Something funny on Airtran flight

[mygirltink]

We flew home from MCO to BWI on Sunday evening. We used ME and RAC so we sailed through security to the gate with no major delays. We got something to eat and drink and settled into seats close to the gate and next to the desk. The plane arrived at the gate about an hour prior to our flight and disembarked the passengers - it seemed we were going to be good to go and on time - not so fast. After sitting there a while and listening to what was going on, we realized that 1. the flight was going to be packed to the gills, 2. they were trying to rearranging seats for families and such, and 3. there were quite a few people that were on standby for the flight. This was all mildly entertaining but did not affect us. About 1/2 before flight time when you would anticipate getting ready to board, a flight attendant came out and spoke to the gate attendant. Only one of the three flight attendants had shown up for the flight so far. They began paging them with increasing more indigant messages on the PA system for the airport. They informed the passengers of what the delay was and then the pilot came out to through a fit about it as well. In addition there was now a new round of complaints as it seemed there were a number of passengers that needed to make tight connections at BWI for other flight. Finally ten minutes before flight time, I gave up and went to the ladies room (as I told my husband - they'll show up as soon as I leave). When I was coming back, there they were in front of me. The flight attendant that had been there previously came running over and hugged them. The two late ones had a real attitude about the whole thing. They rushed to board everyone like I have never seen in my life. We finally rolled back from the gate about 10 minutes late. The two late flight attendants had a real attitude for the whole flight as did the passengers. I have never seen anything like it.

[dburg30]

I notice that here at work, if someone is late THEY tend to be the ones with the 'tudes. Glad it basically worked out ok though, and I can imagine the passengers werent real happy with the FA's, and REALLY werent happy when they got a 'tude. Now, that being said, from your story it appears they were just flat out late, but who knows what the real reason was. Doesnt change the fact, but maybe their being late wasnt all their fault.

[CarolMN]

Maybe the "late" flight attendants weren't the ones originally scheduled for that flight. Perhaps they were less than thrilled to be called out. Maybe they got a hug because the one was glad they accepted the extra duty.

Doesn't excuse the 'tude, but it's possible they were angry with the two that didn't show up as scheduled.

Just another possibility.

[alaska8]

As a Flight attendant there are a couple of scenarios that come to mind...1. Original flight attendant called in sick close to departure or called in sick during part of their duty day.....crew scheduling then needs to find a new crew member which they can find from either calling out a reserve (standby) flight attedant (my company has a 2 hour minimum call out time....a reserve has two hours from the time they are called out to get to the aircaraft which they can use or waive) or they have to grab a crew member from another flight and reassign them. Or if all fails..find a volunteer flight attnedant!!!
2. Original flight attendant was late (very unusual as airlines usally assign high penalties for tardiness)....no other crew members available to recrew so had to wait for that crew member.
3. Crew rest..the federal government assigns a legal amount of rest that a crew mwmber must have. The flight attendant may have been on a delayed flight the day before and was still on crew rest.
It does sound though that there was a lack of communication between the crew onboard, the gate agents andcrew scheduling.

[jagafen]

This happened to us on our last trip to Disney, flying out of Philly.....a flight attendant was a no show, and we had to wait 45 minutes for her replacement to show up!

[bevgray]

This happened to me with AirTrans out of MCO once. All three flight attendants were stuck in Customs as they had just come in on a flight from Mexico. For whatever reason, Customs was really backed up that day and we were 45 minutes late departing.

The crew really made an effort to make it up to the passengers. Captain made up some of the time (direct flight so he was able to take a shorter route). Head flight attendant also took the names/flights of those passengers with connections. Near the end of the flight, she started to read off the gates of those connections with the instructions to check in with the "Representative at our gate who will get you to your flight as quickly as possible". Also requested that those not making connections, "Please remain seated so the others can get off first as planes are being held for them".

Haven't seen that kind of service in years which is why I fly AirTrans when I'm able.