Call Bells..emergency or service?

[comeflywithme]

Can anyone please shed some light into a topic of call bells. In the past 7 years of me flying I have noticed an increased use of pax call bells to the point of were the cabin is lit up like a Christmas tree.With a pax/crew ratio of 40 pax to 1 crew member in our airline,my crew and I are finding it hard to answer every single one of these call bells. It gets to the point that after a while we just start to ignore them and hope that they come to us.What my concern is is that my company promotes it in there video that you press your call bell whenever you need something (especially if it is a G&T).I have heard that other airlines discourage the pressing of call bells unless it is an emergency. Is this true? Please tell me your opinions on this topic.

[This message has been edited by comeflywithme (edited 31 January 2001).]

[Flygor]

I can only agree with you that pax seem to press call bells for the most trivial reasons, on one of my recent flights when we were all strapped in for landing, a call bell went off, we all looked where it was and as we could see the passenger sitting underneath was in no distress, so we decided not to act immediately, after we landed, when it was safe to do so a crew member checked on the passenger who was most upset that no-one had answered the call bell to collect his empty glass at 100 feet above the runway! On the 767 the call bells are located in the armrest and are very sensitive, all through the flight we find ourselves answering call bells to find that passengers had not intended to press them anyway, or even argue that they havent. In these circumstances we have to be careful not to become too complacent, after all we never can tell whether someone just wants a drink or really does need our assistance...

[mainfrog2]

Flygor, on all of our aircraft the call button is in the o/head panel and pax still manage to hit it 'by accident', it's difficult to judge. Sometimes after landing pax have caught the call button while disembarking but how can the crew respond to that call when 50-60 of the pax on board are stood in the aisle, without climbing over seats and passengers. If you imagine that calls could be for medical reasons the first thing you have to consider is danger to yourself. 100ft off the runway there is an element of danger to yourself. Crew must always consider their own safety first.

[comeflywithme]

Well Flygor and mainfrog2 get this.We once had a heart attack on board in which we had to administer CPR. It happened during the meal service (could have been the airline food). The crew were very good but as you are both aware it is very tiring continuing CPR for an hour as the captain decided to divert. P.A's were made for a doctor but to now avail. Not even a nurse on board this day. Luckily for us the pax survived (we came to know later). After all the commotion and the flight took off again to reach its destination a call bell went off. This #$@%ing pax proceeded to tell us how he has been pressing his call bell for the past "2 hours" and not a single person has attended to his needs. He needed his whisky glass to be refilled and also had the gall to say "does a person have to have a heart attack to get some service around here". With much constraint I walked away as I so nearly thumped the guy. This is exactly what I am talking about. Is the call bell for emergency or service? I personally feel now as if I am a dog responding to his owners calls every time I hear that "ding, ding".

[mainfrog2]

It's interesting isn't it comeflywithme, that pax regularly complain about being treated like animals and then proceed to behave far worse than an animal. Just a small point about asking for doctors on flights. The facilities they have are exactly the same as yours and so ultimately there treatment will probably be exactly the same as you would have done. To give an example not flying related, years ago I worked on sailing yachts and in this instance a crew member was injured. On board was a GP who had a look at the crew member and said they were fine. 15mins later the crew member was complaining of feeling sick and dizzy. The doctor then changed his mind and said they needed to go to hospital. The point is as the responsible person on board I should have followed my training and returned to port, which would have saved time. Cabin crew are trained very well to deal with incidences on the aircraft and should always be aware of this before allowing doctors to take over.

[Flygor]

Comeflywithme - how did you manage to restrain yourself? I'm normally a very calm person but I think that one would have sent me over the edge.
I ususlly find that most pax are quite good at not pressing the call bell for just anything, but once people see someone else do it, then it becomes a free for all. I also have noticed that when they are used it is often coming from the same passenger most times, unfortunately some pax don't seem to understand that you have 250+ other passengers to look after on board. I have noticed when positioning on various airlines in the US you rarely hear the chime in comparison to the UK, the one time I saw someone use the call bell, the stern FA that answered it made it very clear that they were not impressed.
Call bells are a bugbear for most of us but I dont think we can hope for some airlines to discourage passengers to use them for anything but emergencies as they are another way the airline sees as providing a service to passengers - it would be negative PR if we started doing PA's to that effect.
Yes we can feel like a dog answering to its master - once on a drinks service a passenger started whistling loudly at us as we were serving other pax in the row in front, I pretended not to notice and finished serving, but the steward on the opposite end of the cart shouted "Has anyone seen a dog anywhere? this gentleman seems to have lost his dog" which had all the passengers around laughing, and even the guy concerned saw the funny side. Shame i'm not quick enough to think of it myself!

