Date: 202012
Local time of day: 1201-1800
Location: ZZZ.Airport, US
Aircraft: Commercial Fixed Wing
Operator: Air Carrier
Operating under: Part 121
Flight plan: IFR
Mission: Passenger
Flight phase: Parked
ATC / advisory: Ramp ZZZ
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: First Officer
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Human factors: Distraction; Confusion; Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness; Time Pressure
Anomaly: Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Detector: Person Flight Attendant; Person Flight Crew; Person Gate Agent / CSR; Person Passenger
When detected: Aircraft In Service At Gate
Result: General None Reported / Taken
Contributing factors: Environment - Non Weather Related; Company Policy; Human Factors
Primary problem: Company Policy

Narrative: We were fully boarded; with checklist Before Start To The Line complete. Flight Attendant B reported passenger submitted; when Flight Attendant A reported the ramp agents requested we contact Station Ops.  Operations informed us Flight Attendant B was being replaced on the trip by a reserve. I assisted Flight Attendant B off loading bags; and advised them to catch a breath and gather all effects. The pressure of the last minute situation and the ramp; and the timeline; needed to be ignored at that moment. The replacement flight attendant arrived; I assisted loading bags; verified ID and returned to the flight deck. Weight and performance numbers came up and the Captain stated ready for door closure. The main cabin door and cockpit door secured; weights entered and verified on FMS. Without communication from ramp agents; they re-opened the main cabin door. Flight Attendant A knocked on the cockpit door; which we opened. Flight Attendant A stated the First Officer was now also being replaced on the trip. I queried Crew Scheduling and was told name ordered me off the trip with no further information given. The replacement First Officer arrived and I offloaded the bags. The Captain was astonished that such an action would take place without communication; consult; or apparent consideration for safety of flight.Passengers expressed surprise; and some measure of concern and alarm. The main cabin door being opened without the crew's awareness is not a procedure I have seen before. Replacing crew members who are not ill at the last minute affects our morale and pocketbook; and creates unnecessary concern for the revenue passengers. Safety of flight is inevitably affected by this kind of turmoil; and it falls on the Company to alleviate stress and safety rather than contribute to it. The Company exercised authority in contradiction to common sense and safety of flight. The timeline; already compressed; became distressingly so given the apparent chaos this action caused in view of passengers. Ordering the ramp to open the main cabin door without communicating first to the crew is an extraordinary act of harassment and intimidation. If a pilot needs to be replaced on a trip for administrative reasons; surely that can wait until after a short turn is completed. This action requires the crew; the new crew; to re-brief and reinitialize a flight under stress; delays our passengers; compromises our timeline; and potentially costs us our bonuses. It should be taken only under extraordinary circumstances; which apparently do not exist. The Company should be an asset to safety of flight rather than a liability.




Synopsis: An Air Carrier First Officer reported ramp agents opened the main cabin door without coordinating with the crew and ordered the First Officer and B Flight Attendant off the aircraft.