BA2553 a dozen passengers without seats whilst taxiing
 

I just left Heraklion on BA2553 and it was total chaos with probably a dozen passengers without seats standing in the aisles trying to find their seat with the plane taxiing at some speed to the end of the runway to prepare for takeoff. Lockers hadn’t been closed, seatbelts hadn’t been checked, and cabin crew were busy arguing amongst themselves about who was to blame for the seating fiasco. It seems as though multiple people had sat in the wrong seats, but it left a family of 4 and others standing whilst the cabin crew argued and nobody was listening to the cockpit in relation to safety checks (or doing them), and nobody appeared to have told the cockpit what was going on

I got up and walked along closing 8 lockers and fortunately we were in a short queue and it eventually got resolved within another 5 mins. I’m just very surprised that BA would start taxiing like this, or is safety now compromised where they are trying to catch up on time? The incoming flight was 20mins late and we were running 10mins late.

I gave up complaining to BA a few years ago about anything, as they just don’t seem to care (even when I was Gold status).

Were BA breaking rules in setting off before passengers had a seat?

This very poor communication on the cabin crew part and is very dangerous, why are we hearing so many reports of inexperienced crew?

I think that is completely unacceptable and calls for an official report - not sure who exactly this would be in the UK, but I would press for this. In less severe situations, I would normally make a quick remark to the captain on my way out of the plane - in one occasion, captain followed up with me directly and I reported the security incidence. However, in this case, I think pretty much all rules were broken and this should have serious consequences for everyone involved.

On another general note, assuming that this was a BACF flight, I find BACF crew much less experienced than BA crew.

i am not sure what the rules are here. The cabin secure check is done just before take off, the belt checks are done after the safety briefing is completed, usually while taxing.

I remember one occasion many years ago in the US - turns out my neighbour's seat could not go into the upright position and crew found out during taxiing . There happened to be a seat available a few rows back - they notified cockpit, plane left the queue and parked for a moment, while pax could walk back to the other seat - only then could plane continue to taxi. I somewhat doubt (and do not hope) that rules are that different in Europe. Or maybe that's another Brexit benefit - let's get rid of some red tape, such as having to sit down during taxiing.

This flew into LHR on a A321N so definitely not a BACF flight.

I would quite frankly have taken video and gone to the media. This is a terrible violation.

Hi and welcome to FT FlyingStephen and welcome to FT.

Well what a report for your first pos. I would implore you to file a complaint against this as it is a serious saftey issue and should never have been allowed to happen. I know we all moan about service issues on here and maybe that was the basis of some of your previous complaints, but what you describe is in a different league and I am really disappointed the cabin crew didn't take charge and do something - if only to advise the flight deck and allow the aircraft to stop to sort everything out.

Inexperience in delivering drinks and food on a short flights is one thing, but no cabin crew should be inexperienced in a way would would allow what you describe to happen.

As someone who has had a flight delayed because it was discovered that the computer system had glitched and given multiple passengers the same seat assignment and it wasn’t discovered until boarding was underway, I’m in the firm camp that says the plane does not move until cabin crew verifies every passenger has a seat operating at minimum safety standards

Can the flight deck not see the passenger cabin via a camera system?

galley area behind the door but not really the cabin.

Surely the current crews aren’t inexperienced? Out of practice maybe, but all have done the job before and will be well aware of the minimums with regard to flight and cabin safety.

You would have hoped so wouldn’t you but I doubt it!
On many occasions (mostly out of India) I had have has many customers standing in the aisle when departure time is approaching, I just inform the flight crew that I will not be closing the door until all customers are seated or the agreeing with the flight crew that they check with me before pushing back if everyone is seated, it’s always works out and is the accepted procedure between cabin crew and flight crew.
I will be honest and say that the lack of experience in frightening.

What a stupid comment to make. It’s unhelpful, irrelevant and out of context with the seriousness of the incident.

The flight crew will assume the cabin is in a fit state to taxi unless they are informed otherwise. Starting engines on stand and taxiing straight off is not a common occurrence in BA ops and is used at Greek island destinations such as HER. This can often lead to confusion. I’d be interested to know when the call for door arming was made by the IFM, was it during or prior to engine start, or during the taxi phase?
It is incumbent on the SCCM to notify the flightdeck if the cabin isn’t in a fit state for the aircraft to taxi. This doesn’t necessarily apply to push back and engine start which is the normal expectation, we can still push but would delay taxi until we knew the cabin was in a fit state.
In essence this is a breakdown in communication event and thankfully no one was injured. Good to see some pax think seating on full flights is still a free for all too, we aren’t Ryanair quite yet, but then i’m
told they now issue allocated seating. Maybe BA should charge more for free for all seating.
Again, this event is simply down to poor communication on the face of it, but the reality could be different.