safety on board long haul wide bodies
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safety on board long haul wide bodies
Having recently flown with Malaysian Airlines on B777 to and from Frankfurt to KL, I must say that I thought the cabin crew were very nice and the service provided in cattle class was adequate.
However my question is two fold really:
1. Foot rests in upright position for take off and landing. During seat belt checks cabin crew did not check footrests.At least two people from my limited view had footrests down. Is this acceptable?
2 Seat belt signs on during flight. Despite announcement to return to seats pax were still seen wandering around and the crew did nothing. Not only do I see this a safety issue for the standing pax - but more importanty a possible injury hazard to those of us sitting down and strapped in.
Any comments?
Nivsy
However my question is two fold really:
1. Foot rests in upright position for take off and landing. During seat belt checks cabin crew did not check footrests.At least two people from my limited view had footrests down. Is this acceptable?
2 Seat belt signs on during flight. Despite announcement to return to seats pax were still seen wandering around and the crew did nothing. Not only do I see this a safety issue for the standing pax - but more importanty a possible injury hazard to those of us sitting down and strapped in.
Any comments?
Nivsy
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Obviously i wasnt there so i can only answer with my opinion....also i do not want to dispparage my colleagues in the industry and every airline is different so i will go with my experience only...
1. Footrests should be stowed for take off and landing. On my flights it is not acceptable to have them down.
2. This is a long standing problem and every airline has to deal with it. I will ask my crew to ensure all pax are seated whilst the seatbelt sign is illuminated. However, we can only ask...at the end of the day the crew have done their job by asking a passenger to remain seated if a passenger decides against this all we can do is inform them of the risks and that they are no longer insured should the aircraft hit unexpected turbulence. I realise this poses a risk to those of you who do adhere to the seatbelt sign but we cannot physically restrain a customer who refuses to take their seat.
1. Footrests should be stowed for take off and landing. On my flights it is not acceptable to have them down.
2. This is a long standing problem and every airline has to deal with it. I will ask my crew to ensure all pax are seated whilst the seatbelt sign is illuminated. However, we can only ask...at the end of the day the crew have done their job by asking a passenger to remain seated if a passenger decides against this all we can do is inform them of the risks and that they are no longer insured should the aircraft hit unexpected turbulence. I realise this poses a risk to those of you who do adhere to the seatbelt sign but we cannot physically restrain a customer who refuses to take their seat.
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Aaaah The eternal debate of passengers not following safety instructions.
In the safety briefing we tell passengers all these things, but do passengers ever listen? We try and try and try, but can only do so much.
I will say though, that certain airlines, particularly from the far east, do seem to be little more service oriented, and therefore SEEM to be not so strict on safety procedures.
When the seatbelt signs are on, I am VERY strict with passengers, and may sometimes come accross as being abrupt. But from my point of view, if we do hit severe turbulence I may be injured, and I want the other crew to be helping me, not having to divide their time between me and passengers who are also injured.
In the safety briefing we tell passengers all these things, but do passengers ever listen? We try and try and try, but can only do so much.
I will say though, that certain airlines, particularly from the far east, do seem to be little more service oriented, and therefore SEEM to be not so strict on safety procedures.
When the seatbelt signs are on, I am VERY strict with passengers, and may sometimes come accross as being abrupt. But from my point of view, if we do hit severe turbulence I may be injured, and I want the other crew to be helping me, not having to divide their time between me and passengers who are also injured.
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"...all we can do is inform them of the risks and that they are no longer insured should the aircraft hit unexpected turbulence. I realise this poses a risk to those of you who do adhere to the seatbelt sign but we cannot physically restrain a customer who refuses to take their seat..."
Just to add that saying this to passengers is very dangerous. You are entering into a grey area. I would strongly suggest avoiding insurance discussions.
If the passenger sues the airline, the pax could say that you didn't make it clear engough that you were possibly entering an area of severe turbulence.
"Please sit down sir, the seat belt sign is on"
If you continue to repeat this, then there is no grey area.
