Dear Caruthers,
I agree with most people here on the forum that the tone of 411A is not always the most tactical (he seems to like being disliked, which is not a good thing for a captain), but how about the threat with cappucino a few posts up?
No valid point was made there, although offcourse a 20 year purser knows a lot of flight safety and a lot of the service in the cabin, a purser didn't follow flight training, and most important of all, the purser is not in the cockpit, where all the information (gauges, indications, radiocalls with tower and fire brigade to mention some) comes together. There the 1 year FO has, because of his training, and because of all the information sources presented to him, a better overview of the total picture. Please let said purser call the FO with information about how the passengers are doing, about where flames can be seen from the cabin, but as long as the cockpit is not unconcious, may the pilots make the decision?
I don't think Olivasnooze wanted all pax in his example to be cooked on board, my wild guess is he doesn't want them roasted or grilled on the apron.
I understand your feelings, at least for a part, Caruthers, but the point I read in a lot of posts of pilots in this thread is that FAs might be very competent, but have limited information sources and therefore should seek contact with the cockpit if they wish to evacuate. Reasons for that are several (fire brigade, nescessity of evac, running engines, direction of the wind etc. etc.). I am the last person to state cabin crew would not be able to make a decision, but in this case, you should decide to wait or to provide the cockpit with information you only can provide from the back of the a/c.
P77