Thankyou 6 chimes, for some understanding, and some calm common sense..
Assuming the cabin crew had already told the captain that they were secure for take off, common sense,(and common courtesy to the capt, and safety of course) would be to inform the capt that "we are now, not secure for take off".. Then the skipper has all relevant info he/she needs. I would not normally expect a reaction of returning to stand to offload the pax.. but there you go.. we don't know the conversation..
I've missed a takeoff slot before, because of a pax in the loo as we were taxiing towards takeoff runway, just delayed us by about 10 mins. But if you miss a slot at LHR, how long will you wait then..??
Why do pax get so defensive when the subject comes up of cabin crew having the cheek to politely point out, just in case the pax had not realised,what they should and should'nt do.. What do you think we're there for.. If we have to stop suddenly on the tarmac, or there's pretty bad turbulence and Joe Bloggs doesn't care about himself, or thinks we're making a mountain of a molehilll, we'd like to try and make sure that Mr Joe Bloggs doesn't cause any injury to anybody else....