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A flight attendant expressed concern over the company's willingness to routinely under staff; frequently leaving the boarding tasks for the entire economy section (as many as 114 people) to a single flight attendant.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1198924 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201408 |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Commercial Fixed Wing |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Flight Attendant (On Duty) |
| Qualification | Flight Attendant Current |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Procedural Other / Unknown Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown |
Narrative:
We were staffed with five working crew. I assisted the boarding process in economy alone. Concerns for any safety issues or medical issues that might arise would deem staffing/cabin coverage for economy on boarding to be inadequate. One flight attendant to cover 114 economy passengers boarding. I was unable to pick up the phone in aft jumpseat area due to passengers and bags. Should any customer concerns; a medical emergency arise or a safety issue arises during a 'normal' passenger boarding; one flight attendant would be entirely insufficient to manage it. There was one flight attendant greeting at door 2L; two flight attendants working forward and aft business class and our purser was covering the forward cabins; pilot briefing; etc. I was alone in economy. Sometimes these flights are staffed with 6; which is adequate. More often; however; these aircraft are staffed with four or five depending on configuration; which is inadequate for safety. It is my utmosts concern that one person for 114 passengers during the boarding process is unsafe in light of current safety alerts/concerns in the news. Several other crew members; including those on my flight have also expressed concerns over inadequate staffing for safety reasons.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A flight attendant expressed concern over the company's willingness to routinely under staff; frequently leaving the boarding tasks for the entire economy section (as many as 114 people) to a single flight attendant.
Narrative: We were staffed with five working crew. I assisted the boarding process in economy alone. Concerns for any safety issues or medical issues that might arise would deem staffing/cabin coverage for economy on boarding to be inadequate. One flight attendant to cover 114 economy passengers boarding. I was unable to pick up the phone in aft jumpseat area due to passengers and bags. Should any customer concerns; a medical emergency arise or a safety issue arises during a 'normal' passenger boarding; one flight attendant would be entirely insufficient to manage it. There was one flight attendant greeting at Door 2L; two flight attendants working forward and aft business class and our Purser was covering the forward cabins; pilot briefing; etc. I was alone in economy. Sometimes these flights are staffed with 6; which is adequate. More often; however; these aircraft are staffed with four or five depending on configuration; which is inadequate for safety. It is my utmosts concern that one person for 114 passengers during the boarding process is unsafe in light of current safety alerts/concerns in the news. Several other crew members; including those on my flight have also expressed concerns over inadequate staffing for safety reasons.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.