Just observed something interesting as we deplaned at ORD a few minutes ago. I was in 1E on the 738 so I had a pretty good view as the door opened. There was a man standing in the jet bridge in a Prospect Airport Services uniform who immediately took a step inside the aircraft and quietly said something to the lead FA.

The FA turned to her colleague and said something like "sorry honey, it's you". She replied "That's ridiculous, it's the second time in two months". They both seemed very annoyed by this.

Any guesses what happened? Does AA randomly test FAs for drugs/alcohol or anything else?

Yes FAs because they're employed in transportation are subject to random drug and alcohol screens but I would think they would be tested before they got onto an a/c.

Maybe she just found out Doug Parker wants to take her to dinner.

Not really practical, since the results take hours or days.

It's random testing for drugs and/or alcohol, both company and DOT mandated. It happens at the end of the trip in the manner you described, someone waiting at the jet bridge.

Sometimes you may hear an FA announce "all clear" over the PA, they are referring to the lack of a testing person waiting for them.

She had to fly through Charlotte.

With his limo already waiting for her curbside....

When I was employed in a role that had random alcohol/drug testing, the results were back in less than 30 minutes (of which the bulk was driving to the test centre since it wasn�t on site). I would expect them to have something similar in the 5-15 minute range

At airports? Seems highly doubtful.

They get $15 if they're pulled for a drug test.
Better than nothing, I suppose.

Yes, at airports. It really doesn't take long for a basic urine screen. My spouse is a pilot and they call it getting 'ramped' when it happens on board the aircraft rather than in the airport itself.

At his home base (not US), there is a testing facility on site after staff check in, and people get pulled over randomly before they get to the crew briefing. Takes 15-20 min. At outports it's more likely that they get ramped (can be drug&alcohol or the local regulator doing a check of paperwork and licences).

Pilots are a different story. For FAs and other non-pilots, it would be very inefficient for collectors to be handling and processing only one sample at a time in huge facilities like airports. One assumes these companies don't have prime real estate in every terminal.

And yet this is exactly what happens. They don't have prime real estate, the collections are taken at family bathrooms at my airline.

And processed where?

That I don't know. Off-site I presume. I don't think there is a requirement that the test results are obtained quickly as these tests are always done at the end of a shift. We are not even notified of the results, unless, I presume, you test positive for a banned substance.

The tests are not popular, primarily because they happen at the end of a shift and crew members are often running to catch a commute home or just keen to get to their cars and go home.

For a while, at my airline, the collection site was 20 mins away and crew members not living in domicile had to take a taxi. That was a pain. Now the test administrator meets us at the airplane as the OP observed in this case. When we see them, we are always wondering who they are there for. We do get paid a nominal amount for taking the test. The selection of personnel is supposed to be completely random but how it's actually done, I don't know.