A lot of this comes down to some airlines having the policy of allowing Cabin Crew to be standing while the seat belt sign is on.
In my airline, ANY time the SB sign is on, ALL pax and crew are to be seated with seatbelts fastened.
Certainly prevents passengers thinking we're doing it to allow the CC to do the service unhindered... it just makes passengers think that we're doing it so that the CC don't have to do the meal service at all!
From the high and mighty soapbox:
1) ALWAYS wear your seatbelt when seated.
2) ONLY stand when it is necessary to - loo, or a quick walk around the cabin on a longhaul flight.
After the Qantas A330 incident, where those who weren't strapped in were, in a lot of cases, SEVERELY injured, you'd have thought that passengers would learn. But, alas, just 3 days later, I had a flight were the cabin crew did a quick informal survey and found that 50% of seated pax didn't have their belts on, despite "It is a Qantas requirement that when seated you have your seatbelt fastened", and a specific PA from both Cabin Manager AND Captain telling people to.
As for informing pax for the reason of the sign being on - Its a good idea during shorthaul daylight ops. Its a P.I.T.A on longhaul overnight flights when people are sleeping.
Interestingly our last CRM session with both Pilots and CC was about turbulence management. Interesting stuff.
TeachMe:
Your idea is a good one, except it our airline it really already applies. Sign OFF = your Orange, and ON = your Red.
Flaps40 - I would like to say that you do an excellent job... I remember reading your posts from years ago when I first joined, and I think that you do an excellent (and unenviable) job. Thank you for giving your time to look after us all here in the playpen! A very big
from me.