Then all you have done is instructed the passenger to sit down. By not doing so, he is disobeying the lawful instructions of Cabin Crew, and is therefore commiting an offence. He will have no leg to stand on.
Just to add that saying this to passengers is very dangerous. You are entering into a grey area. I would strongly suggest avoiding insurance discussions.
If the passenger sues the airline, the pax could say that you didn't make it clear engough that you were possibly entering an area of severe turbulence.
"Please sit down sir, the seat belt sign is on"
If you continue to repeat this, then there is no grey area.
Then all you have done is instructed the passenger to sit down. By not doing so, he is disobeying the lawful instructions of Cabin Crew, and is therefore commiting an offence. He will have no leg to stand on.
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He will have no leg to stand on
I had a situation the other week, operating a flight from the UK to Spain. Just literally 10 seconds after the gear had been retracted after take off, male pax aged around 40 on row 6 stands up and starts ferreting around in the over head locker.
I politely reminded him over the PA that the seat belt signs were on, he ignored me, so I said "The seat belt signs are still on, so please sit down" he ignored me, I then said in a harsher tone of voice "The seat belt signs are still on, which means you sit down NOW and DO NOT continue to look in the over head lockers, close that locker IMMEDIATELY" he then took notice and sat down looking rather sheepish. Pax in the immediate area of him were sniggering away having found it amusing.
About 3 minutes after the crew had been released the same guy is again out of his seat so I went down to him and said "Sir, the seat belt sign is still on, you need to take your seat" he says "My wife wants the toilet" (the wife was unstrapping herself and her infant from the baby belt) I said to him "Sir, the seat belt signs are on which means the toilets are not to be used" he replies with "Turn the signs off then" I (now starting to get a bit annoyed) said "Sir, the Captain will switch the signs off when we are at a suitable altitude where he considers it safe for you to walk around the cabin. Also, for your information we are expecting moderate turbulence on this flight, which means it could get rather bumpy at any time - what I will do is, I will phone the Captain and find out how long the signs are likely to stay on for, but before I do that I need you to take your seat and fasten your seat belt", he says "Good, you do that" and continues to stand there, I said "I will, but not before you do as I say and sit down". He then sat down, but decided that he needs to have the final word, because as I turned to walk away, when he thought I was out of ear shot he said "Tell your Captain to turn the signs off now!" thinking I wouldn't hear him, but I did, so I went back and I said to him "Sir, just a reminder for you, the Captain is in command of this aircraft, not yourself - therefore he makes the safety related decisions and not you", the wife then screamed at me "GOD YOU DON'T HALF TALK A LOT DON'T YOU" and made her baby cry, I replied with "YES I DO TALK A LOT when passengers are disregarding the safety instructions on this aircraft" the husband then said "I do this flight every week, I know when it's safe to move around", I said back to him "Maybe you do do it every week, but have you had a chance to check the weather information on route for today? Stay seated and I will phone the Captain as I said to you several minutes ago I will do".
I went away, interphoned the Captain who told me that 25 miles away on the left of the aircraft there was a huge thunderstorm and that he will not be switching off the signs for another 10 minutes or so until we were completely clear of any effects that it could have on us. The Captain asked me why I was enquiring about the seat belt signs and I told him the story of the pax on Row 6. The Captain then made a PA saying "Ladies & Gentlemen, for those of you wondering why the seat belt signs are still on, well if you are seated on the left hand side of the aircraft I would like you to look out of the window now (pause of a couple of seconds) those of you looking out of the window you will see in the distance a rather large, angry and active thunderstorm - this is the reason why the seat belt signs are still illuminated as that thunderstorm could cause quite severe turbulence, so for your safety you must stay in your seats. I will decide when the signs go off, and they will not be switched off until I feel it is safe for you to move around the cabin. Therefore all passengers must stay seated and obey the cabin crew"
For those of you who feel that I could have handled the situation better, I am an experienced crew member and this is the first time in all the years I have been flying that the seat belts signs have become so confrontational. The man was a complete arse who felt due to "his weekly experience" of flying that route that he knew more than the cabin crew and that he was in charge, even though he wasn't in charge and was not at all aware of the weather situation.
