Originally Posted by
rch4u
Two flights this past weekend - on both of them, the flight attendants prepared the cabin at the very top of descent, claiming that we were on "final approach."
Bizarrely, later, around 15,000 feet, the pilots came on the intercom and told the FAs to prepare the cabin and be seated. By that point, they'd been seated for 20-25 minutes.
What you describe is not consistent with current procedures.
The procedure is for them to do the new combined initial/final announcement and duties when we make the prepare the cabin announcement. If the Captain wants them to be seated earlier, we should make the announcement earlier.
All else being equal, I make the announcement at around 18,000' which gives them enough time to prepare the cabin and be seated before the 10,000' double-chime.