Narrative:

We stepped onto an aircraft that was attached to a jetbridge that was struck by lightning. Subsequently; the aircraft was affected by the blast. All of the power was out and all 3 lavatories were unflushable. It took maintenance a while to correct the problems. Power was finally restored; and we were told the lavs would flush at 16;000 ft but we were instructed to inform the passengers of the inoperative lavs on the ground.we completed all of our preflights and everything seemed to be fine. To our dismay; all was not fine. After the safety demo; we followed normal procedures to inform the flight deck that the cabin was secured. After several attempts; I realized I was unable to communicate to the flight deck. We were completely unable to communicate with the flight deck; short of knocking on the door; which would have been a disaster since the first officer was an ffdo. Neither the forward; nor the aft phone would dial the flight deck. The PA worked; and so did the cabin call; but no flight deck. Another flight attendant and I were both trying relentlessly to contact the flight deck but we were both unsuccessful. After a long taxi and not hearing from the flight attendants; the flight deck called us to see if we were ready to go. I immediately informed them that we could not contact them from our cabin phones.the captain's response was; 'we'll figure it out on the way out; but is the cabin secure?' totally disregarding the fact that this is a safety issue and that in the event of an emergency we cannot contact them; he asked if the cabin was secured. Our next communication from the flight deck was via PA...' flight attendants please prepare for departure.' once airborne and we were given 'departure check;' the captain called and said he would monitor the cabin. He asked me to try and call them again. I tried and nothing happened. After not hearing from me; he called back and repeated that he would be monitoring the cabin. It is beyond absurdity to troubleshoot non-functional aircraft parts in the air; especially after being notified on the ground; that there were known issues; where it's safer and better decisions can be made.I am not a fan of playing with; nor risking people's lives; and that's what happened on this flight. This is an utter and complete disregard for human life; passengers safety (an aircraft full of high school students); as well as crew safety. A number of things are possible on the aircraft which is why so many precautions are taken; and we cannot effectively communicate with the flight deck. It's is disgusting and appalling to work with people that rather get an aircraft airborne; than consider the safety of it's passengers and crew. I was told in training that safety was our main goal. This was not demonstrated on this flight. What if terrorists had been aboard and we could not contact the flight deck? What if a doctor needed to be called and we could not contact the flight deck? What if both pilots were incapacitated and we could not contact the flight deck? I shudder to think the number of things that could've gone wrong on this flight and it was decided to fly without consequence.I understand fully that my response to the matter is emotional; but what human would not be emotional when their safety is at risk? Self preservation is the first law of nature. As a crew member; I can honestly say that I was terrified to fly. I do not feel safe having the cabin periodically monitored. I feel safe being able to pick up the phone and place a call; as needed. This is unacceptable. Once the flight deck was notified of this safety issue; an informed decision should have been made to rectify the problem; not a careless one. The company would have some tall explaining to do if this aircraft failed to reach its destination with all of these high school seniors on board; especially when it could have been avoided. Things need to change...

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A difference of opinion arose between the B737 flight crew and their flight attendants as to the wisdom of departing with the cabin to cockpit interphone chime inoperative.

Narrative: We stepped onto an aircraft that was attached to a jetbridge that was struck by lightning. Subsequently; the aircraft was affected by the blast. All of the power was out and all 3 lavatories were unflushable. It took Maintenance a while to correct the problems. Power was finally restored; and we were told the lavs would flush at 16;000 FT but we were instructed to inform the passengers of the inoperative lavs on the ground.We completed all of our preflights and everything seemed to be fine. To our dismay; all was not fine. After the safety demo; we followed normal procedures to inform the flight deck that the cabin was secured. After several attempts; I realized I was unable to communicate to the flight deck. We were completely unable to communicate with the flight deck; short of knocking on the door; which would have been a disaster since the First Officer was an FFDO. Neither the forward; nor the aft phone would dial the flight deck. The PA worked; and so did the cabin call; but no flight deck. Another Flight Attendant and I were both trying relentlessly to contact the flight deck but we were both unsuccessful. After a long taxi and not hearing from the Flight Attendants; the flight deck called us to see if we were ready to go. I IMMEDIATELY informed them that we could not contact them from our cabin phones.The Captain's response was; 'we'll figure it out on the way out; but is the cabin secure?' Totally disregarding the fact that this is a safety issue and that in the event of an emergency we cannot contact them; he asked if the cabin was secured. Our next communication from the flight deck was via PA...' Flight Attendants please prepare for departure.' Once airborne and we were given 'departure check;' the Captain called and said he would monitor the cabin. He asked me to try and call them again. I tried and nothing happened. After not hearing from me; he called back and repeated that he would be monitoring the cabin. It is beyond absurdity to troubleshoot non-functional aircraft parts in the air; especially after being notified ON THE GROUND; that there were known issues; where it's safer and better decisions can be made.I am not a fan of playing with; nor risking people's lives; and that's what happened on this flight. This is an utter and complete disregard for human life; passengers safety (an aircraft full of high school students); as well as crew safety. A number of things are possible on the aircraft which is why so many precautions are taken; and we cannot effectively communicate with the flight deck. It's is disgusting and appalling to work with people that rather get an aircraft airborne; than consider the safety of it's passengers and crew. I was told in training that safety was our main goal. This was not demonstrated on this flight. What if terrorists had been aboard and we could not contact the flight deck? What if a Doctor needed to be called and we could not contact the flight deck? What if both pilots were incapacitated and we could not contact the flight deck? I shudder to think the number of things that could've gone wrong on this flight and it was decided to fly without consequence.I understand fully that my response to the matter is emotional; but what human would not be emotional when their safety is at risk? Self preservation is the first law of nature. As a crew member; I can honestly say that I was terrified to fly. I do not feel safe having the cabin periodically monitored. I feel safe being able to pick up the phone and place a call; as needed. This is unacceptable. Once the flight deck was notified of this safety issue; an informed decision should have been made to rectify the problem; not a careless one. The company would have some tall explaining to do if this aircraft failed to reach its destination with all of these high school seniors on board; ESPECIALLY when it could have been avoided. Things need to change...

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.