Cockpit door broke mid flight.
 

So had a new experience today. Flying JFK-MSP on a MD88, about 40 min to landing the pilot comes out to use the restroom, FAs block the aisle as usual. When he attempts to return to the cockpit the door wont latch behind him, they open and slam it over and over but it wont go. Eventually they have all 3 FAs blocking the front part of the plane, and my seat mate from 3C moved up to 1C who I'm guessing was a FAM or a non rev employee they moved up for backup. After several min they stopped banging the door, and as we were only about 30 min from touch down we did not divert, in fact despite leaving 15 min late we landed early (they floored it to not be up/unsecured much longer?).

Anyone had this happen before? They made no announcement or anything about any issues which didnt surprise me, but curious if anyones had this happen and been diverted.

Never had it happen but I am surprised they did not make announcement that the seat belt sign is on and that all PAX are to remain in their seat.

why would anyone want to announce that the flight deck door is busted while in flight? So some crazy fanatic can attempt to bum rush his way past 3 frightened flight attendants?

how did that overbuilt thing get broken? Military grade stuff should have a heck of a warranty.

I'm trying to visualize all of them - in "red alert mode" - guarding the pilot, their potential savior - cautiously watching everyone nearby who may be a potential miscreant or intruder of the cockpit - waiting to see if anyone makes a suspicious move - so they can pounce on them, slap the cuffs on, and yell - Book'em Dan'o!

;)

I said i wasnt surprised :) I agree that announcing a security failure like that to the entire plane would be a huge mistake.

haha. they were surprisingly calm about it all. Several pax (myself included) still walked up and used the lav without incident. I think the thought was eventually to not draw any more attention to the situation.

Was in flight service terminated?

Seriously, I was on a flight that flew low and slow, then did an emergency landing with firetrucks ready and I don't think anyone who wasn't seated near the exit rows was aware of anything. They prepared the cabin for landing early and turned on the seat belt sign, as well as giving an emergency briefing to emergency exit row occupants. (There might even have been a bit of shuffling around of passengers to get the best people into the exit rows.) The FAs did if very coolly and smoothly.

It was near the end of the flight, 30-40 min before touching down. They had already completed dinner and drinks. Initially all 3 FA's stood guard, but after about 10 min of them attempting to fix it and failing, i think they realized there wasnt much they could do so 1 FA resumed garbage collection and walking the cabin. The other two remained at the cabin door until we landed.

It sounds like you were just about closer to MSP than DTW when it happened. Your flight might also have been given preferential handling by ATC to get in and land quickly.

That was my feeling as well. I was watching curiously as it all unfolded, after they seemed to realize they couldnt fully fix it, we began to descend. I figured we were diverting but the pilot came on a few min later to announce we had begun our approach to MSP and would be on the ground in roughly 20 min. Given that we left 15 min late and landed about 15 min early, im guessing they punched it near the end there

A little while ago, I was on a 75X and the cockpit door kept unlatching. It started on takeoff/climb out, and I saw an arm reach back and grab for the door (possibly a pilot riding jump seat?). It happened a few more times during the beginning of the flight, and it finally stayed shut. No one seemed to make a big deal about it. It was kinda neat watching the flight out the cockpit windows :D

I'm young and only flew a few times prior to 9/11. I know the flight deck doors were not as secure as they are now before 9/11 occurred but was there ever a time when the flight deck door was left open during the flight. Maybe before the hijackings of the 70's?

Doors weren't left open, but cockpit visits in flight weren't out of the question. Spent a solid two hours chatting away with the crew sitting in the jumpseat on a BA 747 flight back in the mid-90s, as one example. It was a CAVU day and watching Newfoundland come up over the horizon was a beautiful sight. Good times back then.

It is a sad state of affairs when we expect a broken cockpit door to be treated as a life threatening problem. haha I am sure we all remember when those doors were made of cardboard.

#insert <sarcastic_government_comments.h>