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Getoutofmygalley-I think you handled that well. 
That pax was obviously a an utter ******.
I bet he hated being proved wrong by the captain!
We are taught that we must advise pax to remain seated...but the basic fact is you cannot MAKE a pax physically sit down. As long as you firmly ask them to remain seated for their own safety what more can you do?
And what do you guys say when a pax asks you "why can you stand up and I can't?"
My pet hate is after we have landed and we are taxi-ing to the gate and there is always some idiot who jumps up to root through the over head locker...
The annoying thing is, these very people would be the first to expect you to do first aid on them and then sue the airline!
That pax was obviously a an utter ******.I bet he hated being proved wrong by the captain!
We are taught that we must advise pax to remain seated...but the basic fact is you cannot MAKE a pax physically sit down. As long as you firmly ask them to remain seated for their own safety what more can you do?
And what do you guys say when a pax asks you "why can you stand up and I can't?"
My pet hate is after we have landed and we are taxi-ing to the gate and there is always some idiot who jumps up to root through the over head locker...
The annoying thing is, these very people would be the first to expect you to do first aid on them and then sue the airline!
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flygirl28 & Virginia, I can see where you are coming from, but I disagree with you. Unless you enforce the FSB sign, in my mind you are failing in your safety duties.
The fasten seat belt sign is an order from the Captain. Who is the ultimate legal authority on the airplane. We, as cabin crew, are his/her representatives in the cabin. When we tell a passenger to comply with the seat belt sign, we are in fact enforcing the law. A passenger refusing to comply is breaking the law.
In my experience, once that has been pointed out to the pax in question, together with possible consequences like the police waiting for them at arrival due their refusal to obey the captain's orders, very very very few people will continue to disregard the sign.
Achieving that result depends on us being able and willing to make the change from service oriented FA to cabin safety professional. And to act with the authority vested in us by the captain of the aircraft without turning into self-important mini Hitlers.
Like I Just Want To Fly and Getoutofmygalley, I am strict when it comes to adherence to the safety measures imposed by law and company procedures. Both for the pax and ourselves.
As an observation, personally I find it sometimes hard to defend (even if I always do defend it like a good little soldier) how it can be safe for us to walk around, yet not for the pax.
Pax are people with brains like ourselves. When they desperately need the loo, see us walk around yet are forbidden to get up themselves and are sitting there in mounting discomfort, I sympathise with their frustration.
Just a fact of life and unlikely to change, I know, but just something that I find uncomfortable.
(and no, I don't allow loo visits when the sign is on, don't want to open that particular floodgate
)
The fasten seat belt sign is an order from the Captain. Who is the ultimate legal authority on the airplane. We, as cabin crew, are his/her representatives in the cabin. When we tell a passenger to comply with the seat belt sign, we are in fact enforcing the law. A passenger refusing to comply is breaking the law.
In my experience, once that has been pointed out to the pax in question, together with possible consequences like the police waiting for them at arrival due their refusal to obey the captain's orders, very very very few people will continue to disregard the sign.
Achieving that result depends on us being able and willing to make the change from service oriented FA to cabin safety professional. And to act with the authority vested in us by the captain of the aircraft without turning into self-important mini Hitlers.
Like I Just Want To Fly and Getoutofmygalley, I am strict when it comes to adherence to the safety measures imposed by law and company procedures. Both for the pax and ourselves.
As an observation, personally I find it sometimes hard to defend (even if I always do defend it like a good little soldier) how it can be safe for us to walk around, yet not for the pax.
Pax are people with brains like ourselves. When they desperately need the loo, see us walk around yet are forbidden to get up themselves and are sitting there in mounting discomfort, I sympathise with their frustration.
Just a fact of life and unlikely to change, I know, but just something that I find uncomfortable.
(and no, I don't allow loo visits when the sign is on, don't want to open that particular floodgate
)
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It actually isn't safe for you to walk around, however since you are an employee and not a passenger you are asked to assume a certain level of risk that the pax are not. Ever notice the the FD crew are ALWAYS buckled in with at least a lap belt? You never know when the aircraft is going to hit unexpected turbulence.
