Narrative:

When the C flight attendant (flight attendant) was bringing me the paperwork for our flight she noticed on the specials sheet there were 12 infants listed. She made a comment about that since it was unusual to have so many. The woman riding 4th and I both said this couldn't happen since we only had 10 extra life vests on board and we couldn't accommodate 12. I immediately went forward and told the a flight attendant and she told the operations agent and captain. The operations agent told the a flight attendant she would call for an extra 2 life vests and we would be fine. The next thing I knew two more life vests were being handed to me and boarding continued because the operations agent said she didn't want to have to deal with an over sell situation since this flight was already running late. I asked the a flight attendant if the captain was aware and if so; did he approve of this action. She told me he was aware two extra life vests were being brought onboard and said it was ok with him and to proceed with boarding. Since the life vest storage compartment would not accommodate more than 10 vests; I had to place the other two in the flight attendant storage compartment and told the a flight attendant and C flight attendant about their location in case it became necessary to access them. I was uneasy with this practice; but complied since the captain and operations agent made the decision to bring two more on the plane. We pushed back from the gate with a life vest for every soul on board. The a and C fas mentioned to me that the operations agent was very upset when we arrived and told them we had violated an far by having 2 extra life vests on board the plane and demanded we turn them over to him immediately. We did. During our return flight; we looked in our inflight manual to find the following note attached to far under the equipment section: the total number of passengers (including lap children) must not exceed the total number of passenger and spare life vests onboard. If the total number of passengers exceeds the total number of life vests; notify the captain and operations agent. The aircraft may not depart unless there is a life vest available for each passenger onboard. I and the C flight attendant complied with this note attachment exactly by making the a flight attendant aware of the situation. The a flight attendant did so as well by relaying this information to the operations agent and captain. The plane left the gate with a life vest for every passenger onboard. I just had to place the extra two in another compartment and make my crewmembers aware of their location in case they needed to be utilized. This incident should have never gotten to the flight crew. The manifest or special list should have flagged the fact that there were more than 10 lap children listed on the flight. The crew should have stood fast and not let more than the required number of passengers and lap children board the aircraft regardless of the operations agent's remedy to not having enough life vests onboard. An oversell should have been enacted regardless of the inconvenience to customers.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 flight attendants became aware during boarding that there were 12 lap children on the flight and only 10 infant life vests aboard. The operations agent was made aware and she provided two more life vests. This appeared to comply with the letter of the FAR but the reporters were not sure.

Narrative: When the C Flight Attendant (FA) was bringing me the paperwork for our flight she noticed on the Specials Sheet there were 12 Infants listed. She made a comment about that since it was unusual to have so many. The woman riding 4th and I both said this couldn't happen since we only had 10 extra life vests on board and we couldn't accommodate 12. I immediately went forward and told the A FA and she told the Operations Agent and Captain. The Operations Agent told the A FA she would call for an extra 2 life vests and we would be fine. The next thing I knew two more life vests were being handed to me and boarding continued because the Operations Agent said she didn't want to have to deal with an Over Sell situation since this flight was already running late. I asked the A FA if the Captain was aware and if so; did he approve of this action. She told me he was aware two extra life vests were being brought onboard and said it was OK with him and to proceed with boarding. Since the Life Vest storage compartment would not accommodate more than 10 vests; I had to place the other two in the Flight Attendant Storage compartment and told the A FA and C FA about their location in case it became necessary to access them. I was uneasy with this practice; but complied since the Captain and Operations agent made the decision to bring two more on the plane. We pushed back from the gate with a life vest for every soul on board. The A and C FAs mentioned to me that the Operations agent was very upset when we arrived and told them we had violated an FAR by having 2 extra life vests on board the plane and demanded we turn them over to him immediately. We did. During our return flight; we looked in our Inflight Manual to find the following note attached to FAR under the Equipment section: The total number of Passengers (including lap children) must not exceed the total number of passenger and spare life vests onboard. If the total number of Passengers exceeds the total number of life vests; notify the Captain and Operations Agent. The aircraft may not depart unless there is a life vest available for each Passenger onboard. I and the C FA complied with this note attachment exactly by making the A FA aware of the situation. The A FA did so as well by relaying this information to the Operations Agent and Captain. The plane left the gate with a life vest for every Passenger onboard. I just had to place the extra two in another compartment and make my crewmembers aware of their location in case they needed to be utilized. This incident should have never gotten to the flight crew. The manifest or Special List should have flagged the fact that there were more than 10 lap children listed on the flight. The crew should have stood fast and not let more than the required number of Passengers and Lap Children board the aircraft regardless of the Operations Agent's remedy to not having enough life vests onboard. An oversell should have been enacted regardless of the inconvenience to Customers.

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.