Flight Attendant falls asleep during taxi
 

On a PIT-IAD leg yesterday during a MR I was in 02F and after landing I noticed the flight attendent was sleeping!

Anyone else had any experiences like this? I understand overworked and underpaid, but don't sleep on a little CRJ when you face the customers.

Should I write UA?

Boy, I can't imaging sleeping in one of those uncomfortable jump seats facing backwards while landing!!

But for safety reasons, there is no excuse for this. I would report it definitely.

That is not a UA flight attendant. That is a regional airline FA. You should probably right the carrier you flew that day.

Come on. The FAs on those RJs work crazy hours and make almost no money. Inappropriate? Yes. Something you need to complain about? No. Move on.

I have observed this several times on UA and UX.

I might get concerned if the plane pulled up to the gate and the FA didn't wake up.

I've seen some of the most-friendly and enthusiastic FAs on UAX flights. However, falling asleep during the landing sequence of the flight would seem potentially dangerous.

Having said that, I might have remarked to the FA upon leaving "Pretty long day?" and see where it might have gone from there. The FAs response would have helped me figure out if there was any place to go with it from there. If his or her attitude was cavalier or flippant, sure, it might make sense to send a letter... but otherwise, doing something that might cause someone to lose their job might seem a bit harsh.

Seen it dozens of times.

Could be a safety concern if something would have happened and she weren't alert.

I say report it. If she can't do the job, she needs to find something else she can do.

After all, FA's are primarily there for our safety. ;) The least they can do is stay awake.

yup
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...highlight=read

Since s/he fell asleep *after* landing during the taxi phase, I wouldn't be inclined to complain. Perhaps have a bit of fun with him/her, but that's all. We're all human. Then again, s/he might have to wake me up ;)

I would pick your battles. FA's have worse work rules and hours than RJ pilots, and that's bad...

/agree on pick ones battles, but if one were a complainer, this would be at the top of the list. Most people complain about semi-trival cosmetic or service issues. This is a safety issue. Flight attendants DON'T evacuate planes in the air, they do it on the ground. On the ground is where people die, not in the air (in most cases, short of catastrophic hull rupture at altitude.) Aircraft to aircraft incursions (i.e.Tenerife, the largest aviation accident in history not DIRECTLY a consequence of terrorism was this type and the single largest aviation accident that counts only passengers (sept 11 exceed it only by counting those on the ground) almost always occur (for non-military aircraft) on the ground. The Pan Am plane was taxiing. You can google "Dorothy Kelly" who was the Sr Pan Am flight attendant who heroically performed her duties with both a broken arm and fractured scull obtained during the evacuation. BTW, she became a UA flight attendant upon the Pan Am collapse.

As someone else pointed out, their primary purpose is for our safety.

One of my close friends ahd to evactuate a CRJ as a passenger when an airport bus rammed (actually, the other way around, but the aircraft had the right of way) a taxiing CRJ in 2002. The flight attendant was knocked silly, and my friend (an ex flight attendant) performed the evacuation.

Which is worse, a non-functioning IFE, a FA talking to her friends during cruise phase of an aircraft, or a flight attendant unable to perform his/her duties of safety during the most critical time?
737, u are an ex flight attendant, correct? This behavior is egregious and I am betting is spelled out in her company manual as behavior warranting termination (and I bet the AFA has accepted this as the policy.)

I know for a fact it is in ALL of UA's rules "Sleeping or the appearance of.....up to and including termination." but in this position, it is far worse. I mean the NW (or were they DL) pilots that were "discussing their bidding schedule" last month were at least (per them) awake, the flight was in cruise phase and the aircraft on auto. Their is no "auto" switch for a flight attendant. They need to be awake and alert at all times.

Like so many hear have said when employees complain of loss of benefits "We realize you have a choice in careers..." well, it is far better to have crews that at least perform the required safety functions of their safety job, then to have a seat back that fully reclines, yet one should complain about one and not the other? Yes, their schedules can be brutal,, but that is no surprise to them. They know this from day #1 of training.

What would happen if the person in row 1 was a) a company employee, b) representative of her mgmt, c) a FAA inspector, or d) a person needing her assistance due to an emergency. The person would be in serious trouble. Why wait for it to get to the point of d?

How do you know that the FA was asleep? Maybe she was just resting her eyes. :)

It's totally worth at least an email. Write your *Voice@ address and give them as many details as possible. They'll figure out which company operated your UX flight and will hopefully raise the appropriate hell.

I say no harm, no foul, no knowledge of the mitigating circumstances that may have caused it.

I'd forget it.