Since the crews job is to keep the pax safe as possible if there is a known possibility of turbulence the signs go on. The cabin crew are asked to assume a certain level of risk in remaining standing and accomplishing their duties, which is why so often its cabin crew that get hurt in turbulence related incidents.
If the FD expects to run into more than light chop they will almost always advise the Purser to seat the crew and suspend service in order to protect them as well. problem is we don't always know when that is going to be.
Since the crews job is to keep the pax safe as possible if there is a known possibility of turbulence the signs go on. The cabin crew are asked to assume a certain level of risk in remaining standing and accomplishing their duties, which is why so often its cabin crew that get hurt in turbulence related incidents.
If the FD expects to run into more than light chop they will almost always advise the Purser to seat the crew and suspend service in order to protect them as well. problem is we don't always know when that is going to be.
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Personally I like the procedures at Qantas and Jetstar. When the seatbelt signs are on, even the crew must be seated. Jetstar, even has an automated PA when the signs are turned on, which says something along the lines of
"Ladies and Gents, the fasten seatbelt signs have been switched on. Please return to your seats, and fasten your seatbelts. Cabin crew, please secure the cabin, and take your seats"
Cabin crew complete their secure for landing before the seatbelt sign is turned on.
"Ladies and Gents, the fasten seatbelt signs have been switched on. Please return to your seats, and fasten your seatbelts. Cabin crew, please secure the cabin, and take your seats"
Cabin crew complete their secure for landing before the seatbelt sign is turned on.
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tbaylx, thank you for that concise and logical explanation.
So obvious that I should have realised it myself many years ago. Yet never had, and likely never would have without this thread and your contribution.
This is the beauty of PPRuNe.
... yup pilots always have their lapbelts on. While we walk around even when the FSB sign is on. Always figure that that is because a pilot against the ceiling endagers the AC and an expensively trained pilot, while an FA against the ceiling endagers merely his/her cheaply trained self and a few pax ......
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Get out of my galley.I think you have handle the situation good to a point.I would have avoided to confront the pax the way you did by mirrowing his behavior(getting more angry).You became then sarcastic with the reply you gave to the passenger and you dont gain respect from a passenger being in that way.By being short and firm will be better then to back chat.Thats why you got the comment from the pax wife.
''Sir, just a reminder for you, the Captain is in command of this aircraft, not yourself ''
I would have avoided the situation by contacting the captain immediatly and ask if its safe for the pax to use the toilets.If he said no I would have gone back and said ''Sir I am afraid the captain have informed me that is to dangerous to use the toilets could you hang on for a minute?''The pax can then see you did try and help him but the comands come from the captain and he needs to obey by it. I have been in a situation when I was a passenger and it was bumpy and I needed the toilet.I told the crew if they can ask the captain if I can you the toilets and will be quick.They asked the captain and the captain gave permission to use it quick.
The other sentence i read from your post suggest to me you are not open to feedback wich mean you are not an active listener.
''For those of you who feel that I could have handled the situation better, I am an experienced crew member and this is the first time in all the years I have been flying that the seat belts signs have become so confrontational. The man was a complete arse who felt due to "his weekly experience" of flying that route that he knew more than the cabin crew and that he was in charge, even though he wasn't in charge and was not at all aware of the weather situation.''
I have been flying for 7 years and i still learn from this job.Its good to see how crew handle situations and learn from it so when it happens to you you know how to deal it to the best of your abilities.I hope we all learn from it and sometimes put ourself in pax situation.
''Sir, just a reminder for you, the Captain is in command of this aircraft, not yourself ''
I would have avoided the situation by contacting the captain immediatly and ask if its safe for the pax to use the toilets.If he said no I would have gone back and said ''Sir I am afraid the captain have informed me that is to dangerous to use the toilets could you hang on for a minute?''The pax can then see you did try and help him but the comands come from the captain and he needs to obey by it. I have been in a situation when I was a passenger and it was bumpy and I needed the toilet.I told the crew if they can ask the captain if I can you the toilets and will be quick.They asked the captain and the captain gave permission to use it quick.
