I know flight attendants have a lot of duties and responsibilities, but I’m genuinely puzzled as to how this could happen with any frequency…
In this post:
Sleeping passengers left on American flights after landing
PYOK has the story of a memo that American flight attendants received from their union, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA). According to the memo, the airline has reportedly seen an increase in the number of incidents where crews have left aircraft after a flight, only for there to still be passengers onboard.
Presumably this typically happens when passengers fall asleep and don’t realize the plane has arrived at the gate. This is a serious violation of Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs), which require passengers to not be onboard aircraft unless there are also crew members. Per the memo:
“These procedures are required to ensure that no passenger is ever left onboard. Check lavatories, and make sure no passengers are sleeping in or under seats. This is a critical final check to confirm that no one has been overlooked, and this ensures that you and your crew aren’t at risk of violating a FAR.”
“Leaving passengers on the aircraft unattended is a significant safety and security concern and we appreciate everyone’s shared efforts in ensuring this doesn’t happen.”
The union advised flight attendants to always do a post-flight security check, and to not just leave that to one crew member. Furthermore, as a final check, the lead flight attendants is supposed to perform a cabin walk-through, to ensure that no one is left behind.
I’m shocked this happens with any frequency
Admittedly I’m a light sleeper, so I can’t even imagine the concept of sleeping through a landing and deplaning, given the amount of noise and light. But in order for someone to be left on the aircraft, it can’t just be that the passenger sleeps through it, but also that the crew somehow doesn’t notice.
It hasn’t been revealed, but I’d be fascinated to know the frequency with which this happens, especially if the union claims there’s an untick in these instances. Like, I’m not surprised this happens a handful of times per year across airlines, and then it usually makes headlines. But I’m surprised it’s an issue that happens with any regularity at one airline.
As an example of when this did happen, in 2019 there was a viral story, whereby a woman was trapped on an Air Canada jet. She had fallen asleep, and woke up in the middle of the night, to find herself on a cold, dark aircraft, with no one else around.
It made headlines for good reason, because it’s kind of a wild story!
Bottom line
I guess American flight attendants have an issue with leaving passengers on planes after landing. Or at least that seems to be the case, based on a memo from the flight attendant union to members. While I’m not surprised this happens every so often across global airlines, I wouldn’t have expected this to happen with any frequency on one airline.
What do you make of this memo from American’s flight attendant union?
I'm a gay man living in Dallas, so I've had a lot of experience with AA flight attendants (lol). They are the most toxic, nasty people you will ever meet. The contrast between them and the Southwest employees I meet is like night and day.
Do FAs stop getting full pay when the door opens upon arrival - like how they only get full pay once the door closes? If so, they are disincentivized to spend more time on an aircraft if they're not getting paid. To include doing a walk-through to ensure all pax are off. I sort of don't blame them. Make the company look bad as a way of getting more pay...?
Not surprised that American is the most affected by this issue. Incompetent management and uninterested employees.
Covid era seems to have dehumanized most workers and they don't really care about their work ethic or other people anymore. People seem more concerned with themselves and everyone wants those free money days back. It's also trendy to blame business for all of your problems in life because we should all be able to afford a 3br house and lambo with simple jobs and it's the fault of all CEO's that we can't.
I usually prepare for landing and put my eye shades back on for max sleep. Get back into a light sleep for taxiiing and landing if I want to help with jet lag. Especially in main cabin. Would love an additional 20 minutes to be budged by a cleaner as last to deplane.
What else to expect from US cabin crew members who hide behind unions, who show zero interest in their passengers, who aren’t service minded, and are outright lazy? They only provide the bare minimum required by law/regulations. There’s a reason American carriers have a certain reputation in the world.
Unions probably don't help matters, but I have a hard time believing they're the problem here given that I regularly fly DL and the FAs are absolutely no better than other US carriers (despite what certain fanatics/cultists will say). Also, AS and B6 FAs are unionized, and I'd place them easily ahead of the big three US carriers, though of course still not to par with international carrier standards.
Happened about once a month or so just at the LAX terminal when I was working for Amtrak. Doesn’t help that on a bi-level train, and especially for the overnight trains, there are a LOT more hiding/sleeping places than the average aircraft. It’s easy to think you’re being thorough and then you find a lost item, go to set it down, walk back, forget which row you found it in, and so on. I’m not...
Happened about once a month or so just at the LAX terminal when I was working for Amtrak. Doesn’t help that on a bi-level train, and especially for the overnight trains, there are a LOT more hiding/sleeping places than the average aircraft. It’s easy to think you’re being thorough and then you find a lost item, go to set it down, walk back, forget which row you found it in, and so on. I’m not saying it’s okay but there are a lot of potential distractions doing a walkthrough, especially alone.
