Another question... the call bell.

[atco-matic]

Had horrible flight back from Helsinki to Heathrow on Sunday on Finnair... miserable hatchet faced old dears doing the service.

Drinks trolley comes down thru economy approaching our row which is 5 from the back... all of a sudden it disappears! We look around, and crew are in galley stocking up the trolley, or so we thought! Trolley comes back but this time has tea and coffee and shoots off straight past us back to the front of the cabin.

It's now 1 hour 20 minutes since we took off and i've eaten, but had nothing to drink. I look around, everybody else has drinks except our row. So, a little annoyed I ring the call bell to ask what's going on. FIVE MINUTES later stewardess comes along with one of those ''how dare you ring the call bell'' faces and apologises but tries to make out it's our fault for not saying anything. Now getting more annoyed(along with 5 other pax in our row)... I point out that I rang the bell 5 minutes ago and nobody came...

And here's the punchline: She says that there is nobody in the galley and therefore they would not have heard the bell ringing...

Please can somebody tell me that this is bollocks? I'm sure the whole point of it is that it can be heard anywhere in that cabin... was she just patronising me? Anyway I always thought it was good practice when somebody complains (6 people in our row in this case!!) to pile drinks on them... she didn't seem bothered that we weren't happy at all!!

[A300Man]

I flew from the Middle East to Heathrow two weeks ago and had to make 6 requests and wait 6 hours to have two panadol delivered to me. We were securing cabin for final approach when the bloody things arrived!

Seems that some ignore the call bells if they feel like it.

[Brown eyes]

You are right atco, the call bell is meant to be heard throughout the cabin. What if it had been a medical emergency?

[tinyrice]

Weren't there "cue lights" in the ceiling adjacent to the galley, so that even if they can't hear the call or interphone chime, the flashing( pink-blue-yellow) light will get somebodys attention?

[atco-matic]

not being crew, im not sure about that tinyrice, but it was an airbus A321 if that helps! Thers a light clearly visible when you look down the aisle above the aisle seat of the row where the bell has been pressed. In this case, the bell on the other side of the aisle had been pressed too, so there were two dings and two lights showing.

[Hand Solo]

Yep theres a light panel thingy in the roof in the Airbus which will remain illuminated until the call is reset, plus by door 1L theres a little LCD panel which says which call button was pressed so they know who did it. Looks like I hold the record so far though, 11 hours for someone to get me a new blanket on a certain Antipodean airline!

In fact the light thing is called the Area Call Panel, they're installed on the ceiling at each end of the cabin and a blue light will illuminate when you've pushed the button.

[Thunderbird One]

On the subject of call bells.

I was on a holiday flight the other week and it was an A330. The call bells are in the armrests of the seats and they were constantly going off by accident as people we nudging them with their arms. This is a very bad design by airbus as everyone was very blaze about callbells going off.:rolleyes:

[Brown eyes]

I too went on holiday on an A330 and the call bells were going off for the entire 9 hours. It was very annoying!!!!

[flapsforty]

atco-matic, I find the tone of injured martyrdom and wronged righteousness displayed in your post extremely grating.
But that has as much to do with my station in life as with your whining. I think. ;)

I tried writing an answer to your post but find that when trying to address the harrowing injustices perpetrated upon you by these harridans, I am irresistibly drawn to sarcasm .

Which would ill become a hatched faced old dear like me. :D

[Northern Hosty]

SPEAK ENGLISH BOY :confused: :confused: :confused:

[ditzyboy]

I answer call bells as soon as I am free. For some reason (I think it is called good service) I hate seeing that blue light on the MCL (which is what we call it).

Having said that if I am busy and other crew members do not answer it I do finish what I am doing (ie. clearing away lose items in the galley) before going to get the call bell.

The noise of them really gets me worked up if like five go off within say two minutes... I don't let it show to the pax (coz I am there to give them drinks - second only to safety...) but the noise I find really grating! Does anybody else find that sound annoying?

Does sound like the FA in your case was a bit over it.... Making excuses is hardly appropriate too.

[flyblue]

In a pax point of view, when seating for hours with nothing to do, and maybe hungry or thirsty, being skipped during a service may seem a real tragedy. On the other hand, I know how it feels to go out for calls 20 times for "oops! The kid was just playing with the control, ha ha!" or "I wan watta!!!".
In both situations, I have experienced the best solution is to inhale deeply, go "OOOOOMMMMM" for a minute and then try to gather all your wisdom and sense of humour and try to solve the problem (get some "watta" or anything to drink if you are the pax or perform the most beautiful smile if you are the F/A).
Let's not forget that s**t happens, in the air like on the ground, on the plane like at the Post Office, and the wisest thing to do is try to cope the best way we can.
Your liver and stomach will be grateful ;) !

[atco-matic]

You've all missed the point as usual and got on your high horses for not reading the question...

I asked if the bell can be heard in the cabin and if she was just trying to fob me off with an excuse. Remember it was their mistake that made me ring it in the first place... I didn't do anything wrong!!!!!!!

I KNOW how much you all hate the call button so I NEVER ring it unless I absolutely have to (although I could if I wanted to:D )- I will always go to the galley to get a drink so as to prevent the ''oooh I fancy a drink too'' wave that goes round the cabin at 3am on a night flight.

[quilfaitbeau]

Poor atco-matic. That crew was just being horrible. Most are not like that. Maybe that crew was just being lazy.

The call button can be heard everywhere and in the A330 and the B777, on the screen, we can even see where the call was made.

Hope you won't experience such a thing again.

[goflypaul]

well if your on a 737 some times you cannot here it so not untill you get to gally you see the blue light on
hope that helps depends on aircraft type .:) :) :)