The other sentence i read from your post suggest to me you are not open to feedback wich mean you are not an active listener.
''For those of you who feel that I could have handled the situation better, I am an experienced crew member and this is the first time in all the years I have been flying that the seat belts signs have become so confrontational. The man was a complete arse who felt due to "his weekly experience" of flying that route that he knew more than the cabin crew and that he was in charge, even though he wasn't in charge and was not at all aware of the weather situation.''
I have been flying for 7 years and i still learn from this job.Its good to see how crew handle situations and learn from it so when it happens to you you know how to deal it to the best of your abilities.I hope we all learn from it and sometimes put ourself in pax situation.
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Sorry, but if I called the Flight Deck and asked the Captain for permission to allow a pax to use the loo... well I don't really know what kind of reaction I would get. Silence... Laughter... Anger... who knows...
I just had a thought, and would appreciate peoples advice.
An adult should be able to control their bladder a bit more than a child. What do people do when a mother very politely requests that her 5 year old uses the toilet. The child is screaming and desperate, and are about to pee their pants. It's a long flight, and if he/she does wee their pants then it will be a very unconfrtable flight for everyone involved.
What do you all think... To tell you the truth, even though I say I'm very strict, I'm not really sure what I would do in this case.... Would I therefore be creating a double standard, and therefore contributing to the eternal problem of crews failure to enforce seatbelt compliance???????????
I just had a thought, and would appreciate peoples advice.
An adult should be able to control their bladder a bit more than a child. What do people do when a mother very politely requests that her 5 year old uses the toilet. The child is screaming and desperate, and are about to pee their pants. It's a long flight, and if he/she does wee their pants then it will be a very unconfrtable flight for everyone involved.
What do you all think... To tell you the truth, even though I say I'm very strict, I'm not really sure what I would do in this case.... Would I therefore be creating a double standard, and therefore contributing to the eternal problem of crews failure to enforce seatbelt compliance???????????
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The thread shows we are all individuals and deal with things in our own way, within the basic framework of our airline's SEP.
Trainers at my airline of course expect us to enforce the rules whilst retaining some degree of common sense.
At the end of the day, you can inform a pax twice, maybe three times to go back to their seat.
However, if they are desperate then no amount of shouting or threats of police action are going to stop them. The individual in question may have a compelling need to visit the lav...I'm sure you can use your imagination. In that case, I am not going to physically restrain the pax or arrange for their arrest on arrival.
Just use your common sense guys....
p.s. nivsy ...
I don't want to comment on the crew on your flight, but as a rule footrests should be stowed and crew proactive in ensuring compliance with seatbelt signs
Trainers at my airline of course expect us to enforce the rules whilst retaining some degree of common sense.
At the end of the day, you can inform a pax twice, maybe three times to go back to their seat.
However, if they are desperate then no amount of shouting or threats of police action are going to stop them. The individual in question may have a compelling need to visit the lav...I'm sure you can use your imagination. In that case, I am not going to physically restrain the pax or arrange for their arrest on arrival.
Just use your common sense guys....
p.s. nivsy ...
I don't want to comment on the crew on your flight, but as a rule footrests should be stowed and crew proactive in ensuring compliance with seatbelt signs
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Despatch, you would have to have been there to witness the incident to comment on it properly.
I stayed calm and professional throughout the incident, unfortunately the pax did not. I did not raise my voice at any time to the passenger, I kept my voice at a calm level and emphasised words where needed. When the pax made the comment "Go tell the Captain to switch off the seat belt signs" he thought I was out of ear shot, and I made him aware that I was not by then saying the comment "The Captain is in command etc". His wife screaming at me is irrelevant to my comment, I think she really screamed because her husbands behaviour was actually embarassing her!
