Continental From United States of America, joined Jun 2000, 5476 posts, RR: 21 Posted (7 years 2 months 1 week 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 2399 times:
This occured last August on my way to Croatia. We were on an American Airlines 767-300 from JFK to BRU. There was this one short, asian flight attendant that was working this flight. At first, about 3 hours into the flight, there was a small kid running up and down the aisles. The parents didn't do much to stop the child, so the short FA told the parents that the kid cannot do that, and they must maintain control of the child. The parents got mad at the FA demanding her name, but not much continued after that. I was in support of the FA, she handled the situation well and did her job. That wasn't the weird experience, the weird experience occured on final to BRU. We were just seconds out from the runway at Brussels when these two young girls told the short FA that they had to make a connection quickly at BRU. The short FA told the kids to get out of their seats and make their way with her toward the front of the aircraft. Keep in mind that we were about 20 seconds or so from the runway, so we were on SHORT final! The FA and the girls make their way toward the front while another FA spots them and yells, "HEY! Sit down! We're landing, take any seat NOW!" The short FA got the girls onto an empty seat RIGHT as we touched down, and I believe she was able to find another seat next to them. What was wrong with her!? Could she NOT see out the window and note that we were about to touchdown? If the other FA didn't see them, it could've been a totally different ending!
PanAm747 From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 4242 posts, RR: 10 Reply 1, posted (7 years 2 months 1 week 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 2250 times:
I don't know if I would call that a "wierd AA FA" experience - more like typical behavior from a few of my fellow Americans.
Anyone who thinks that being the first off an international flight is going to get them through customs faster (especially if they are trying to get off the plane before it lands!) need to be scrutinized for "controlled foreign substances" in their bloodstream.
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Canada Mike From Canada, joined Feb 2001, 149 posts, RR: 1 Reply 2, posted (7 years 2 months 1 week 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 2140 times:
That's....bizarre, to say the least. She must've totally lost track of what was going on for a minute or two to agree to that. Keeping in mind that FAs should always be keeping pax in their seats a heck of a lot further out from landing than what you're describing. I can't imagine letting anyone get up after cabin securing has been completed.
Then again, I can't imagine the FA not being strapped in at 20 seconds out, either. Is there no final approach signal to the cabin crew on AA?
If she wasn't at her assigned exit station because she was out in the cabin with these two pax, that's rather alarming....
RoseFlyer From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 8737 posts, RR: 52 Reply 3, posted (7 years 2 months 1 week 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 2114 times:
I have seen this happen before, but never when a plane was on short final. Flight attendants should know that they need to be seated, but often times you get crews that are less vigilant about being seated when they need to and are less aware of the possible dangers of standing near touchdown. If the plane suddenly had to perform a go around, then people standing would likely fall over, or if there was a rough and sudden landing, injuries could be sustained.
If you really feel that the flight attendant was putting not only herself but other passengers at risk, then write a letter to AA. It will certainly make its way to the flight attendant in question and someone will review the situation. Sending an email to customer service actually does work and can make a difference whether you are complimenting a staff member or constructively pointing out a deficiency that you might have encountered or observed.
Quoting PanAm747 (Reply 1): Anyone who thinks that being the first off an international flight is going to get them through customs faster
I am sorry, but it does. At Brussels there aren't that many flights from non EU countries, so there is a good chance that the immigration area would be almost empty when the flight arrived. If you are first off, you can almost go directly through immigration as you don't have to wait, but if you were in the back of the plane and had to wait for 200 other people to clear immigration, then that could take 15-30 minutes. Customs isn't a big difference, but immigration is. There is a better chance that if you are in the front and especially if you don't have checked luggage that you would be able to make a tight connection.
There is a reason other than just to make people feel indulged that flight attendants routinely hold economy passengers back so that first and business class passengers can get off first. A plane full of people can take a while to clear immigration, especially when the facilities aren't huge. Brussels has a lot of flights to cities within the EU, but there are fewer immigration officials ready to deal with non EU passport holders like Americans.
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AA777223 From United States of America, joined Feb 2006, 1112 posts, RR: 7 Reply 5, posted (7 years 2 months 1 week 10 hours ago) and read 1686 times:
Sounds pretty weird to me. I cannot imagine what she was thinking ask those girls to follow her on short final. That could have been really, really bad!
Wing From Turkey, joined Oct 2000, 1552 posts, RR: 25 Reply 6, posted (7 years 2 months 1 week 4 hours ago) and read 1530 times:
"-Cabin Crew advised for landing"
Is one of the items of the before landing checklist in my company which we PA the cabin "Cabin crew take your positions for landing" .That means we are very close for landing.
IAirAllie From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 7, posted (7 years 2 months 6 days 22 hours ago) and read 1269 times:
That is a little strange. I'm not doubting your story but how do you know what was really said? Were you right next to the FA when she was "telling the girls to move". Is it possible she was really telling them to sit down? It is rare but sometimes the Flight Deck forgets to give the Prepare for arrival notification so we don't realize it's time to sit untill we hear the gear go down. Still I've never been caught out of my JS on landing.
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