I do know flight attendants have loads of duties and obligations, however I’m genuinely puzzled as to how this might occur with any frequency…
Sleeping passengers left on American flights after touchdown
PYOK has the story of a memo that American flight attendants acquired from their union, the Affiliation of Skilled Flight Attendants (APFA). In line with the memo, the airline has reportedly seen a rise within the variety of incidents the place crews have left plane after a flight, just for there to nonetheless be passengers onboard.
Presumably this usually occurs when passengers go to sleep and don’t understand the aircraft has arrived on the gate. This can be a critical violation of Federal Aviation Rules (FARs), which require passengers to not be onboard plane until there are additionally crew members. Per the memo:
“These procedures are required to make sure that no passenger is ever left onboard. Test toilets, and ensure no passengers are sleeping in or below seats. This can be a important last test to substantiate that nobody has been ignored, and this ensures that you simply and your crew aren’t susceptible to violating a FAR.”
“Leaving passengers on the plane unattended is a major security and safety concern and we recognize everybody’s shared efforts in making certain this doesn’t occur.”
The union suggested flight attendants to at all times do a post-flight safety test, and to not simply depart that to at least one crew member. Moreover, as a last test, the lead flight attendants is meant to carry out a cabin walk-through, to make sure that nobody is left behind.
I’m shocked this occurs with any frequency
Admittedly I’m a lightweight sleeper, so I can’t even think about the idea of sleeping by means of a touchdown and deplaning, given the quantity of noise and light-weight. However to ensure that somebody to be left on the plane, it may possibly’t simply be that the passenger sleeps by means of it, but additionally that the crew someway doesn’t discover.
It hasn’t been revealed, however I’d be fascinated to know the frequency with which this occurs, particularly if the union claims there’s an untick in these situations. Like, I’m not stunned this occurs a handful of occasions per 12 months throughout airways, after which it normally makes headlines. However I’m stunned it’s a difficulty that occurs with any regularity at one airline.
For instance of when this did occur, in 2019 there was a viral story, whereby a lady was trapped on an Air Canada jet. She had fallen asleep, and wakened in the course of the evening, to seek out herself on a chilly, darkish plane, with nobody else round.
It made headlines for good purpose, as a result of it’s form of a wild story!
Backside line
I assume American flight attendants have a difficulty with leaving passengers on planes after touchdown. Or at the very least that appears to be the case, primarily based on a memo from the flight attendant union to members. Whereas I’m not stunned this occurs sometimes throughout international airways, I wouldn’t have anticipated this to occur with any frequency on one airline.
What do you make of this memo from American’s flight attendant union?
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