[troubleatthemill]

hmmmm... as a passenger i'm in need of clarification now :-) i admit to using the button if i have a request - could be for a drink, could be for a flight deck visit request - and never assumed there was anything wrong in that. i am sure that most of us passengers have total respect for you guys just as we are taught by society to respect any other occupation. this is how i reason: if i grab you as you are walking down the aisle i might actually be interfering with a task you are doing at that moment. by using the call button i am requesting your assistance *as soon as you are availabe* ie. not expecting you to charge down the aisle but rather come when it is convenient for you. does that make sense? and btw, i am really curious about these things as i have applied for cabin crew jobs :)

[mainfrog2]

Troubleatthemill, I don't have a problem with pax pressing the call bell, that's what it's for, but we do have to respond to them all quickly because until you speak to the pax you don't know why they called you. It doesn't seem to happen much on our flights because they are short and because crew are in the cabin most of the time pax find other ways to attract your attention (suggestions on a postcard).

[capt cynical]

I am sure there are certain "nationalities"who are born with a extra (invisible) digit on each hand. This being for the sole purpose of remaining FIRMLY lodged in the CALL BELL socket of seat arms.
The reason for this is a national trait to ask as many differant flight attendandts for the same thing in the shortest possible time.Hopefully to achieve what they percieve as value for their money.
This condtion is apparent from an early age!!

[This message has been edited by capt cynical (edited 03 February 2001).]

[Next Generation PSR]

CAPT CYNICAL, I see you do Tel Aviv's too!

[capt cynical]

PSR. I was infiring to the "we are vegetable's" but you may well be right too.

[This message has been edited by capt cynical (edited 04 February 2001).]

[flapsforty]

Ah Yes!! The "we are vegetables" brigade! :)
That's one lot I definitely don't miss on short haul!
Thank you for reminding me Cynical, good laugh on a sunday night!

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singularly simple person......

[MissLeopard]

The other day I was near the seat of a lady pax who was travelling with her young daughter.She pressed the call bell and said in quite a loud voice "that's what you press when you want the waitress to come" by way of explanation to the daughter.They were about three rows from the back.Enough said.

[xtc]

guys its very easy

answer the call bells, we have to as we can't guess wether its an emergency or for service but always take your time.

there is no need to tire yourself out because idiotic (a minority) of pax just want a refill or its just to make you run around after them..

pax love the feeling of making us cabin crew run around waiting on them hand and foot...

tip of the day.....

they think we r dumb so just play dumb...

ciao4now

[comeflywithme]

Its good to see a nice response on this topic.
Flygor, it took alot to restrain myself but I took it out really well in the rear of the a/craft kicking the trash compactor(which didnt work anyway).
Troubleatthemill, it is exactly how cart cynical put it. Some people keep that finger on the button and when you keep getting that ding,ding,ding,ding,ding sound in the galley it is really annoying. another thing that winds me up is when you are getting something for someone and when you return they then ask you for another thing. Murphys Law is that they are always the one furthest from the galley.
Has anyone here just keep getting grabbed when you walk down that isle. Man that gets me too!
Missleopard, that is an absolute classic, did you correct her to be politically correct.

[Birds2perches]

I worked for EK for quite a number of years. I found that on certain flights, the cabin would be lit up like a xmas tree. Before a flight, you just knew you were going to be running around like a headless chicken. The airline I work for now is totally diferent. We are always full, we fly to similar destinations, but our pax are angles. Hardly ever hear a peep. When a call bell goes off, it is answered promptly. Some pax are just far more demanding than others.

[Tarantella]

I have a friend who was in the middle of performing CPR and was tapped on the shoulder by a passenger enquiring when breakfast would be served? :rolleyes:

oh, and in reply to the comment about calling for a doctor: the airline I work for has a physicians' kit which contains drugs that may only be administered by a medical practitioner...

[xtc]

i feel that airlines differ vastly with pax expectations......

pax's know which airlines accept constant call bell abuse and which airlines don't accept it..

for example i went on holidays to the states and going from dxb to lhr on ek it was crazy (even though it could have been mistaken for a BOM flight) the call bells did not stop, yet when i was on the LHR NYC sector, maybe one or two max call bells went off....

if an EK crew was to get angry at a pax for using the call bell there would be action taken against that crew, on the other hand on most american carriers i have personally heard crew tell pax that its for emergency use only..........

but at the end of the day this is only MY OPINION and i hope nowbody jumps down my throat for having an OPINION.........

cya

[gulf-crew]

No matter which flight your on call bells are their for both pax use and emergency. Having worked a full gulf-dac flt where the call bells were part of the light show, however inflight as long as cabin crew patrol the cabin and I am not saying that we dont, but my last airline they thought it was time to sit chat drink coffee etc and forget about who pays our wages and being the senior crew I would make sure they patrolled the cabin with trays of drinks every 30-45 mins

[almirante6]

xtc

Re your post dated 08 Feb 11:22....

Not surprised you "take your time", sounds as if you are a bit weighted down by chips on both shoulders....

Just remember who pays your wages!

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You talk the talk. Can you walk the walk?

[comeflywithme]

Birds2perches
When did you leave Ek and who are you working for now?

[Birds2perches]

comeflywithme, aahhh, that would be telling. http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/tongue.gif If I gave those details away, I know there are too many people that might work it out as I was pretty well known. I can tell you I worked there for 6 years, left in 96 as a grade one, didn't want to ever be SFS or Pur with EK, but am now a NO 1 with another airline. :)