You say you would have avoided the situation by contacting the Captain immediately - that was my intention to, the offer to speak to the Captain was there to resolve the situation, however I am not going to go and speak to the Captain for a couple of minutes on the interphone and leave a pax standing in the aisle when the seat belt signs are on. Are you saying you would have left him standing there? When he says to me after I have offered to phone the Captain "Good, You do that" I replied with "I will, but not before you do as I say and sit down", he then sat down and I walked away and it was at that point he made his comment of "Go tell the Captain to switch off the seat belt signs". If he had not made that comment, the Captain would have been phoned earlier, if he had sat down when I first offerred to phone the Captain, the Captain would have been phoned earlier. The pax was just deliberately trying it on and I am not going to leave a 40+ year old man standing in the aisle, unsecured when there is a thunderstorm off the side of the aircraft that could cause turbulence (I knew we were expecting thunderstorms after take off as the Captain had briefed us to this effect and I informed the pax that we were expecting turbulence, but he still chose to ignore the instruction).
You feel that I am not open to feedback and am not an active listener, for your information I often request feedback from my crew after an event onboard as we are all still learning whether you have been flying for 6 months or 20 years. Regularly if there has been (for example) a medical emergency I ask my crew in the debrief "Could I/we have handled that better?" if there is a disruptive pax, "Could I have handled that better?" and encourage the crew to be honest and open with their opinions. This man was a pompous ass who felt that owing to his experience of that route (flying it weekly from seat 6D in the cabin) that he knew when it was safe to move around or be seated.
Just to give you a bit of background, this flight was an easyJet flight - one of the combined GB Airways and easyJet flights that are currently running. The man was an ex GB-Airways passenger who is now being 'forced' to fly easyJet. easyJet crew are having lots of problems with these types of pax as they are all being rude to crew because they blame us (the crew) for them losing their nice British Airways style service. Unfortunately on a lot of these combined flights the pax are doing their utmost to make the flights as unpleasant as possible for the crew by being rude, disobedient, deliberately leaving a nasty mess, deliberately talking down to crew and trying to make crew members cry! Pax can do what they like as far as I am concerned with all of the above (ONLY if aimed at me), but they will not disobey safety instructions on my flights. The seat belt sign in an instruction from the Captain and it should be obeyed.
You say you would have said to the pax "I am afraid the captain have informed me that is to dangerous to use the toilets could you hang on for a minute?" - what would you do if the pax said "No, I need to go now!"would you then say "Sorry sir, the toilets are out of use and you can't go?", or would you then say "Oh, ok sir - by all means go to the toilet". Saying "Could you hang on for a minute?" to the pax might sound nice and customer orientated, but what happens when the seat belt signs are still on in 15-30 mins time? Instead of saying "Could you hang on for a minute?", I would have said "I am sorry, The Captain has just informed me that he feels it is too dangerous for you to use the toilets at the moment, he has said to me that a few aircraft infront are reporting a fare amount of turbulence and therefore he will not be switching off the signs until we are clear of the bumpy weather, as soon as we are clear he will switch off the seat belt signs", doing it that way shows that you empathise with the pax, that the Captain is aware of the pax's circumstances and that he will switch off the signs as soon as he feels it is safe, whilst pointing out to the pax that the signs are on for their safety and making them aware that it could get quite bumpy very soon and that way you are not providing any possible false hope of the signs being only on for a minute or two longer.
I stayed calm and professional throughout the incident, unfortunately the pax did not. I did not raise my voice at any time to the passenger, I kept my voice at a calm level and emphasised words where needed. When the pax made the comment "Go tell the Captain to switch off the seat belt signs" he thought I was out of ear shot, and I made him aware that I was not by then saying the comment "The Captain is in command etc". His wife screaming at me is irrelevant to my comment, I think she really screamed because her husbands behaviour was actually embarassing her!
You say you would have avoided the situation by contacting the Captain immediately - that was my intention to, the offer to speak to the Captain was there to resolve the situation, however I am not going to go and speak to the Captain for a couple of minutes on the interphone and leave a pax standing in the aisle when the seat belt signs are on. Are you saying you would have left him standing there? When he says to me after I have offered to phone the Captain "Good, You do that" I replied with "I will, but not before you do as I say and sit down", he then sat down and I walked away and it was at that point he made his comment of "Go tell the Captain to switch off the seat belt signs". If he had not made that comment, the Captain would have been phoned earlier, if he had sat down when I first offerred to phone the Captain, the Captain would have been phoned earlier. The pax was just deliberately trying it on and I am not going to leave a 40+ year old man standing in the aisle, unsecured when there is a thunderstorm off the side of the aircraft that could cause turbulence (I knew we were expecting thunderstorms after take off as the Captain had briefed us to this effect and I informed the pax that we were expecting turbulence, but he still chose to ignore the instruction).