"LAX" took me a moment as I was positive that Amtrack doesn't run into the Los Angeles International Airport, then I remembered that's also the code used for Union Station downtown for the trains.
Surely this could only happen in America or with an American carrier?
This has never been known to happen on a BA flight.
BA218 departed and is on time presently.
Iron Dome, cocked, locked, loaded and awaiting incoming.
KBO.
I am of the strong opinion that this (as well as a lot of other flight attendant/crew misbehaviors) can be traced back to the crew not having a sense that this is their airplane and their job to be responsible for everything that happens on it. Probably very typical for how we divide up labor in the US, but also a culture thing about how once your specific job is done (even if not done),...
I am of the strong opinion that this (as well as a lot of other flight attendant/crew misbehaviors) can be traced back to the crew not having a sense that this is their airplane and their job to be responsible for everything that happens on it. Probably very typical for how we divide up labor in the US, but also a culture thing about how once your specific job is done (even if not done), you just leave and let someone else deal with it.
You would not do that if you felt that this was your home, your aircraft. Before leaving, you would be inspecting and making sure everything was clean, secured, for the next time you get on *your* aircraft.
Some other cultures do have this attitude more, when they go to work.
I do very much agree with you Eric. I see the minimizing of responsibilities when at all possible on the FA side, and if the didn’t doesn’t impact revenue or surveys management isn’t going to make it a point to highlight in how they evaluate crew…
This has almost happened to me in economy. I like to sit in the last row if I'm in economy because I can sleep during most of boarding and deplaning. I tend to enjoy time on flights because I know I'll get sleep, whether or not it's great sleep, from the time I sit down to the time I get up, and the sounds and lights don't wake me, or they wake me and I...
This has almost happened to me in economy. I like to sit in the last row if I'm in economy because I can sleep during most of boarding and deplaning. I tend to enjoy time on flights because I know I'll get sleep, whether or not it's great sleep, from the time I sit down to the time I get up, and the sounds and lights don't wake me, or they wake me and I fall back asleep immediately. I've been woken up my multiple flight attendant as they were doing their final walkthrough, but once they told me that they were able to leave and the flight attendant only found me because they thought they had left something behind. I bet it could potentially happen a lot.
WOW ! when I flew (ancient history I know) upon arrival at the last station 3 of us would walk the aircraft from aft to fore and upstairs (always worked on 747). ALL lavs were opened, I mean this was a pretty thorough walk through. I cannot imagine....but yet at AA...yeah.
My takeaway from this is AA musth have by far the most comfortable in cabin experience...
... right? Right?
They aren't our moms, they are flight attendants. Do fully grown adults need people to wake them up and make sure they have their seat belts on?
I didn't know 'nanny' was part of their job descriptions. Why can't fully grown adult passengers manage to get off a plane by themselves?
Too drunk to wake up
People fall asleep. It happens. I assume most people would assume the plane landing would wake them up. But I guess sometimes it doesn’t. A check is fine.
It doesn't matter why the passenger was still there. Part of the flight attendant's job is to ensure that there are no passengers left on board the airplane. If there was anyone left, then regardless of why and whether they should have been more responsible, the flight attendants did not do their job.
The issue here is not concern about the passenger and their capabilities. The concern is nefarious activity. Once alone on an aircraft in a dark airport there is room for mischief.
What a foolish take considering that this is very much within the scope of their job description. Furthermore, it is a huge security and safety risk that could in turn have very negative consequences for the airline which is why they’re required to not leave the aircraft until they ensure every single passenger has disembarked.
Other than not checking lavs how could this happen? If you've been on an empty plane a person sitting or even stretched out in a seat stands out. The only seats I think someone could hide under would be the lie flat seats.
lol. AA is the only carrier the landing of the plane woke me up in lie-flat mode. Happened twice (LAX-MIA & JFK-BCN)
Wait, you're saying they made you put your seat up for landing? All airlines do that.
I think he means he was woken up on the ground, so was allowed to stay in lie-flat mode through landing.
I woke up in lie flat mode once over the runaway maybe 500 ft and quickly hit the home button anc Dfw when 787 was on the route peak season. My latest fetish is keeping my seatbelt unfastened always
No he’s saying they didn’t make him put his seat up before landing
I was on a number of flights in 2024 on AA where the FAs did not come around to do a safety check before landing (so seats were still reclined, bags weren't properly stored under seats, etc.). So I'm not at all surprised to read this.
Lazy, disinterested and pissed-off people do a bad job at work? Why the surprise, Lucky?