Pilot asks FA's to "check in"
 

Flew SFO-RDU over the weekend, and twice the pilot announced over the PA "FA's please check-in." I've never heard that before in all my years on UA. I'm curious why he would have done it, and what it could have meant. I assumed pilots simply call the galleys "ding!" If there had been some comm problem between cockpit and galley, he wouldn't have asked them to check in (they responded by phone, not by knocking/entering the cockpit). And in this day and age, a comm problem between cockpit and galley seems like good reason to go mx.

I have seen this many times, as recent as 2 weeks ago BOS-SFO and yes, it was most likely a communication problem between the cockpit and the FAs.

Same. Specifically, it was after a bout of turbulence where the FAs had to be seated, and the captain wanted to let them up without turning off the seatbelt sign.

in my case it was a communication problem. I know it because I was in 1C and heard the FAs talk about it ;) The actually wrote a piece of paper and slipped it under the cockpit door.

That is a standard PA announcement which has specific meanings to the FAs. It is used after the FAs have been instructed to take their jumpseats or be seated immediately. Those announcements are over the PA, instead of via the interphone, so that FAs who are not at a jumpseat can hear them. The check in announcement will have the FAs will check in with the purser to report cabin condition, injuries, etc. after an unexpected turbulence encounter. The purser will then contact the pilots with that information.

In the past, most of this would have been done via the interphone but the change to using these three specific PA announcements is part of the program to reduce FA turbulence injuries.

Uh, no, not at all.

I have noticed it happening with greater frequency on my flights since the beginning of the year.

I noticed it for the first time last month and the pilot said it atleast 5 times. Weird.

Interesting...If seated in F, I always took it as a signal to hit the lav if necessary, because they were about to block the aisle to let the pilot out.