You feel that I am not open to feedback and am not an active listener, for your information I often request feedback from my crew after an event onboard as we are all still learning whether you have been flying for 6 months or 20 years. Regularly if there has been (for example) a medical emergency I ask my crew in the debrief "Could I/we have handled that better?" if there is a disruptive pax, "Could I have handled that better?" and encourage the crew to be honest and open with their opinions. This man was a pompous ass who felt that owing to his experience of that route (flying it weekly from seat 6D in the cabin) that he knew when it was safe to move around or be seated.
Just to give you a bit of background, this flight was an easyJet flight - one of the combined GB Airways and easyJet flights that are currently running. The man was an ex GB-Airways passenger who is now being 'forced' to fly easyJet. easyJet crew are having lots of problems with these types of pax as they are all being rude to crew because they blame us (the crew) for them losing their nice British Airways style service. Unfortunately on a lot of these combined flights the pax are doing their utmost to make the flights as unpleasant as possible for the crew by being rude, disobedient, deliberately leaving a nasty mess, deliberately talking down to crew and trying to make crew members cry! Pax can do what they like as far as I am concerned with all of the above (ONLY if aimed at me), but they will not disobey safety instructions on my flights. The seat belt sign in an instruction from the Captain and it should be obeyed.
You say you would have said to the pax "I am afraid the captain have informed me that is to dangerous to use the toilets could you hang on for a minute?" - what would you do if the pax said "No, I need to go now!"would you then say "Sorry sir, the toilets are out of use and you can't go?", or would you then say "Oh, ok sir - by all means go to the toilet". Saying "Could you hang on for a minute?" to the pax might sound nice and customer orientated, but what happens when the seat belt signs are still on in 15-30 mins time? Instead of saying "Could you hang on for a minute?", I would have said "I am sorry, The Captain has just informed me that he feels it is too dangerous for you to use the toilets at the moment, he has said to me that a few aircraft infront are reporting a fare amount of turbulence and therefore he will not be switching off the signs until we are clear of the bumpy weather, as soon as we are clear he will switch off the seat belt signs", doing it that way shows that you empathise with the pax, that the Captain is aware of the pax's circumstances and that he will switch off the signs as soon as he feels it is safe, whilst pointing out to the pax that the signs are on for their safety and making them aware that it could get quite bumpy very soon and that way you are not providing any possible false hope of the signs being only on for a minute or two longer.
I was on a SQ 777 from HKG to SIN last week, and my bl**dy footrest was broken so it wouldn't stay up! I got told off twice for not having it up (in a manner of speaking...).
I hate the damn things and have never worked out what earthly use they are.
I hate the damn things and have never worked out what earthly use they are.
Thread Starter
Most interesting comments and stories. Thanks. I did find the safety procedures a little unsettling on MAS however gratified to see that a lot of CC are doing a good job sometimes under very difficult circumstances.
Happy flying all.
Nivsy
Happy flying all.
Nivsy
Join Date: May 2008
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Getoutofmygalley you handelled that situation brilliantley.
Here is a question:
In a situation like Getoutofmygalley's is the captain in power to divert the a/c due to disruptive passanger or would he tell police to be on hand at the destiantion to have a so called "quite" word?
Here is a question:
In a situation like Getoutofmygalley's is the captain in power to divert the a/c due to disruptive passanger or would he tell police to be on hand at the destiantion to have a so called "quite" word?
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well done getoutofmygalley, you sound so like me, it was spooky!!!!!also, i didnt realise some of the GB pax were making life so difficult for you guys and im sorry to hear that, i hope things get better for you all.