Yet another crew who claims pax must stay in seats into DCA
Jul 20, 2011, 9:42 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Boston, MA
Posts: 112
Yet another crew who claims pax must stay in seats into DCA
Yesterday I was on a transcontinental US Airways flight into Reagan. About an hour and 15 minutes from landing, the lead FA announced over the PA that, because we were flying into Reagan, all pax must remain in their seats a full hour to arrival. Funny -- there was no such policy when I flew United ORD-DCA last Wednesday, or this very same US Air flight a few weeks ago. 
I know there are occasional reports about flight crews saying things like this. I spent the end of the flight yesterday trying to figure out WHY. Any thoughts? Are the flight crews who make these announcements just particularly paranoid about terrorism/hijacking and trying to make themselves feel better? Are there job-related benefits to having pax stay in their seats? (If so, they weren't apparent to me last night -- the FAs continued job duties, such as collecting trash and doing safety checks, right up till final approach.) I just can't swallow it is simply that the flight crew (all 5 of them) were under the impression that the FAA policy was still in force -- it has been YEARS, and surely in the interim they would have been told either by superiors or colleagues ("um, you know that's no longer the rule, right?") about this fact.
I know there are occasional reports about flight crews saying things like this. I spent the end of the flight yesterday trying to figure out WHY. Any thoughts? Are the flight crews who make these announcements just particularly paranoid about terrorism/hijacking and trying to make themselves feel better? Are there job-related benefits to having pax stay in their seats? (If so, they weren't apparent to me last night -- the FAs continued job duties, such as collecting trash and doing safety checks, right up till final approach.) I just can't swallow it is simply that the flight crew (all 5 of them) were under the impression that the FAA policy was still in force -- it has been YEARS, and surely in the interim they would have been told either by superiors or colleagues ("um, you know that's no longer the rule, right?") about this fact.
Jul 20, 2011, 10:00 am
#2
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I think I'm hearing that this means that the PIC's operating docs aren't up-to-date. Usually not malicious or un-customer-friendly, just more about ignorance of the rules. Complain to US, give them the date/flight, they'll probably toss you 5k miles, and they should get with the PIC to have them update their docs.
Jul 20, 2011, 12:47 pm
#3
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Northern VA
Posts: 1,007
Yesterday I was on a transcontinental US Airways flight into Reagan. About an hour and 15 minutes from landing, the lead FA announced over the PA that, because we were flying into Reagan, all pax must remain in their seats a full hour to arrival. Funny -- there was no such policy when I flew United ORD-DCA last Wednesday, or this very same US Air flight a few weeks ago.
I know there are occasional reports about flight crews saying things like this. I spent the end of the flight yesterday trying to figure out WHY. Any thoughts? Are the flight crews who make these announcements just particularly paranoid about terrorism/hijacking and trying to make themselves feel better? Are there job-related benefits to having pax stay in their seats? (If so, they weren't apparent to me last night -- the FAs continued job duties, such as collecting trash and doing safety checks, right up till final approach.) I just can't swallow it is simply that the flight crew (all 5 of them) were under the impression that the FAA policy was still in force -- it has been YEARS, and surely in the interim they would have been told either by superiors or colleagues ("um, you know that's no longer the rule, right?") about this fact.
I know there are occasional reports about flight crews saying things like this. I spent the end of the flight yesterday trying to figure out WHY. Any thoughts? Are the flight crews who make these announcements just particularly paranoid about terrorism/hijacking and trying to make themselves feel better? Are there job-related benefits to having pax stay in their seats? (If so, they weren't apparent to me last night -- the FAs continued job duties, such as collecting trash and doing safety checks, right up till final approach.) I just can't swallow it is simply that the flight crew (all 5 of them) were under the impression that the FAA policy was still in force -- it has been YEARS, and surely in the interim they would have been told either by superiors or colleagues ("um, you know that's no longer the rule, right?") about this fact.
Jul 20, 2011, 1:02 pm
#5
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Carry a printout of this and show it to the f/a the next time it happens.
Jul 20, 2011, 1:07 pm
#6
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Sounds like an FA who didn't want to provide any service for the end of the flight. Even when this rule was a requirement, it was 30 minutes, not a full hour.
"The website is out of date."
Carry a printout of this and show it to the f/a the next time it happens.
Jul 21, 2011, 9:02 am
#10
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OP: contact US with the details.
Jul 21, 2011, 1:44 pm
#12
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Jul 21, 2011, 2:38 pm
#13
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That's certainly not the culture if this was an "east" (pre-HP merger) US crew. Also, if this was on an Airbus, announcements made by a FA mic have the audio muted in all the galley speakers.
