZZZ.Airport, US
Aircraft: Large Transport; Low Wing; 2 Turbojet Eng
Operator: Air Carrier
Operating under: Part 121
Flight plan: IFR
Mission: Passenger
Flight phase: Parked
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: Captain; Pilot Flying
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Anomaly: Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Detector: Person Flight Crew
When detected: Aircraft In Service At Gate
Result: General None Reported / Taken
Contributing factors: Company Policy
Primary problem: Company Policy

Narrative: I showed for my pairing; that was supposed to begin with a XA:40 show time for a XB:40 departure .When I showed at the airport at XA:40 I saw that I was removed from my original trip-pairing and instead put on a longer 4 leg day. The pairing that scheduling added would have been illegal to schedule according to current FAR's as it would have been over 13 hours of scheduled Flight Duty Period (FDP). Instead scheduling opted to cut my show time to just 30 minutes (a XA:40 show for a XB:10 departure; duty end scheduled at XN:25 for a total of 12:45 hours) so that my total FDP would remain below 13 hours. That created additional problems beyond just legality concerns. My crew was never notified that I would show only 30 minutes prior departure. When I got to the gate the plane was already boarded. That violated several policies as followed:Station Policy: 'The customer service agent will confirm that at least one pilot has determined the aircraft is airworthy and that the required number of flight-attendants are on-board and in position for boarding to begin.' That did not happen since no pilot confirmed the airplane to be airworthy. Why did the boarding start?Company GOM (General Operations Manual) 'The Captain will assemble the complete crew compliment and conduct a predeparture briefing prior to the first flight leg of the trip-pairing and at any crew change during the trip.' That could not happen since the plane was already boarded and the flight attendants could not leave their stations with passengers on board in order to conduct that briefing. So why did the boarding start?Company AOM (Aircraft Operations Manual) 'Prior to boarding passengers the first flight of the day; walk around inspection of the aircraft will be performed to assure its airworthiness.' That did not happen since the FO did not know that I was showing 30 minutes late and since I was not there I could not have delegated it to be done by the FO anyways. So why did the boarding start?By cutting my show time to 30 minutes prior to departure the company did not only circumvent my 13 hour FDP limit as set forth in FAR 117 but also created an avalanche of policy-violations and safety concerns.  In addition; the scheduled flight-time was over 8 hours and; while still legal according to FAR's; was still a violation of the pilot work-rules. But that will be discussed in a different venue; I suppose!Do not cut the show time of the CA to 30 minutes prior to departure. That is not enough time to do all the required preflight duties in the proper sequence as required by our manuals. Especially not to circumvent the FAR's so that the crew could operate otherwise illegal trip-pairings.  If it means a flight leaves late; then so be it. Safety and security should always come first. If the company does not have enough crew-members to staff the flight in order to schedule them within the FAR limits; then the flight just shouldn't operate or they should hire more personnel to mitigate such problems in the future. There seems to be a culture in this company to pressure crew-members to 'just operate the flight' by presenting them with scenarios like the one just described hoping that the crew-members will violate the very procedures that they put in place in order to avoid being called in for a carpet-dance.




Synopsis: Air carrier Captain reported arriving at the airport an hour prior to his scheduled departure to find that his trip has been changed without his knowledge with plans to depart in 30 minutes; to avoid exceeding a 13 hour duty day. The Captain felt that this also led to several safety; security and procedural violations.